兩個星期前，已經執行了10年的郵件列表Book People Mailing List宣佈將在11月底關閉。
我很捨不得，因為我訂閱這個郵件列表7年了，它已經是我生活的一部分了。就像有人喜歡看電視，我喜歡看這個郵件列表。
上個週末，我收到了管理員John Mark Ockerbloom發來的告別信。我讀後有一點感動，就將它譯成了中文，請大家一起來看看，真正網上的討論組是什麼樣的。
對了，信中提到的瑪麗是John的妻子。
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So long, and thanks....
再見，還要感謝......
We had some new friends over for dinner last night, and towards dessert, the conversation turned to books, and eventually to all the books that were now available online. They were quite interested in the travel accounts by women that Mary had been putting online, and remarked "You must have a passion for this." When they found out that over 300 books had been republished on her site, on a completely volunteer basis, they said "that's a *lot* of passion!"
昨晚，我們同一些新朋友聚餐。甜點上來的時候，我們談到了書籍，發現這些年來，終於所有的書都上網了。朋友們對一些女作家的遊記很感興趣，它們是瑪麗放上網的。朋友們評論說："你們對這種事一定有很大的熱情。"後來，當他們知道瑪麗已經將300多種書籍放上網，而且完全是志願的，他們感嘆道："那真的是不同一般的熱情啊！"
I think that could be said about a lot of the people on the list. Whether it's the regular posters, or the folks who mostly lurk and occasionally send us email, this has been a group that's been passionate about books, what they can do for people, and the importance of doing the best job we can to make them available to as many people as possible.
我想這樣的評價適用於這個郵件列表上的許多人。不管是那些積極發言的成員，還是那些只潛水不發言或者偶爾發言的成員，所有人對於書籍都有著不同一般的熱情。我們都在思考，我們能為其他人做些什麼，如何盡我們所能讓儘可能多的人得到書籍。
We've built libraries of not just hundreds but tens of thousands of books with volunteer labor. (And some of us have quietly been building at the millions-of-books scale.) We've discussed the need for copyright reform (with one of us famously taking his case all the way to the US Supreme Court). We've proposed and argued about the best ways to produce and provide the most useful, high-quality book collections. We've done fresh translations of classic works, organized large teams of proofreaders and encyclopedia writers, and written and demonstrated new software and formats for preparing, viewing, and exploring books online. We've helped out our fellow listmembers when they've had posted questions about some problem they were having preparing or using books. And sometimes we've just talked about the books we liked, and what made them special for us.
我們用自己志願的勞動，建設了網上的電子圖書館，藏書多達幾萬種。（我們中有人甚至在建設百萬種規模的圖書館。）我們討論了版權制度改革的必要性。（我們的一個成員甚至將版權官司上訴到了聯邦最高法庭。）我們探討了製作和傳播電子書的最佳方式。我們自己動手翻譯了一些經典著作，組織了大規模的校對和百科全書編輯人員。我們編寫了新的軟體和新的格式，以便於在網上製作、瀏覽和查詢書籍。當我們中有人在郵件列表中提出他遇到的電子書製作和使用方面的困難時，其他人會熱情地給予幫助。有時，我們還會談起我們自己喜愛的書籍，以及為什麼這些書對我們個人有著特殊的意義。
I've enjoyed hearing and participating in these conversations, and am happy to have met you all virtually (one perk of taking the subscription requests is you hear from the lurkers as well the posters), and have been fortunate enough to meet some of you in person as well. If you browse through the archives, which will remain online at
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/bparchive
我很享受於傾聽和參與這些對話，並且很高興在網上遇到你們所有這些人。（作為管理員的一個好處，就是能夠看到那些潛水的成員發來的要求訂閱郵件列表的Email。）我也很榮幸地與你們中的一些人有過當面的接觸。我們所有的發言都保留在網上：
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/bparchive
you'll see how far things have come since this list started out in 1997, and how much potential there still is to do more.
從這些發言中，你們可以看到，自從這個郵件列表從1997年建立以來，我們已經做過了多少事，並且還有美好的前景去創造更多的東西。
So I very much appreciate people continuing in the same spirit as we started out. I'm particularly thankful to Kent Larsen for starting up Book Futures, which I see has already begun activity), and to the various other listmembers who have recently started other lists related to online books and the sharing of knowledge. And I hope those of you who are so inclined will stop by my blog at Everybody's Libraries, or Mary's Celebration blog. Again, I've left pointers to all these places, and to the archives of this list, at
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/bplist/
所以，我非常欣慰的看到，有人願意延續從我們這裡開創的道路。我要特別感謝Kent Larsen，他建立了一個新的郵件列表Book Futures，我發現那裡已經有初步活躍的跡象。其他成員也有在近期建立郵件列表的打算。我還希望你們能經常來看看我和瑪麗的Blog。讓我重申一遍，所有這些網址我都留在了一個網頁上，它在
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/bplist/
and am happy to take corrections and updates there.
只要有變化，我就會更新這個網頁。
So I wish all the Book People farewell for now, and hope that we and our books will meet again soon.
最後，我要和所有Book People郵件列表的成員說再見了，希望不久後我們還會再相會。
John Mark Ockerbloom
Moderator, Book People mailing list
2007年11月30日
（完）