Subject: Re: Moderation
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From: Phoenyx <quazar@dcnet2000.com>
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Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2000 11:49:26 -0500
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> Perhaps David Empson, with his recent complaint of csa2's lack of
> content, would be interested in a position as moderator?  I don't
> have the history with csa2 to really appreciate who would make a
> good candidate or not; just throwing out the idea.  I can
> definately see where impartiality in a candidate for moderator
> would be difficult to find.

Which strengthens my point regarding Delphi in the other thread. You
already have a division of users. Those moderated Delphi users come
here to discuss, gripe, rant and rave regarding issues they cannot
discuss in their own moderated group.

Whether you believe it or not, Delphi is closer to CSA2 than you
think. It is a group of dedicated Apple II users who post messages
in a forum regarding the Apple II series of computers. It is publicly
available for free and widely known to most Apple II users on the
net. The only real differences are the method used to read and reply
to these messages and the group of users who congregate there. Plus
the fact that it is moderated by the very same group of people who
come here and participate in many of the 'debates' regarding software
copyrights and related topics.

> I'd like to note that newsgroup moderation *does* work.  Look at
> comp.lang.c.moderated if you want to see an example of it in
> action.  I don't understand why this proposal is being compared to
> the Delphi forum. Usenet isn't Delphi.

For many topics, it probably does work. If CSA2 were for specific
Apple II topics, this might make more sense. However, CSA2 is a
general newsgroup for Apple II users. This includes new users,
emulator users, software issues (including copyright), hardware
issues etc... 

Granted that SPAM is annoying, along with certain topics and the
flame wars they encourage. IMHO, moderation is still not the answer
for this public forum. The answer is really pretty simple, and often
noted by many in this group.

All users should express their ideas in an intelligent, civil manner
and refrain from purposely insulting the ideas or expressions of
others.

This is not very difficult. After a little practice I find that even
I am able to manage it. I am often blunt and have been known to lack
civility and common courtesy on occasion. Sometimes my messages have
been misinterpreted as flames because of this and improper wording.
To avoid such problems, I try and proofread them for content as well
as errors. If everyone practiced this method of posting and ignored
those whose only purpose here is to start flame wars, there would be
no need for moderation.

> The idea behind moderation isn't to create a schism within a
> community. It's to prevent it from happening!  The schism in csa2
> seems to already have been created, with folks like David Empson as
> casualties of its flame wars.

David was not really a casualty, he chooses not to participate in
lieu of posting his own messages or starting threads which contain
topics which interest him. Considering his vast knowledge of Apple
II hardware and software, I am surprised this hasn't happened sooner.

This is not to imply that I don't like him. On the contrary, I find
him to be very knowledgeable regarding many topics. His Apple II info
is often very useful in clarifying specific points of confusion in a
variety of threads. Even now he is working on the new ethernet board
project and may be one of the reasons this piece of hardware comes
into existence.

> Maybe the idea of a moderated csa2 is too Orwellian, too "1984" for
> some users.

LOL, You may be right. I know I have a 'Big Brother' complex and
often advocate that users be wary of loosing control of the various
freedoms they enjoy. This is why I advocate against a moderated II
newsgroup. All that is really required is a little effort on the
readers part to skip over, ignore or 'killfile' offending threads,
messages or posters as they see fit. The only advantage which
moderation offers is having someone else do this for you. In this
case, you must trust this person enough to know s/he isn't deleting
messages you may want to read.

-- 

Thank you for your time and interest. I hope it was helpful
or at least interesting.

Phoenyx,

Apple2 user since March 1984

Links to Phoenyx's pages:
preferred..... http://zip.to/Phoenyx_A2
alternate..... http://www.tinyangeldesigns.com/Apple2