This whole thing is kind of strange. It seems to me that the critical date
should be the date the paper was received by the journal (hence the listing
of the submission date, i.e. "Received 14 September 1989"), although I'm
not sure if this date would be the date the first version of a paper is
received, or the date the second version is received (for a refereed journal
in which the referees asked for modifications). In my and related fields, it
is customary to distribute preprints until the article appears, at which point
you distribute reprints. What the devil does it matter when the journal hits
the streets?
Rob: I hear you have CPN blues, eh? Last night Steve Baker of N.Carolina
called. I had a question about a friend's membership and he just booted up
his computer and was able to tell me in a few seconds what my buddy's
membership status was. If you want to do the same, I suggest you call
Steve at 704-256-7035 (he said he was willing to do that sort of thing).
But mind you, if you find some problem, Steve can't sort it out for you at
his end---you'd have to call Fullerton for that.
Barry