At 5:46 PM 1998/06/22, Kate Lance wrote:
>I would suggest (though may not be thanked for this) Tony Barry, whose
>link list is one of the most sane and civilised on the planet due to
>his careful moderation.  Tony is on the dns list already, is an ex
>ISOC-AU director, and has been involved in Internet issues for many
>years.

I think a list can only survive if it builds community and controls its own
behaviour. Strong moderation, where each posting must be approved, stifles
debate and the list becomes simply a vehicle to pass on uncontested
announcements of matters of interest to the moderator which have been
submitted.

There are mechanisms to improve debate such as -

        Remaining focussed on the topic
        Ignore off topic posts
        Ignore abuse
        Change subject lines if your reponse raises new matters
        Respond to off topic posts and abuse off-list and perhaps encourage
           others (off list) to do so too.

For a SHORT period, in a crisis, a moderator can act as a circuit breaker
but in the end the community must control its own behavior. If there there
is strong support in the list for a moderator AND  support for me to do it
then for, lets say, two weeks, we can give it try.  As Adam points out
however I lack technical expertise which may prevent me from telling what
is on topic or off.

Larry's new list might make all this moot?

Tony

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