Quite a number of people (about 30) responded to my proposed Beck modules mailing list. I now have an account that will support this. However, I have decided to do things a little differently. The first change is to broaden the scope a little bit. It will now be about Beck modules, their pointed set object counterparts, and in addition, ringoids. Ringoids are rings with several objects, or, small additive categories. Ringoids come into it naturally because the natural categories of A-modules, for A a universal algebra, are identical with the categories of left modules over certain ringoids, called the enveloping ringoids. (I wrote my thesis on this.) The other change I am making is, instead of having a mailing list, to use the Usenet news system, in particular the newsgroup sci.math.research. This is a moderated newsgroup, the (slightly edited) announcement for which follows: From dan@math.uiuc.edu Sat Oct 2 18:31:11 PDT 1993 Article: 1298 of sci.math.research From: "Daniel R. Grayson" <dan@math.uiuc.edu> Newsgroups: sci.math.research Subject: Welcome to sci.math.research Date: Wed, 15 Sep 1993 07:02:22 -0500 Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana Approved: Daniel Grayson <dan@math.uiuc.edu> Originator: dan@symcom.math.uiuc.edu Welcome to sci.math.research. Here is our charter. CHARTER: This newsgroup is a forum for the discussion of current mathematical research. You are also encouraged to post announcements of - mathematics conferences - preprints available - new mathematics journals - online services for distribution of preprints A full archive maintained by Michael Boardman and Lake Forest College is available via gopher to math.lfc.edu, under the heading - Mathematics Related Items and its subheading - Archive of sci.math.research USENET newsgroup. It is indexed for fast retrieval of articles based on words within the text of the articles. Readers should also be aware of the mathematical information services available via gopher to e-math.ams.com. (end of announcement) In order to help ourselves (and others) recognize messages to our subgroup, we should all use the key phrase "Beck modules" (two words) in our subject line, and also in the text of the message. If you are new to the Usenet news system, note that the threaded news reader trn will allow you to select only those messages that have this key phrase, if that is what you want to do. There are several clear advantages to doing this instead of a mailing list, as well as a few disadvantages. I find the Usenet news system to be quite informative and convenient. It is important to use a threaded news reader such as trn, so that you will see discussion threads in sequence. It is _essential_ to learn how to use a news reader well so that you can filter out stuff you don't want to read. I imagine many of you have been doing this for much longer than I have, and will be quite comfortable with it. On the other hand, if anyone has difficulty with this system (for example, they have access to e-mail but not the newsgroup) please let me know and I will try to help you stay in the loop somehow. The discussion can begin at any time. I screwed up this announcement the first time, and no one got it. In the mean time, I posted a so-called "FAQ" to the news group to answer Frequently Asked Questions, and will post a new version of it when I have accumulated some substantial changes, (and if and when there is any discussion forthcoming!) Note my new e-mail address: rowan@crl.com. There is a place on this system where I will be able to put files of common interest. Bill Rowan ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++