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From: oyster@uwmacc.UUCP (Vicious Oyster)
Newsgroups: net.news.group
Subject: Re: moderation in all things (sorry :-)
Message-ID: <1632@uwmacc.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 1-Nov-85 11:56:09 EST
Article-I.D.: uwmacc.1632
Posted: Fri Nov  1 11:56:09 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 3-Nov-85 04:37:11 EST
References: <245@mit-eddie.UUCP> <136@vcvax1.UUCP> <687@ucsfcgl.UUCP> <5647@amdcad.UUCP>
Reply-To: oyster@uwmacc.UUCP (Vicious Oyster)
Distribution: na
Organization: UWisconsin-Madison Academic Comp Center
Lines: 33

In article <5647@amdcad.UUCP> jimb@amdcad.UUCP (Jim Budler) writes:
>
>The problem with mod.anything has always been that the moderator
>'evaluates' the posting.  His criteria will vary according to:
>
>	1) His beliefs.
>	2) How much time he has.
>
>What happened to 'the free interchange of ideas'.  Can't you gurus come
>up with a mechanism of control which does not depend on your placing
>people of your choice in a position of power to control the flow of 
>ideas and expressions to the rest of us out here?

   The "gurus" will correct me if I'm wrong, but a moderator is somebody
who cares enough about the moderated subject to take the non-trivial amount
of time, patience, storage space, etc., to do the work required of her/him.
I sincerely doubt that anybody would take on the job if they had no interest
in the subject matter.
   As for the free interchange of ideas, it seems you get what you pay for.
To cite a recent example, the "free interchange of ideas" in net.SF-Lovers
resulted in tens of messages (>30) which collectively yielded only three
ideas, of which two were (in my 'umble opinion) more or less common knowledge.
If you want a more technical example, look at the recent "ideas" being
tossed about in net.micro, net.micro.mac, net.micro.atari, net.micro.cbm,
net.micro.amiga, etc.  Take away most of the Steve Jobs, Amiga vs 520ST,
and Apple vs. DRI flamage and you get a reasonable volume of informative
postings.  If it takes a moderator to do that, I'm all for it.
   Now, if only somebody would volunteer...

 - joel "vo" plutchak
   {allegra,ihnp4,seismo}!uwvax!uwmacc!oyster

Can you say "opinion"?  I *knew* you could!