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>From Eric's original ADMIN: Civility and content note:
> I repeat: In my opinion, the root cause of the problem
> is not that people do not know what acceptable
> professional behavior is; the cause is that many list
> members do not choose to demonstrate professional
> behavior.
I agree. Education will not increase civility. If you are online and uncivil, techwr-l isn't going to instill what your parents did not.
The names/statistics posted at the top of this thread, the looking at numbers one, convince me that limiting postings will not increase civility either. Nope.
Moderation could increase civility. And yet while I love the idea of moderating a new subscriber's posts for the first n posts, (maybe even toss in a length of subscription factor ... frequent posters get moderated longer on a per note bases than infrequent posters), I suspect that moderation of any kind, certiainly moderating all posts, is not sustainable. Nope.
If everyone were to ignore rude posts, and even better, to totally ignore repeatedly rude posters (even their civil posts), they'd all eventually leave or at worst, talk amongst themselves. Problem solved. But, of course, it is just as impossible to instill restraint as it is civility. Several someones will always be unwilling to ignore rude posts or unaware that they should. Nope.
Best to do your best to develop a thick skin if you intend to post and a quick delete key finger in any case.
Again from Eric's original ADMIN: Civility and content note:
> I'm partially just thinking aloud, and partially
> looking for suggestions. What I've considered,
> and rejected for now:
> *** deleted ***
> * Continue as we are.
> Might as well pull the plug now, 'cause there'd be no
> list worth having in another 6-12 months. I don't
> see that as acceptable either.
I can't agree with Eric here. Much as I can sympathize with his frustration, especially given the amount of his time he dedicates (not thanklessly, but it surely must feel so at times), there is still lots of signal. Yes, it may be that we are in a high noise phase of our lifecycle, but those who find value will stay. The same small number, percentage-wise, of those who stay (or join, or return) and choose to contribute will perpetuate that signal. Yup.
See you in ten years at our twentieth anniversary.
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