On Monday, October 21, 2002, Don Zeigler wrote: D> My copy of phpbb isn't doing much -- I could stick up a TB board and see D> what happens. As far as moderation, by their very nature message boards are D> rather more freewheeling than a more-ordered mailing list, instead being D> much like newsgroups.
How freewheeling a message board, mailing list, or newsgroup is depends very much on their purposes. You can find examples of each that are strict about posting rules. D> In that spirit not much moderation would be needed unless a flame war D> broke out. I can't agree with you here, Don, when it comes to a message board intended primarily to provide software support. I run such a board myself and participate in more than I would like (software developers these days seem to think support forums are a substitute for adequate documentation). It's my experience that the most useful software support boards are those where the moderators are quite ruthless in keeping threads on-topic, preventing thread branching, and moving threads to the appropriate forums. I don't think a board for the TB would be very useful or successful without good moderation. One of the advantages today's Web boards have over newsgroups is they provide the tools for good after-the-fact moderation. -- Paula The Bat! 1.61 (reg) Windows 98 4.10 Build 2222 ________________________________________________ Current version is 1.61 | "Using TBUDL" information: http://www.silverstones.com/thebat/TBUDLInfo.html
