[Molvis-list] To the moderator (and list admin)

[timothy driscoll]

On 2004-11-21 (12:41) Frances C. Bernstein wrote:

>Dear Eric,
>
>You raised a number of different issues in your answer
>about moderating the molvis list.  I would like to comment on some
>of them.
>
>1. Moderating a list introduces some delay in messages getting out. 
>What about having more people authorized to clear messages?  There
>are a number of people who seem to spend a lot of time in front of
>their computers who could be trusted to do this.  And it would be
>helpful to add moderators around the world (especially in Europe) so
>that other time zones are covered.  Having more moderators would
>also allow for vacations, conferences, etc.
>
>2. I think that moderating the list is a good idea.  We all get too
>much spam or irrelevant messages already.
>

greetings,

I have not commented in detail yet on this topic, preferring to wait
until the transition to the new server is complete.  however, in general
I agree with the Frances' two points above.

but...instead of having a multitude of pre-post moderators, I have been
very happy with lists that adopt a 'list-mom' policy.  IOW, some number
of subscribers (global) that monitor the list frequently are given the
status of list-mom, empowered with the authority to respond to off-topic
or inflammatory posts, and even blocking future posts in a thread or
recommending removal of a subscriber if necessary.

this would do away with the waiting period before posts appear and, if a
nasty email slips through, keeps all of the discourse public - so we can
*all* see who is trying to make trouble ;-)


oh, and spam filters are a necessity, of course.  I imagine, though I
haven't confirmed, that bioinformatics.org will have something available
(SpamAssassin?).

 
>3. It is my personal strong opinion that allowing the moderator to
>add comments to an e-mail is a very bad idea.  If the moderator has
>an opinion or contribution on some matter, it should be in a
>separate e-mail.  This would avoid possible confusion about who is
>speaking.  In addition, the moderator is the person who makes sure
>that e-mails are appropriate to the list, not some person whose
>opinions should carry more weight.  Confusing the roles of moderator
>and commentator is not a good idea.
>
I fully agree with this point.


regards,

tim
-- 
Timothy Driscoll
molvisions - see, grasp, learn.
<http://www.molvisions.com/>
usa:north carolina:wake forest