Moderation of Lists

[Harvey A. Kader]

I would like to add one more very important point about moderation that

may put it into perspective : moderation of a list is analogous to a

metal detector used at airports, or a bouncer used at a night club, or
the police

walking a beat on the street. It keeps undesirable and destructive
elements out while

protecting the common good.


So in the case of an airplane, the metal detector prevents(hopefully!) a

person with a bomb from blowing up the plane. Why wait until the plane

is blown up or damaged to remove the sick individual(mind you by then he

is already blown up himself!)?



Or in the case of a night club, why wait until the underaged kid has got

himself into trouble at the club and caused damage at the club ,and

people around him. Better to remove him from entering the club before he

causes or gets himself into trouble.



You can think of moderation as a form of police protection for the list.

Believe me it works. Gudelines can be established to allow consistent

monitoring by volunteers. Without moderation, the list will

unfortunately continue to be plagued by bad elements. Removing them each

time will work, but better to remove them BEFORE(hence moderation) they

cause damage rather than after. And as we have seen, people will then

unsubscribe when they read the garbage(I don't blame them - it is

insulting and offensive to read!)and the list will shrink slowly in

size(not a good thing). It is like someone calling on the telephone and

saying foul things before you have a chance to hang up.



Harvey.

Sponsored by the City of Tempe 

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