Subject: Re: Moderation
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From: Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>
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Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2000 23:59:03 -0500
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Michael Murray writes ...
> 
 ....
 
> 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.

     Another narrow-focus group. Csa2 covers all aspects of Apple II
computing. This includes whatever issues users wish to debate.


> don't understand why this proposal is being compared to the Delphi forum.
> Usenet isn't Delphi.

     True, however, a couple of old A2 forums on Delphi are good examples of
what happens when moderation runs amok-- i.e. you get a dead zone.


> 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,

     When nearly all but a handful of users agree that old software should be
openly and freely available, one hardly has a "schism".

     What you have is a collapsing clique of self-proclaimed "elite users".
It was their choice to invent phony "law", call users "pirates", and oppose
the will of the vast majority on an issue critical to the continued growth of
II computing.

     Despite this, these persons need a place to present and argue their
position just as much as any other Apple II user. (For sure, thanks to
heavy-handed moderation, they cannot have such debates on their own Delphi
forums!)  So, they come to Csa2.


> with folks like David Empson as casualties of its flame wars.

     Actually, David's complaint was not about the debates; it was that, for
a few days, the debates were just about the only posted content. So he went
off to the programmer sub-group for a time. As already mentioned, that is not
unusual behavior.


> No just moderator would censor a thread of "Here's how to convert RS232 to
> RS422" or "I need help with a GS/OS 5 driver", whether the post came from a
> so-called Turlette, Vogon, or User.

     Which leads to the observation that we do have a comp.sys.apple2.comm
newsgroup virtually totally free of any issues discussions. Why do you
suppose that hardly anyone would post the serial conversion question there?
It is because practically everyone is here, on the big bad old newsgroup
which, among other things, debates issues.


> All I can see that csa2 would lose in
> the conversion would be the 25-level deep threads about piracy and the
> general flames.

     This completely misses the whole point of having an open newsgroup.
Users ask and answer questions. They also discuss and debate what they wish
to (as you are doing now).


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

     Maybe. Mainly, it's just an idea that would gum things up and slow them
down. There is enough of this other places on the net.



Rubywand