PrimFocus was started in 1998 in reaction to the University of Wisconsin's decision to close Primate-Talk, a publicly funded listserv operated by Larry Jacobsen at the Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Center.

As public interest in primate related issues increased, so to did the membership of Primate-Talk. Public discussion on that list concerning various situations, but most importantly, the Vilas Monkey Scandal at Wisconsin and the Spinal Dynamics experiments at The Coulston Foundation, led to public embarrassment of many primate researchers on the list.

As a result, Wisconsin decided to close Primate-Talk. Not only did critics lose a forum, but public supporters of the experimental use of primates did as well. Bob Lewis formed Alloprimate with the support of and direct promotion from Wisconsin.

From the beginning, Lewis banned discussion critical of laboratory experimentation and has enforced this ban, more or less, since that list's inception. He has consistenly censored discussion.

PrimFocus has almost never banned individuals or primate-related discussion topics. Early on in the list's history, one or two subscribers began privately writing to other list members with obscene comments. There was speculation concerning who these people might have been, but after a few resubscriptions under different names, more private nastiness and rebannings, they finally gave up.

Since those early days, almost no problems have arisen. PrimFocus has remained the only forum known to exist in the world where researchers, pet owners, conservationists, abolitionists, and everyone with an interest in primates can express their views in public.

The list is monitored by many people with research facility associated email addresses. These individuals rarely post comments.

PrimFocus is open to any news postings having anything to do with primates. It is open to any discussion regarding any issue related to primates. While Primate-Science (Wisconsin's replacement list) remains closed to the public and even while Alloprimate maintains its censorship of opinion and news, PrimFocus remains dedicated to the belief that open discussion and the light of day will be of greatest benefit to all.

To subscribe to PrimFocus, send the message: subscribe primfocus

or:

subscribe primfocus-digest

to waste@waste.org.

Leave the subject blank. Write nothing else in the message.

Sincerely,

Rick Bogle,
List Co-owner and Co-founder