For those who are considering moderation of one list or another, let us consider our
moderation options:
1. Each post from ALL subscribers must be approved.
2. Only posts from "naughty" subscribers need approved.
3. No moderation (status quo)
I myself reject option #1, since it would take way too much time. It would overwork any
finite group of moderators. It would prevent urgent messages from being passed on quickly.
(If this were the only option, I would withdraw my support for Larry's idea of
moderation altogether.)
Option #2 means that posts would be transmitted immediately, as they are now. The
exception, however, would be that a moderator could mark any subscriber's posts as
requiring "administrative approval" (this phrase comes from the mailing list
software). It would only be the small number of subscribers whose posts would be filtered
by the moderators. Each post held for approval would then either be passed on or rejected.
If rejected, it would get the appropriate comments:
* reason for rejection
* notice of right-of-appeal
I would expect that anyone whose post was rejected, would then either:
(A) Clean up their language and participate like an adult, or
(B) Go sulk, like a naughty child (thus proving that they did indeed merit the "time
out")
In either case, I predict that only someone who was deliberately working against the
project would refuse to comply with the simple, easy-to-follow rules of civil discourse:
exactly the kind of *ahem* troll no one wants on a mailing list anyway.
Ed Poor