I was looking back at previous threads and all the information, research, observations, and personal opinions that have been posted. They would make an excellent resource book for those looking for answers as well as a recorded part of history and what a group of people were doing at this time.

Who knows, years from now, the new civilization might be intersted in what people were thinking and feeling before Y2k. Of course, the title must be The Yourdanites, Preparing for Y2k.

Should we insert our real names and a brief bio or simply stay as we are. I am on a roll here. I can see us sharing the royalities now. Maybe WE should publish this book!

-- Linda A. (adahi@muhlon.com), March 18, 1999

Answers

Linda,

Months ago, someone suggested a similar idea -- and as far as I'm concerned, all of the messages and threads posted here are in the public domain, so you're welcome to do whatever you want with the information. There is, of course, the ethical question (and perhaps a legal issue, too) about getting formal permissions from anyone who has posted a message with his/her real identity.

One of the major practical problems with your idea, unfortunately, is that the forum is not a static document, but rather a dynamic, living creature. If you could distill all 70,000+ messages posted up to this point, and somehow publish it in a book tomorrow, it would be obsolete within 24 hours. But if we manage to capture all of the information as of New Year's Eve 1999, that might make interesting reading!

By the way, I'd like to suggest one small correction to your proposed title: I'd prefer "Yourdonites" if you're going to choose something along those lines. Of course, you could get creative ... my family and I stayed at a Vermont hotel one summer where every family had a reserved table for dinner; ours was labeled "The Yardoons".

Ed

-- Ed Yourdon (ed@yourdon.com), March 18, 1999.

Maybe Mr. Greenspun could put the whole 70,000 posts onto a zip drive and sell copies/drives to preparers and to libraries, colleges, historians etc. I'm sure we're worth the effort. (my we are full of ourselves today ;-} ) Could be a nice little earner.

-- humpty (no.6@thevillage.com), March 18, 1999.

Linda, I made this suggestion a few months back. Got a volunteer for editing, marketing, and several contributors. Problem was I was also getting email from folks wanting to share in the profits. Since making (or losing money) was not my goal, I let it die. I still think its a good idea, but I just didn't want the hassle.

-- MoVe Immediate (MVI@yepimhere.com), March 18, 1999.

i, DIEtER, KInG OF foOLiHNeSS EXPOSItioN, HEReBY VOLunTEER tO duTy as TYpE seTtEr????? Be wARned jackALS, DIeTER WOuLd nOt PAy ziLCh FOR OLd NatIoNAL geOGRAPHiCs!!!!!! is THaT NoT TRUe????? nO???? coRReCT!!!! DieTER WOuLD PAy Less THaN ZIltcH!!!!!! iDIotS!!!!!

-- Dieter (questions@toask.com), March 18, 1999.

ThNks dIEteR. See what I mean Linda?

-- MoVe Immediate (MVI@yepimhere.com), March 18, 1999.

I sure do agree with the value of some of the threads here. I have copied and pasted several on a couple of Y2K information/message boards elsewhere. Very good information here.

Thanks, and keep it coming!

-- just sunshine (lurkinghere@home.com), March 18, 1999.

Sorry for the misspelling of the Yourdon name.

I, too, print off several of the threads to pass along to those wanting inforamtion about Y2k. There is a keen interest in what others are saying and thinking.

IMO, if a book were to be published, Mr. yourdon should have the honors. He is already in the business and it is his forum.

-- Linda A. (adahi@muhlon.com), March 18, 1999.

Here in Iceland, we might say "Yourdonoids".

-- Blue Himalayan (bh@k2.y), March 18, 1999.

I like the title "2000 Threads"

But it'd be neat to sort them a bit - so "People, Humor and Poetry" would be grouped in one booklet (the first ?), and "Government and Society Dscussions" in another (add religion there?), "Energy, Computing and Hardware" to group all the stuff in a "technical batch"; "Coping with Problems, Alternatives and Keeping Up at Home" for all those "how to do it" recommendations that improve home life.

-- Robert A. Cook, P.E. (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), March 18, 1999.

Robert, with all of the humor and sarcasm here, perhaps "2000 Needles and Threads" would work as well?

-- David (David@BankPacman.com), March 18, 1999.

If Mr. Greenspun compiled it, the title could be: "Sorry... Server Too Busy" Speaking of that....I wonder how's the "beefing up" is progressing? Are we mooooooving closer to rounding those doggies up?

-- PNG (png@gol.com), March 18, 1999.

Lets see, 70,000 messages (and counting, quickly), some a few pages long - we're talking a good size library here! <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), March 18, 1999.

Wouldn't it be much less expensive to burn the whole shebang on a CD? And duplicating CD's en masse is really cheap. Of course this route assumes a future capability to read CD's.

The entire Encyclopedia Britannica is now available on 3 CD's--

Encyclopedia Britannica CD 98, three CDs: installation disc, advanced search disc, multimedia disc; requirements: Windows 95 or NT 4.0, 486DX2/66MHz processor (Pentium recommended), 16MB RAM (32MB recommended), 45MB hard disk space (50MB recommended), 2 CD-ROM drive (4xrecommended), SVGA monitor/display card 800W600, 256 colors (16-bit Hicolor recommended), Windows-compatible sound device, mouse, and printer also recommended; documentation: 52-page User's Guide, 9-pp Troubleshooting Notes Guide, $125, Chicago, Ill, Encyclopedia Britannica, 1998 (1-800-747-8503).

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), March 19, 1999.

IF wE Go To A cD CAn diETer siNg "THe laDY Is a TRaMP"?

-- Dieter (questions@toask.com), March 19, 1999.

PNG, dogies moo, doggies bark - thus speaketh the animal trainer :-)

I've been researching archived messages lately. It's amazing how much good information there is buried amongst the fun ;-)

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), March 19, 1999.

Technologically, this should be easy. Just point your favorite freeware/shareware "web-snatcher" at http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a.tcl?topic=TimeBomb%202000% 20(Y2000) and grab everything up to 2-3 levels deep.

Slap 'er on a CD-R and yer' all done! Just browse the results locally with your web browser.

Of course, to produce a hard-bound book with fancy cover, table-of- contents and index would require a lot of hand-editing.

-- Anonymous99 (Anonymous99@anonymous.com), March 19, 1999.

Tricia...You're right... on both comments!

-- PNG (png@gol.com), March 19, 1999.

Speaking of needles and threads - Tricia, ain't you herd them ol' Calgary trail riders singing "Get Along Little Doggies"?

They weren't singing about dashhound drives between TX and Dodge City - besides, the tumbleweeds tickled their underneath.

-- Robert A. Cook, P.E. (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), March 19, 1999.

I've done my share of printing threads and giving them to folks who don't have web access or a computer...mostly, my mother.

As for bookmarks regarding these threads, I've lost count :-)

-- Tim (pixmo@pixelquest.com), March 19, 1999.