Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:42:23 -0500
Reply-To: David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Subject: Re: Vanagon List Moderator
In-Reply-To: <ccafde090901140116j3800b2e7lc448badea8c780e6@mail.gmail.co m>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
Hey, Ben -- I didn't know you had masochistic tendencies. <g>
At 04:16 AM 1/14/2009, BenT Syncro wrote:
>I volunteered to try my hand as List moderator.
I suspect you'd be a great moderator. Unfortunately, I think that
having any commercial interest *other than in the list itself and the
products thereof* ought to be a disqualifier, which lets out you and
Chris both.
> Like many folks' keyboards,
>the recent rash of unbriddled off-topic discussions was been wearing out my
>delete key.
I hadn't noticed such an awful rash, compared to other times. More
that the list had been holding its breath 'til it squeaked since
Jim's eruption of frustration and the publication of rules which,
however well they may be working on the Type II list (never been
there, no opinion), were, to put it mildly, unprecedented on this
list, and at least one -- and in my opinion a crucial one -- was in
direct opposition to previously published rules. That one had to do
with copyright, and I think it points to an important question and
possibly a telling loss. Any old hands want to chip in with thoughts
here, before I muddy the waters? I'll talk about it in another post later.
> I believe that in order for the List to continue to survive as a
>true community, some sort of moderation needs to be put in effect.
Yes, so do I. And I think that this list functioned very well under
Coyote and under Tom C, who both I think followed Lu-Tze's
observation that ruling a large kingdom is like cooking a small
fish. They were both moderate on content, clear in their decisions*,
kept their own rules. Both had clear "ownership" of the list, and it
was clear that their decisions were not appealable to a higher
authority. Further, and IMO this is significant, in my recollection
neither one lectured the membership. They made and announced rulings
when they deemed it necessary, they didn't publicly discuss said rulings.
*During *my* tenure on the list -- I came in during Coyote's rule --
two people were expelled. One case was clearcut -- overt Naziism put
forward by a technical expert who I suspect had direct experience of
what he spoke. He spoke up, the hammer fell, and he was
history. The other to my mind was arguable (I forget the grounds
exactly, being a general PIA over a long time comes to mind), and
personally I would have suspended the offender for six months rather
than a lifetime ban. But the judgment was clear, and clearly within
the authority of the moderator.
> That would be an [in]excusable shame.
Hear, hear!
> As far as I can recall, the choice for moderator has always
>been decided by the people with the hardware (for the listserver). Now it's
>apparently a totally different deal. Jim was able to moderate remotely. The
>equipment is still at TomC's place and I think there is still some
>connection to Coyote's vanagon.com site.
*Rem acu tetegisti!*
Thanks,
David
--
David Beierl - Providence RI USA -- http://pws.prserv.net/synergy/Vanagon/
'84 Westy "Dutiful Passage," '85 GL "Poor Relation"
| 
