You will find some people who prefer moderated lists and some who hate
them.  I'm in the latter category.  Although I'm still a subscriber to
a couple of moderated lists, I tend to delete 95% of the mail from those
lists unread because I don't like reading delayed mail that arrives in
spurts and is clumped together.  (I realize that a moderated list doesn't
have to involve clumped mail -- the moderator can distribute individual
postings -- but usually it's clumped -- i.e., you might have to scroll
through four messages you don't want to read in order to get to the fifth
one in the clump.)
 
Here's a personal example of a disadvantage of moderated lists:  Right now
I'm extremely busy and am also out of town, using a mushy-keyed laptop with
slow modem and tying up somebody else's phone line.  All I don't need right
now is extra mail to contend with.  It's pouring in, however, thanks to
somebody's having forwarded a posting of mine from ADS-L to LINGUIST, out
of context.  The posting on LINGUIST has led people to send me private mail
asking for more details about something that I have no details about.
Naturally I sent a message to LINGUIST as soon as I became aware of the
problem -- a message pointing out that I do not have the details these
people are asking for.  Because LINGUIST is a moderated list, however, my
clarification is sitting there waiting for somebody to stick it into a
clump and distribute it.  That may be next week.  Meanwhile I'm sitting
here writing note after note saying "I don't know.  I didn't even hear
the offensive NPR broadcast.  That posting on LINGUIST was part of an
ongoing discussion on ADS-L.  Without the context, it makes no sense."
I find the situation *very* frustrating, to say the least.  I find most
things about moderated lists annoying.  There are other people, of course,
who like them.
   --Natalie ([log in to unmask])