[repec-help] stale archive requests

[Ad Notten]

Dear Kit,

I am up for a try-out. This could also be interesting with regards to 
the previous issue on the help list (that of the step-by-step 
instructions) as we can catalogue the issues coming out of points 2 and 
3. These RePEc can then use to adjust the instructions.

Best,
Ad


Christopher Baum wrote:
> One of the most useful tasks that volunteers might be able to perform 
> for RePEc is to communicate with those who have requested archives and 
> for whatever reason have not set them up. We currently have 171 
> archive codes that have been assigned but not yet implemented. Those 
> requested more than 90 days ago are sent a reminder message every 
> month. Those more than 18 months old are moved to an inactive status 
> (currently 148 codes in that limbo) while a sizable number of the 171 
> requests are quite old (>12 months, >15 months...)
>
> I would hope that some volunteers would come forward and take a list 
> of, say, 5 of the oldest outstanding codes and try to contact the 
> person who requested it. This could result in determining that
> (1) the person is no longer at that institution (which often happens), 
> or is no longer involved with the process (in which case we could 
> cancel the request), or
> (2) there are technical/security issues preventing them from following 
> the step-by-step instructions for either HTTP or FTP access (in which 
> case we could now direct them to the RePEc Input Service), or
> (3) they have no idea how to follow the SbS instructions (e.g., they 
> do not know how to create ASCII text files, or subdirectories on a web 
> server) and need some handholding.
>
> It would be very useful to try to clear some of these old cases and 
> help people get started with RePEc. For whatever reason many find the 
> step-by-step instructions inscrutable, so walking some would-be 
> maintainers through the steps may be the only way to help them figure 
> out what they need to do.
>
> If you would like to try this out with several archives from our list 
> of 'vintage' archives, please let me know.
>
> Thanks
> Kit Baum
>
> Research Papers in Economics (RePEc)
> http://repec.org
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Repec-help mailing list
> Repec-help at lists.openlib.org
> http://lists.openlib.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/repec-help


-- 
Ad Notten
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