[Tango-L] Back in business

[Shahrukh Merchant]

> Before the list comes back into business, we need to have a conversation
> about moderation. I don't have statistics but I'm guessing 5% of the old
> list caused 80% of the problems, e.g. flames and ad hominem attacks.

Oh, that was going to be part of my Part 2 for tomorrow, but don't let 
that stop the rest of you from opining meanwhile ...

> Then
> there was the problem that new members couldn't join unless their first
> message was approved. Without approval, their message stayed in moderation
> status and was never posted.

Actually, it doesn't work like that at all. Anyone can join (they get an 
auto-confirm message to click to confirm their email address like 
anything else you join with an email address). Their first posts are 
moderated, as with almost all fora, mostly to catch spammers, and 
secondarily to catch newbie mistakes. (Those put back on moderation for 
misbehaviour are few and far between, probably more like 0.5%, though 
there are some "defensive" cases where someone's email address got 
hacked and started sending auto-spam to their address book including the 
list.)

> Unfortunately, it all fell on Shahrukh. He needs to staff to monitor
> messages and add new members. Otherwise, Tango L will burn again.

There is no "staff." New members don't need to be added manually--they 
add themselves. Moderation can take as little or as much time as the 
moderator wishes (more on that tomorrow).

> Came home to New York where the Argentine Tango is better

[Administrator hat off]
Hmm, do I even want to get into this? Perhaps we should know where you 
were before. ;-)

Shahrukh