A few comments on moderation...
> 2) Moderator transparency. Moderators should sign what they approve.
I agree with this. Much as I appreciate the good will and efforts
of the current/ex moderator(s?), reading their rules and reminders
posted anonymously always leaves me with a bad taste, though I'm
very sure that's not what's intended.
> 4) Participant accountability. [posters use real name]
And this too.
And I'd go further and remove the current ban on attributing quotes.
It strikes me as rude to not attribute content, and I don't think
it's been successful at its stated goal, which if I recall correctly
was to encourage us all to debate ideas and not pick on people.
Another thing: having the software force "reply to list only"
(via Reply-To) is IMHO counterproductive. It means that when it's
more appropriate to take something off list and reply to the poster,
it's a pain to do it. I suspect that this may have been set because
people forget to "reply to all" when that's what they mean; it
might be worth exploring what other settings are available for Reply-To.
I participate in this group via e-mail; I rarely use the web site,
and I'm not familiar with Listserv software, so I don't know what
tools are available to the moderators, but if I were a moderator,
I'd want an easy way to reject a posting with a reason, e.g. "trim the
trailing quote and repost, please". If such a tool isn't available on
the current moderation platform, perhaps a new one should be sought.
Not letting people know that their postings were rejected, and why,
again can leave potential contributors upset for no good reason.
And definitely moderating a mailing list isn't a one-person job.
I'm glad to see people stepping forward to help; you all (former
and future moderators) have my thanks.
Anne, backyard beekeeper, Montreal, and former USENET newsmaster/moderator.
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