On Mon,  17 Feb 1992 09:25:27  ECT Martin Raish <MRAISH@BINGVMB>  said: I
>think the  reason my  list is well  focused is more  a result  of people
>thinking I *might* censor something, and thus not even sending it in the
>first place.
 
This is,  in my opinion, the  most dangerous aspect of  moderating lists:
self-censorship. The extent  to which it takes place  depends, of course,
on the moderator, so it may not always be a problem.
 
About 4 years ago,  on an unmoderated technical list, I  dared to use the
word "shitty" once.  This got me a  warning from the list  owner within 5
minutes, stating  that I should  know that "noone likes  vulgar language"
(an interesting comment for someone who  was working in NYC), and that he
would not put up with it. At this point I have to add that this was not a
normal list,  started and driven  by the owner; it  was one of  many open
lists whose technical administration the person in question was in charge
of.
 
I found that I was unable to mail to the list from that day on, until the
guy moved  on to greener  pastures. I  would start typing  something, and
remember that Jerkus would  get upset if I used any  word that might have
upset  my grandmother  if she  had  been in  a  bad mood.  My mind  would
immediately  drift  from  the  subject  matter and  devise  ways  to  add
border-line words just  to irritate Jerkus, without  giving him something
bad enough  that he could remove  me from the list.  I'm not particularly
fond of  "dirty words", but I  found it extremely upsetting  to have some
self-appointed censor attempt to impose his moralistic views on the world
at large. If I had upset subscribers  with my language, they were free to
let me know directly.
 
Anyway the bottom line is that I  stopped mailing to any of the lists the
person in  question was  administrating, unless I  had a  compelling good
reason  to. I  refused  to self-censor  the contents  of  my messages,  I
refused wasting time  in endless metaphysical arguments  about freedom of
speech and Jerkus's relationship to the  list, and decided the best thing
to do was to save myself time and refrain from posting anything.
 
  Eric