This is a respnse to only part of the posting.  The reply to the other
part will come later (sorry, ben messing with the old tractor and barely
used shredder I bought recently, and I'm afraid I'ld fall asleep if I
tried to do it all at once, and the second part needs clear thought.
   Douglas
 
On Sat, 8 Apr 1995, Aldo-Pier Solari wrote:
 
> ] From:    Brian Lingard <[log in to unmask]>
> ] The moderator will have to rreview everything sent to the list to
> ] approve it, and some people may consider this Fascist censorship but it
> ] certainly stops spam and flames in their tracks.
>
>     If you forward anything  to  your  list  which  may be liable of
>     criminal prosecution you may be hold responsible by a  court  of
>     law  for spreading such information.  Moderation is, as far as I
>     can see, not a good/practical alternative to list dynamics.
 
Some moderators claim copyright to everything on their lists, because they
have "edited" it.  Personally, I think such a claim specious.  AUTOCAT is
semi-moderated, everything I get as editor is posted, unles it is an
obvious spam, or personal message, or LISTSERV command, etc.  If I get
something that looks legit, but maybe clumsily done, I'll ask if they want
to revise the item.  If they don't wish to, I send it on as is. Perhaps,
maybe, I should think about that (but then, we rarely get "legit" items
that are objectinable, actually, virtually never).
 
I wish I weren't the list editor, as I dislike moderated lists; I've seen
too many open lists become stodgy bores when they go to full moderation.
I'ld rather see marginal topics (keeps things interesting) than a 100%
strictly business (gets boring very quickly) list.  Fortunately, we're only
semi-moderated (primarily to catch spams) and about 95% of the material is
posted directly, if not more.
 
       Douglas Winship   Hays County, Texas  [log in to unmask]
                    Secondary AUTOCAT Listowner
                              MEDLAB-L