[Sigia-l] moderation (of various sorts)

[Beth Mazur]

George writes:
>I agree with Peter. CHI-Web lacks the vibrancy we have here. 

Hmmm. I guess one person's vibrancy may be another person's
mental masturbation. CHI-WEB may not be vibrant, but I've
been appreciative of the "brain trust" on the list (like Don Norman)
who have been compelled to stick around, presumably because
of what they perceive to be a sufficiently high signal-to-noise ratio.

All this said, I'm not really a hardcore moderation fan. I grant you that
that the censorship aspects of it are problematic,  but it is also a
*royal* pain to manage (CHI-WEB has a very dedicated coordinator 
and a team of rotating moderators.)

Besides, all this said, the moderation issue may disguise a bigger 
problem, which is that it is possible that a large number of people have 
already vacated this list (in spirit if not in actual subscribership) 
for the relative "safety" of the AIfIA list. 

>The question is how to best deal with it.. 

Exactly. The best tactic may be to back off the moderation and visit 
the issue in a more methodic way. One, what do the bulk of the list 
members want? Two, whatever that Dick Hill/ASIST decides as the 
list manager, can we help prevent this kind of signal-to-noise 
dampening in the future? Maybe it's regular posting reminders 
(TECHWR-L does this). Maybe it's listmoms who help rein in a 
discussion run amuck (DCWW does this). Maybe it's just to let
these things run their course (and put that in the welcome letter)?

>Consequently, I agree with Peter and Ziya that the silent treatment 
>is usually the most effective.

Yep. The saddest thing is that these kinds of discussions are exactly
the thing that your garden-variety troll is trying to create. But 
we humans are such a funny lot...it's easy to read (and know)
that the silent treatment is the "right" choice. But try to do it  :).

Beth Mazur
IDblog: http://idblog.org