Folks,
I missed part of this discussion (for obvious reasons I lost interest), but
since it seems to be moving in that direction, I'll throw in my two
smallest-local-currency-units. I'm a lurker (in old usenet parlance) on this
list: reading, but very rarely posting. There are probably many of us, but the
others are posting even more rarely...
As long as we don't get real off-topic discussions that attract the weirdos of
the Internet (global warming anybody? intelligent design? even C/Fortran tends
to peter out quickly nowadays), I am opposed to censorship (aka moderation).
The simplistic arguments are:
1) This is my own, selfish, most important argument: it costs time! When, every
two years, I have a technical question for the list, I don't want to wait until
the USA is out of bed and hope that the moderator isn't at a conference for a
week.
2) You need a moderator. It's quite some work, so it will only be done by
somebody who gets some satisfaction out of it. This means that the job will
attract exactly the kind of people who will not moderate neutrally and
dispassionately. Even if they try, there's the fact that power corrupts. You're
tempted to censor views that are too far from your own ("ludicrous" is the word
you would use), and in the end you have an in-crowd confirming each other's
views.
3) You are opening yourself to lawsuits. If something is said on the list that,
let's say Intel's corporate lawyers find defamatory, they may go after the
moderator.
If you really find somebody's views (and their presentation) objectionable,
just killfile them (it's called "filter" in the 21st century). And if certain
people think ad hominem attacks help their case, ignore them instead of
thinking you can look dignified in taking them on in their own game. You won't.
Back to those dark alleys where we lurkers feel at home...
Herbert
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