Thanks to Michael Rathbun for collecting these files and for hosting them for a few years. They are a mine of fascinating discussion and revelation! Since then, Michael informed me he has had to retire the files from his server due to loss of his high-bandwidth connectivity, so I volunteered to host them for him. Most of the text that follows (and all the graphics) comes from Michael's original pages.
Where to go:
The unofficial EX-TIAN Archive can now be downloaded from here.
What's There:
The archive consists of ZIP archive files, each containing a text file exported from Forte Agent. The messages are organized in thread order.All 1995 messages are in a single file. For 1996, 1997 and 1998, each archive file contains threads started within a single month. An April reply threaded with a topic that began in February will most likely be in the February file. Threads do cut off at year boundaries, however.
Each archive file, after decompression, contains a few 300kB (approx.) text files that follow unix mailbox format. It will be legible with any text editor capable of handling large files. Windows Notepad can only handle files up to 64kb, but Window's Wordpad can handle the bigger files. If you prefer something else for Windows capable of handling big files, very capable free text editors are Forte Agent and Editpad lite.
The files can be imported by (e.g.) Forte Agent, and should be compatible with any client that accepts unix mailbox files. For brevity, all header lines except From, Date, Subject, Message-Id and In-Reply-To have been discarded. This is enough to allow Forte Agent to import messages into a folder and retain the threaded presentation. It is possible that some clients might choke while looking for some missing header field. If you have this problem, let Michael Rathbun know.
NOTE from Michael: archival purists will be dismayed to learn that I have, in the interests of making the threading come out right, corrected the Neptune Standard Time that one particular poster in 1997 seemed to use. Several of his submissions originally showed dates in 1956.
Spiffy Graphics:
There are a few brief gaps in the messages Michael saved. You can see whether the archive has posts from some period of interest to you by checking the charts of the daily count of messages for EX-TIAN that are to be found here. The charts also contain a 14-day rolling average daily post rate curve, just in case you wish to verify that the list really was as busy then as you thought.Other ex-Christian links | Leaving Christianity contents | email me