Many subscribers are wondering about the NOREVIEW message they received
from LISTSERV regarding BEE-L.
 
The message you received was notification sent from LISTSERV that your
subscription option for BEE-L was set by me to NOREVIEW.  REVIEW/NOREVIEW
options on LISTSERV subscriptions determine whether you can post directly
to the list or if your post must first be approved by the list owner.
REVIEW means your post must be approved before being posted, NOREVIEW
means all your postings have been pre-approved.
 
For the past few days I have been learning how to make BEE-L a moderated
list.  Let me say up front I have no desire to play net police.  However
repeated requests that subscribers keep posts "pertinent" and that
subscribers keep requoted material to a minimum have been fruitless.
The only way to "enforce" these requests is to moderate the list.  Since
some time last week I have been setting everyone's options to REVIEW when I
come into the office, evaluating the impact on the list owner and resetting
everyone's options back to NOREVIEW when I leave for the day.  When I do
this I can use a QUIET option which tells LISTSERV to change the options
but don't tell anyone.  This afternoon I left off the QUIET option and
let the cat out of the bag.  I had intended to make full disclosure
after I figured out what I am doing.
 
Also let me say that so far I have approved all posts to BEE-L, regardless
of content.  However in the near future I will begin to discard
impertinent postings and will return to senders those postings which
contain excessive quotes from previous posts and postings to BEE-L
which are more appropriately kept private between two subscribers.
 
I suspect this will be objectionable to some subscribers.  However, it
is an undenyable fact that fully 40% of what has been posted to the list
since April 1 is useless noise.  Again, I have no desire to play net
police and I strongly object to censorship.  But I am no longer willing
to put in the work required of a list owner without being able to ensure
that the list is top quality.  BEE-L has lost many valuable and top
notch members of the beekeeping community because it is just simply too
noisy.  I have had private correspondence with some subscribers
regarding this issue.  I intended to implement list moderation with the
conclusion of the CONFIRM BEE-L exercise, which wraps up on April 15.
For those who don't care to remain on a moderated BEE-L there are
alternatives.  Full instructions will follow.
 
In the meantime, I've let the cat out of the bag, floodgates are open,
comments requested, all are welcome.
 
Aaron Morris - thinking damn, should've used the QUIET option!