I also have suffered from flame throwers and the fact that valued members of
the list, whose interest is in the stated subject of the list, sign off as
a result of the flame throwers (Elliott Parker's Message of 3/17)
My experience is that it is better to do nothing that involves the whole list.
A moderated list is not a reasonable or democratic answer; and in any case
moderating a list takes more time than one has.
I have found it somewhat helpful to send personal messages to the main offender
requesting cooperation and civility.
I have also found it helpful (very helpful) to put together an etiquette code
for the list and then ask for feedback from the whole group before making
final revisions and adopting it as the guidelines for my group.  this took
quite a long time, but it did involve many members and they did come up with
excellent suggestions for improvement and additions to the etiquette code.
Then we voted it in, and there it is. Contact me if you would like a copy.
As a point of information, most of the difficulties I have encountered have
been with people from a militant homesexual rights group, who turn every
discusssion (would you believe discussions of GRAMMAR, even!) into very
unpleasant attacks on society for their treatment of gays.  Anyone else on
the list, who tries to stick to the topic, is personally vilified for their
"insensitivity" to the plight of oppressed people.  If your flame throwers
seem to be from the same group, Elliott Parker, I think we should talk.
Anthea Tillyer  (TESL-L)