Monahon, Peter B. wrote:
Earlier: "... one duty that I would add is preventing blatant "George-is-gay" style vandalism ..."
I think of vandalism on a list-serve more as someone being promoted to moderator and then deleting the archive. Your example sounds "off topic" to me - not about wikien or wikien-l. In other words, rather than considering the content offensive and therefore it must be punished or eradicated for that, I consider the content off topic and can simply be deleted, the poster moderated, and a note to the group saying so.
Two rules:
[1] No spam - delete it and unsubscribe the poster.
[2] No off topic threads - delete it and moderate the poster if they repeat. Allowing only on-topic posts through, with multiple co-moderators so someone on moderation has an avenue of appeal.
The spammers and blatant vandals are unlikely to be subscribed in the first place. Your definition of "off-topic" seems a little eccentric, and perhaps too highly inclusive. We have editors who would complain that anything that deviates from the strict reading of the subject line is off-topic. I tend to be more sweeping in what I will consider acceptable.
PS - Who's George, and who cares about anyone else's sexuality ... unless they're looking for a reproduction partner?
For many it is probably an otherwise unidentified school chum. Some might even be thinking of President George III. :-) Repressed teens can be very concerned with sexuality, and many of them are not particularly skilled in looking for a reproduction partner.
Ec