Rebecca Allbritton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote
>At 01:46 PM 1/24/00 -0800, Bill Cole wrote:
>>GML is a nice place, but here are some simple suggestions that I think
>>would make it even nicer. Some minor changes to GML Charter and
>>Guidelines.
>
>I really like the way the moderators moderate a couple of other lists I'm
>on. If someone starts acting up and won't go away, the moderator can set
>them to Read Only mode, so they can't post to the list. After someone posts
>one "unsubscribe" message to the list, the same thing happens - someone
>will probably help the person out, but if they don't, it's not the job of
>list members to keep track of instructions for everyone else on the list,
>and the instructions for subscribing & unsubscribing are either posted
>weekly or available at a link on the bottom of each message.
>
>Just the ability to instantly silence anyone helps to keep the lists
>peaceful places, even though arguments over *ideas* (& not personalities)
>can get pretty heated. A moderator with the power to toss people from the
>list is an excellent answer to people who say, "you can't make me" or "you
>can't do anything to me."
That is a lot of power to give someone. It also requires a person who is
both trusted to act promptly and reasonably. If you a have more than one
moderator they need to be alike in views or moderation will be
inconsistent.
Another problem is that all the moderated lists I have used were set up
by a current user and moderator. The two people who created this list do
not subscribe anymore so who has the authority to decide what is
unacceptable behaviour and what isn't?
Right now, it is up to all of us to decide this. Our views are
represented by the charter and if someone acts inappropriately it is
easy to ignore them.
>
>I know most people don't like change, but I really feel, just from the few
>short months I have been here, that moving the list to a server where it
>could be moderated by *someone* who actively reads it would be very
>beneficial to the list. I do wish those of you with voices that carry more
>weight would reconsider your decision.
I for one would not like to have to decide what was appropriate for this
list or not. This list existed for four years with almost no problems.
The one or two major rows were between people who are still here and
have made up! Most of the problems have only arisen in the last year to
18 months.
I would suggest that the problems we have seen in the last year or so
have been due to a number of factors.
One of these is that the list has always, and increasingly, is a chat
area for people who are enthusiastic about gerbils. About two years ago
most posts were about genetics. Before that, most posts were about
gerbil problems which we all worked together to sort out.
Several people have suggested splitting this list. If it were to be
split, which I don't really want, I would prefer a split on the lines
of:
a) Gerbil help/technical
b) Gerbil chat, birth announcements etc.
This would allow people who want to concentrate on hard data to stick to
one list, and people who wanted to be freer about what they talked about
to use a different forum.
I don't want o limit discussion to only strict gerbil subjects that are
hard and factual. I like the fact that this list has wide ranging
discussions. I understand that some people find this irritating but I
don't want the list to become as sterile and humourless as other
moderated lists I have used.
The big problem I see is that whatever we do, moderation, splitting the
list etc, it will all require responsible behaviour by the users of the
list(s).
I have been impressed by the responsible way that recent problems died
away when people stopped discussing them. I think that this is a good
example of how we can moderate ourselves.
--
Julian
************************************************************************
* Jackie and Julian *
* [EMAIL PROTECTED] *
* National Gerbil Society *
* http://www.gerbils.co.uk/ *
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