Paul:

Interesting card! I agree that there are some exciting advances coming to Archipelago this decade. And with just a little expense and bother, we could have more-or-less real time voice card conversations RIGHT NOW. But are you sure we want such a thing?

As several members have observed, the pace of voice card conversations is excrutiatingly slow. We are forever discussing Halloween in April and Christmas in July. But as I mentioned in the help stack way back in volume one, this is not all bad.

I want Archipelago to be slow. I want us to have time to think about each card, mull it over, write and possibly revise a reply in an unhurried fashion. On-line conversations are now commonplace, and they are interesting and valuable, but I see Archipelago serving more of a ponderous and historical role. I hope we are building something lasting, not fleeting.

I hasten to add that we could still benefit from modems. On certain special occasions it might be nice to convene a live Archipelago conference. Also, we could eliminate the hassles and dangers and expense of the postal system without upsetting our careful pace.

So that's my cautionary note. What do the rest of you think?