Re: Mailing List Quality (Was: Certainty, Experiments & Facts)
Peter Voss (p.voss@ix.netcom.com)
Sun, 29 Sep 1996 16:21:11 -0700
Robin Hanson wrote:
....
>The quality of a mailing list is a fragile thing. If just takes a few
>"bad apples" willing to post enough junk, and then people will stop
>bothering to post a reply to every post they think is below par. And
>it goes down from there.
>
>I think the net is in great need of some innovate alternatives to the
>stark alternatives of open vs. moderated lists. One idea I've played
>with is a list pair, one open and one closed (to posting, but readable
>by all). To apply for membership in the closed list, you submit five
>of your recent posts to the open list, which are forwarded to three
>random closed list members for consideration.
I'm in favor of some such list. I have just unsubscribed from transhuman
list and am about to unsubscribe from the extropy list because even just
scanning the often 40 or more messages a day is, to me, not worth the
benefit - too many insults, too much irrationality and too much shooting
from the hip. Yet, there are a number of very knowledgable, highly
intelligent and polite writers on these lists. I like the concept of peer
reviewed contribution admission to a public list.
Anyone want to run with this ball?
Peter