Maybe you wrote to BEE-L and did not see your post make the list.  If so,
you are probably wondering why.

As most are aware, I am one of the moderators of this list.   The job is
shared between a number of us and the idea is that, by having a group of
diverse types on different continents, posts should be okayed in almost
real-time twenty-four hours a day.  And they are.

There are four moderators who are very different one from another. One
thing we do share is a strong abhorance for 'censorship'. (although the
odd post is so rank that all of the moderators turn up their nose at it,
and it goes nowhere).  So the odds are much better than 100:1 that that is
not why your post never made the list.

Why I am writing you today, dear friends, is that once or twice a week I
see a post that is really quite worthwhile, but it is sent in HTML format,
has a nasty long business card attachment, has the vile little virus
'happy.exe' attached or -- most commonly -- has huge long quotes from a
previous submission included.  Usually the writer is unaware that he or
she is sending HTML or business cards or happy.exe, or is unable to figure
out how not to quote everything in the previous submission.  I guess we
are all learning...

It bothers me that I cannot okay such posts, because I know the writer had
good intentions and wanted to contribute.  Due the huge volume and the
fact that we all are very busy, we usually ignore such posts and and hope
that the writer figures out after a while why the post died and re-submits
it.  If the post is exceptionally good or timely, sometimes a moderator
will write the author and explain the problem and beg that the author re-
submit.

Anyhow, that's how it works. The periodic posting of guidelines (coming
shortly) is worth keeping handy when you are writing for the list.  And I
hope you do write, because the reason that most of you did not see your
post on this list is that you did not write one -- yet.

allen
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Some Background: The reason the list moved to moderation from open posting
-- after much soul-searching on the part of members -- is is that SPAM,
binaries, HTML posts and long quotes were beginning to clog the logs and
overwhelm the membership.  Occasional flame wars, although very mild by
'net standards, periodically offended the vast majority of members who are
here for the bees, not tomfoolery.

Our logs are a precious resource and constitute our FAQ.  Moderation has
spared list members SPAM, chain letters, binaries, HTML files, a couple of
pointless flames, and a lot of huge quotes followed by 'Mee Too... and the
logs are now much easier to read when you wish to research a question.

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