how to reference list discussions

[David Magier]

> My
> question to you is this: how does one reference an Indology List discussion
> [for example]?  I have never referenced such a thing before, nor have I
> ever encountered anyone else's attempt at doing so.  Is there an
> established convention for this sort of thing?

The MLA Citation Style Guide for Electronic Sources, which can be
found at in the Li & Crane text (Electronic styles: A Handbook for
citing electronic information 1996) and on the web at 
http://www.uvm.edu/~xli/reference/mla.html   has the following
entry for Discussion List Messages:

---------------------------------
Basic forms: 

       Author. "Subject of Message." Date. Online posting. Discussion
       List. Available E-mail: DISCUSSION LIST at e-mail address. Access
       date.

       Author. "Subject of Message." Date. Online posting. Discussion
       List. Available E-mail: LISTSERV at e-mail address/Get. Access date. 


Examples: 

       RRECOME. "Top Ten Rules of Film Criticism." 1 Apr. 1995. Online
       posting. Discussions on All Forms of Cinema. Available E-mail:
       CINEMA-L at american.edu. 1 Apr. 1995.

       * Author's login name, in uppercase, is given as the first
       element.

       RRECOME. "Top Ten Rules of Film Criticism." 1 Apr. 1995. Online
       posting. Discussions on All Forms of Cinema. Available E-mail:
       LISTSERV at american.edu/Get cinema-l log9504A. 1 Aug. 1995.

       * Reference is obtained by searching the list's archive. 
-------------------------------

See also the MLA pages at:

http://www.cas.usf.edu/english/walker/mla.html

as well as "A BRIEF CITATION GUIDE FOR INTERNET SOURCES IN HISTORY AND
THE HUMANITIES", at:

gopher://h-net.msu.edu:70/00/lists/H-AFRICA/internet-cit

David Magier
magier at columbia.edu