At 07:28 PM 8/15/97 -0500, you wrote:
>It is very difficult to stop a flame war, because everyone wants to have
>the last word.  Also, once you start setting problem subscribers to
>REVIEW, you are selectively punishing people and creating a subset of
>pariahs and martyrs on your list, which just leads to more antagonism.

Not really.  I'm assuming you're smart enough to NOT say on list, or to
anyone, that [log in to unmask] is set to review.  The only person who ever knows
is the person reviewed, and even then only if they post again.  If they
spread the word about their "pariah" status, that's their business and you
can cheerfully ignore any discussion about it.

>The solution, in my case, was to create a WELCOME file with guidelines for
>acceptable posts, then moderate everything and toss any posts that don't

Your choice, your time.  But, since folks don't read welcome files on how
to unsub, why do you think they'll read them about other stuff?

>meet the guidelines.  People are much more accepting of moderation if it's
>applied across the board rather than selectively, and it's less work than
>you might imagine.

I'm guessing you're talking about a library list, but could be wrong.  All
seven of my library related lists are open posting.  No problems.  Set two
people to review in almost eight years.  Kicked one guy off for incessant
off topic posts (and my definition of on topic is VERY broad)

>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>H. Stephen Wright           Northern Illinois University Music Library
>[log in to unmask]        http://www.niu.edu/depts/library/hswright.html
>----------------------------------------------------------------------

cheers

dan, librarian geek for last thirty years

Dan Lester
[log in to unmask]
In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.  Erasmus, 1534