On Friday, January 3, 2003, at 12:39 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Did you not notice an offensive and slanderous ad hominen attack?IPUT have forwarded several interesting links to the list
Suspension is another technique used by moderated and semi-moderated lists. It's quite effective. The people get to say their bits and then are forced to 'lay low', generally because they didn't care enough to be thoughtful to begin with, (or were just too self-enamored to think about anyone else). Then they come back. Sometimes it takes a while but it's freedom vs. privacy vs. license (rights of the individual/group) and eventually there's a list equilibrium.
Poison has its places, but requires patience and good judgment to shepherd, not just explosive bile.
It takes a lot to be suspended. And those who provoke it aren't concerned about it enough to curtail their normal behavior. After a while can coerce more thoughtful behavior instead, not necessarily limited, it doesn't really restrict or dull. Envelope-pushers and rebels can have free reign. And not be restricted within a defined dialogue. What structured standard there is, should be open.
Suspensions are often in episodes, like drinking wine in the bathroom, smoking cigarettes at the reservoir, cheating, lying about a friend, drugs or other, etc. Less often it's centered around a particular lunatic. Cruelty and extreme stupidity provoke suspension and censure; it's also abused by authority which doesn't have anything better to do. But that's unlikely to be the situation here. The present authority, loose as it is, is more negligent and benign than dictatorial, though any action taken under the rubric of authority will offend someone. Prohibition, execution and expulsion or would you prefer to be swallowed alive by sewerage and junk mail? See the Finnish model of criminal enforcement <http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/02/international/europe/02FINL.html>, it's not exactly tyranny.
The democracy/vote model is probably a good one. Expulsion is a valuable tool, not just a manipulative lack of utter relativity disguised as a unilateral value judgment.
Like the people at one of the jobs I work at say: "Get those fucking idiots off the phone! They're full of shit."
<<cheese>>
