X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: f996b,ff4ed0ea99b515e4 X-Google-Attributes: gidf996b,public X-Google-Thread: 110f55,ff4ed0ea99b515e4 X-Google-Attributes: gid110f55,public X-Google-Thread: f9437,ff4ed0ea99b515e4 X-Google-Attributes: gidf9437,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 1994-05-24 12:18:39 PST Path: bga.com!news.sprintlink.net!get.hooked.net!rjl.com!olivea!charnel.ecst.csuchico.edu!nic-nac.CSU.net!usc!howland.reston.ans.net!wupost!waikato!canterbury.ac.nz!equinox.gen.nz!equinox!Colin_Douthwaite Subject: Re: VOTING: rec.arts.ascii ( MODERATED ) Newsgroups: news.groups,alt.ascii-art,alt.binaries.pictures.ascii Followup-To: news.groups,alt.ascii-art,alt.binaries.pictures.ascii References: <2r3292$rm@ns.mcs.kent.edu> <2rgtgb$kjl@agate.berkeley.edu> <2righg$sfc@gagme.wwa.com> X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL3] From: Colin_Douthwaite@equinox.gen.nz (Colin Douthwaite) Message-ID: Date: Tue, 24 May 94 23:43:08 +1200 Organization: Equinox Networks Lines: 79 Xref: bga.com news.groups:14996 alt.ascii-art:8292 alt.binaries.pictures.ascii:576 Bob Allison (boba@gagme.wwa.com) wrote: : > : >|> Besides, let's face it; it looks like most of usenet will be : >|> moderated in the next few years... : >| : >|In the words of that classic line by John Wayne: : >| : >| "That'll be the day !" : > : >Actually, he's right. It's being forced on groups by people like S*rd*r : >Arg*c, the Green Card lawyers, and the flood of newbies who refuse to read : >the FAQ or even the group before posting questions that end with "oh and : >mail me since I'm not gonna bother looking here for answers." > Very true. The handwriting is on the wallet. It costs a lot to > propogate waste. In the future, we'll either have moderation > thrust upon us, or it will be set up so every email, post, ftp, > telnet, gopher, or whatever you do, will couse funds to be > transfered out of your bank occount. This is just your wishful thinking, not reality. Moderation will only be thrust upon us if net users allow more and more Moderators to be elected and with no way of getting rid of them either !! Some of us are _already_ on "user pays" systems. In New Zealand all users are charged for all traffic, both incoming and outgoing, in addition to the connection fees to the access site. I understand that Australia is soon to introduce a similar system. Astonishing as it may sound the traffic charge has just been reduced here from $15 per megabyte to $10 per megabyte because of some improved efficiencies in the distribution system. Great rejoicing from all NZ users. :-) Moderators are not going to stop the gradual introduction of user- pays systems. In my opinion Internet is a much better place without Moderators except for very exceptional administrative and/or technical newsgroups. Tell you what - I don't want to pay one cent to have Moderators elected to Internet newsgroups. Moderators get their reward by the status they achieve as net.personalities. > To avoid having heavy handed moderation thrust upon us, we need > to figure out rules for minimal moderation, ways to elect a > moderator before the group is voted on, and ways to replace a > moderator. Having read all your postings for several months in alt.ascii-art, and whilst acknowledging your valuable contributions to this newsgroup, I am gradually coming to the conclusion that you are more interested in Moderating and Net Administration than in ASCII- ART. Your comment above is just one illustration of what I mean. Also once you are elected there is no guarantee that you will not become heavy-handed. Pre-election promises are one thing, post-election realities are usually very different. I note that provision for the means to remove the Moderators from the proposed newsgroup, rec.arts.ascii (moderated), were not included in the Charter. Why not ? They could have been. It seems extraordinary to me that Internet users allow Moderators to be elected as an integral part of a new newsgroup and provides no official way of removing a Moderator afterwards. Someone pulled the wool over people's eyes sometime somewhere. I hope they weren't using New Zealand or Australian wool :-) Bye,