The issue of whether to moderate or not is a thorny one for listowners.
I am a list owner with very little time (and, hence, an unmoderated list),
so this question is crucial also to me.
Junk mail notwithstanding, the fact is that there is a very fine line between
moderation and censorship, probably no line at all. In my opinion, moderation
is, as one correspondent here pointed out, distasteful. I also think that it
is hard to justify.
Yet, cluttered lists are a nuisance. What to do? I have a couple of
suggestions:
1. Regularly send out to everyone a LIST POLICY STATEMENT and LIST
ETIQUETTE. It seems to me that each list should have its own
set of rules of etiquette, and that these should be decided upon
by the membership (not the list owner) and then adhered to. I
think it helps if all new signons receive the List policy statement
and etiquette automatically at signon (as well as, or instead of,
the usual "virtually yours" blurb that goes out.
It is important that members both old and new know exactly what the
list is supposed to focus on. It's amazing how many lists simply
depend on their cryptic names to impart this information to their
members. This list, for example, has a very general name that could
accomodate postings on almost any subject. On my own list, which is
for teachers of English to foreigners (TESL-L), the membership was
invited to participate in drawing up an etiquette or guidelines
statement. This statement now goes out to all new signons and
regularly to "old" members too. Among other things, it states what
the focus of the list is, and mentions some topics that are
NOT what we are about (linguistics, for example, and cross-cultural
communications) and gives the names of other lists that DO focus on
those issues.
We now have a very clean, lean list, even though it is also
extremely active.
2. Create "sub"-lists for those members of your list who have special
interests and who want to carry on "conversations" on those topics.
Censorship is NEVER the answer to any problem, and it is a terrible precedent
to set. Those of us who are involved and interested in computer-mediated
communications should never lose sight of the potential for abuse.
Anthea Tillyer
|