*Hello Everybody,* *Neohiopal <http://www.fredsternfeld.com/neohiopal/> has been in existence since 1998. When we cut over in 2001 to using the mailman software usage exploded and has now grown to 9,000 subscribers with thousands more using the archives <http://lists.neohiopal.org/pipermail/neohiopal-neohiopal.org/> instead of subscribing.* *Many thanks to Noah Budin (associate administrator) and Conrad Yoder (webmaster) for helping run the list.* *Neohiopal started almost 20 years ago. Here is the origin story, copied and paste from the FAQ page <http://www.fredsternfeld.com/neohiopal-faqs/>...* In 1998 while directing *Fiddler on the Roof* <http://fredsternfeldcom.siteprotect.net/fiddlerontheroofjcchalle.htm>at the JCC Halle Theatre, I compiled e-mail addresses of people who had been in that production and a few previous ones. That became the nucleus of the list. I asked that original group to send me addresses of people who would want to get notice of my upcoming auditions. Then someone at a theatre heard of my “huge list” of 35 names and asked if I would forward something for his theatre. I said “Why not?” and the word spread. Through word-of-mouth other theatres started sending me notices and performing artists asked to receive the postings. At first I kept all the email addresses on a Microsoft Word document and manually subscribed and unsubscribed and sent out the messages through AOL. After three years the list had grown to about 350 names and my system wasn’t working anymore because the volume of names was starting to crash my AOL account. In June of 2001, I cut over to using the “mailman” software, first through hostway.com, more recently through listserve.com, and currently through Big Blue Computer Consulting, run by Conrad Yoder. Usage exploded and the subscriber total is currently over 9,000. -- Fred Sternfeld Neohiopal Ltd. Owner and Administrator fredsternfeld@neohiopal.org http://www.fredsternfeld.com/neohiopal/