What I did when the relatively new SWIP-L was getting out of hand was to post a long ruminating message about what I had had in mind when starting the list and in it I asked subscribers to respond and discuss whether this was what they wanted. After a few days of getting responses on the list and privately with suggestions (and only one of the flamers responded negatively) I then sent a Here's What I'm Going To Do message that repeated the parameters of the list. I said that if the discussion drifted too far afield I would either send a message to the list or counsel with people privately. If anyone persisted in posting stuff that was inappropriate I reserved the right to remove them from the list. The response to this was positive from everyone I heard from. To make it work, though, I had to change my header settings so that only list members could send messages and subscriptions now go through me. If the person requesting a subscription is not a SWIP member (Society for Women in Philosopy) I first send them a letter introducing themto the goals and purposes of the list and ask them to let me know if they still want to subscribe. If they say they do, I subscribe them. If the person is a member I subscribe them immediately and then send a welcome letter that contains pretty much the same info as the introductory lettter. Since we've done this the list has been going along smoothly (though it's a lot less exciting than it was during "the great moonie debate"!) Linda *************************************************************** Linda Lopez McAlister/HYPATIA: Journal of Feminist Philosophy, Women's Studies Dept. Arts and Sciences,_USF, Tampa, FL 33620 813-974-5531.dllafaa@cfrvm or [log in to unmask]