Ted had an interesting suggestion. "In this scenario there is a moderator,
but her/his role in this case is simply to "kill" a subscriber who is
repeatedly out of line."
It is somewhat similar to the "twit vote" suggested a little while ago. But
I see some potential dangers in it.
We have had three members here recently who appear to (possibly) exhibit
characteristics that might make some people send a note to a moderator
suggesting they be barred. Two of them, however, made claims which --
although preposterous -- were still claims which MIGHT have been of
interest. The third simply tossed off one liners -- we have many of his ilk
on my Compuserve Forum.
I am really struggling with the question of whether, had such a policy been
in effect, I would have, myself, complained to the moderator. My gut feel is
that I would not have done so. Yes -- there was "noise," but that may be the
price we must pay for a free conversation. Much in the same way as we must
tolerate crude and distasteful speech, even pornographic speech, in the
marketplace of ideas in order to make sure the First Amendment concept
continues to thrive.
I have mentioned before that HOTMAIL has a "Junk Mail" filter, and it seems
to be working well for me. When I sign on I see the filtered message count;
I can look at them but after checking a few times I no longer bother. My
Juno ISP has a similar feature. I think mant email systems now must have it.
Then there is this question. Joe Blow posts some trivia on the LISTSERV and
one person complains. Obviously the moderator will do nothing. Then two
people complain. Then three, four, ... . How many makes a critical mass?
Let's pick a number -- 10 ought to do it.
But then Joe Blow complains about some mild-mannered poster such as -- say
-- my good friend Glenn Morton. He also gets ten of his buddies to complain.
Boom! There goes Glenn! Or any of us.
Again, my 2c worth. Perhaps worth only 1c.
Hoss (aka Burgy)
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Apr 24 2002 - 17:42:12 EDT