Moderate the List!

[Dean Milner]

At 22:32 99-08-09 -0700, optom at ibm.net wrote:
>Think about it. Moderation would solve our problems 100% - no more
>garbage to read. Sounds good!

While I have been on moderated lists before, and yes they do remove the
verbal garbage of general obscenities etc., it is still a form of
censorship as it is the moderators decision what posts the group should see
or not; and that is sometimes extended to posts which conflict with the
moderator's opinions/beliefs/world view. Moderation also slows down the
flow on the list somewhat because it is dependant on one person reading all
the posts and then reposting them in a timely fashion.

We are, for the most part, adults and quite capable of filtering our own
reading material. For myself, one glimpse of the nonsense that started in a
few messages lately and I just skip the message and go on to the next,
ignoring both the rest of the message and the poster.

I have only been on this list for about 5 months and this is the first I
have seen this kind of behaviour from one or two out of some 700 (taken
from a posting) subscribers. I think making this list moderated just
because of a few obscenities by immature individuals is a bit like swatting
a mosquito with a sledgehammer. It would get the job done but the cure
might be more annoying than the original pest.

Just my 2¢


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Dean Milner,  VE1CBF
ve1cbf at rac.ca             http://www.qsl.net/ve1cbf
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"That which does not kill us makes us stronger."
                                         - Nietzche
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