TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Moderate techwr-l? From:Bonni Graham <bonnig -at- IX -dot- NETCOM -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 5 Jan 1995 22:06:51 -0800
I have to come out against moderating the group. For one thing, it a
tremendous investment of time to do so. For another, I've been on
moderated electronic discussions, and things end up sounding stilted.
Right now, techwr-l is roughly analagous to a large water cooler in the
tech pubs dept break room, for me. Sometimes the topics are of direct
interest, sometimes they're not.
I know it's annoying to read mailer-daemon replies (although they're
clearly posted in the subject lines -- deleting them outright has worked
for me so far). It's also irritating to see ads, but for the year I've
been on, I've only seen two that I really objected to. That's much
better odds than any other medium can offer. As for flame wars, a)
again, my delete key still seems to work pretty well, and b) I've seen
worse arguments break out at parties, but I don't ask my hosts (or
myself) to modertate.
It just feels to me that bringing on a moderator is admitting that we're
all still at the sand-box level of interaction, and I just don't things
are that bad.
Bonni Graham
Owner, Manual Labour
bonnig -at- ix -dot- netcom -dot- com
