[Tango-L] To moderate or not to moderate... be aware of Miles argument

[Amaury de Siqueira]

My first experience with list moderation date as far
back as 1993-4 with the
KMUG (Kansai Mac Users Group) list.  At the end of the
day moderation was as
detrimental to the list as non-moderation.

One of the rationales behind list moderation is
sustenance of an online
community.  Implicit in this argument is the idea that
constant disruption
and flame war is likely to push certain members to
leave the community thus
eroding the quality of membership and content of
postings.

The bottom line for me is the 'age' of a list.  That
is, an old established
list with strong membership and displaying high
quality posting may not be
susceptible to the eroding effects of flame and
disruption.  It seems to me
that this list's quality FAR exceed the once in a
while virulent posting of
some listeras. ;)

Some flames evolve into rich discussion and edifying
exchanges.  Nina's
abhorrent posting is a good case in point.  I learned
as a result of an
initial nonsensical posting - (thank you to
Konstantin, Huck, and all
others) 

A censored list may strip the list of its richness of
expression.  Granted
we should all try to display certain level of
civility.   However, I must
say that the entertainment value of some postings
bring a smile to my face.
That alone makes it all worthwhile.  

Cheers,
Amaury

  

-----Original Message-----
From: tango-l-bounces at mit.edu
[mailto:tango-l-bounces at mit.edu] On Behalf Of
m i l e s
Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2007 3:11 PM
To: tango-l at mit.edu
Subject: [Tango-L] A Cautionary Phrase (was:
Acrimoniousness)

Hi,

After reading everyones responses my post about
Acrimoniousness...

"You can tell a fool he's doing a foolish thing, it
may not change  
anything, but at least the truth is where it needs to
be". - Kosh,  
Vorlon Ambassador, Babylon 5.

Oh and one thing about list moderation, the list
moderator in my  
estimation in question isn't doing a good job of list
moderation if  
they're acting like that.  A good list moderator,
shepherds the  
conversation and doesn't stifle it!  That's a rare
skill and not  
everyone is cut out for it, so its wise when starting
a list to pick  
someone ELSE other than yourself to moderate a list.

Lastly, I find it interesting that you folks took the
better portion  
of my note and discarded it in favor of focusing on
the one thing  
that was an after thought, the list moderation.  As a
friend of mine  
once said, "People are gonna do what they're gonna do,
and you can't  
change that.  But you can influence them by how you
carry yourself."

M i l e s.
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