From owner-btk-mca@hgmp.mrc.ac.uk Thu Nov 22 01:27:12 2001 Return-Path: Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by mercury.hgmp.mrc.ac.uk (Postfix) with ESMTP id 892CD17B97 for ; Thu, 22 Nov 2001 01:27:10 +0000 (GMT) Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by mercury.hgmp.mrc.ac.uk (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9E6ED17B98 for ; Thu, 22 Nov 2001 01:27:05 +0000 (GMT) Received: from niobium.hgmp.mrc.ac.uk (niobium [193.62.192.41]) by mercury.hgmp.mrc.ac.uk (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9C4FB17B97 for ; Thu, 22 Nov 2001 01:27:02 +0000 (GMT) Received: (from news@localhost) by niobium.hgmp.mrc.ac.uk (8.9.3+Sun/8.8.8) id BAA04433 for btk-mca-list@hgmp.mrc.ac.uk; Thu, 22 Nov 2001 01:16:35 GMT X-Authentication-Warning: niobium.hgmp.mrc.ac.uk: news set sender to using -f From: "Caltech News Server" X-Newsgroups: bionet.metabolic-reg Subject: Re: moderator Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2001 17:16:08 -0800 Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena Lines: 170 Message-ID: <9thjki$cpu@gap.cco.caltech.edu> References: <9tfqg4$18mk$1@pukkie.phys.uu.nl> X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2600.0000 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2600.0000 To: btk-mca@hgmp.mrc.ac.uk Sender: owner-btk-mca@hgmp.mrc.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Oops, meant to send it to the bionet group. Thanks Bart for forwarding it. Herbert "Bart van Rotterdam" wrote in message news:9tfqg4$18mk$1@pukkie.phys.uu.nl... > Neither I did find anything on bio.net. the best therefore might be to send > an mail to the adrdress given by Herbert and ask on how to arrange things. I > am willing to become the moderator. I will only take about 5 minutes of my > daily time I guess...hope. Maybe we should just go for since the discussion > about spam and concomittant conclusion that we as group readers favour a > moderator has been in the past. > > Bart > > > --Forwarded message by Bart van Rotterdam. > > I would support the idea of someone moderating this group, the volume of > spam puts > me off posting. If someone would like to moderate, please do! The big > question is what is the > procedure for turning this grup into a moderated group? I couldn't find > anything on bio.net > which said how one might do this. > > I found the following text at bio.net: > > "The discussion leader can also propose the creation of moderated newsgroups > if he/she agrees to serve as moderator (this requires access to Usenet news > software at the moderator's site). Proposals should be sent to > biosci-help@net.bio.net. " > > > Herbert Sauro > Caltech > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Bart van Rotterdam" > Newsgroups: bionet.metabolic-reg > Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2001 12:57 AM > Subject: moderator > > > > Dear All, > > > > The group seems to be pretty much dead but overfloeing with spam. Would it > > not be a nice idea to move the whole group to Yahoo eGroups. In that way > you > > have a much more controlled environment without any spam. > > > > Regards Bart van Rotterdam > > > -- > _________________________________________________ > > Bart van Rotterdam > telefoon: +31 30 2532823 > mobiel: +31 6 18476960 > http://www.phys.uu.nl/~rdam/ > _________________________________________________ > > > "Athel Cornish-Bowden" wrote in message > news:v0300780ab81ef1a1b4c8@[10.234.32.112]... > > Bart van Rotterdam wrote, > > > > > >Staying with the bionet newsgroup is fine with me and I am willing to > become > > >the moderator, that is the spam deleter, when someone can give me > > >instructions on how arrange that. I checked the BIONET website and it > > >appears to me that one has to opt for becoming the moderator whilst > setting > > >up the newsgroup account. I did not figure out how to become moderator of > an > > >existing group when it is setup in an unmoderated fashion only having a > > >discussion leader, in this case James Woods. > > > > > If you are willing to do the moderation that will be great, and I > certainly > > support the principle of moderation. (Though we shouldn't forget that when > > Paul Schlosser organized a vote the margin in favour was very small: we > > shouldn't stampede the others into moderation if there is still > appreciable > > opposition). > > > > On the general issue of why this group is in such poor health there are a > > number of not necessarily related points I think it worth making: > > > > 1. Nearly all the BioNet groups I look at are in much worse shape now than > > they were about three years ago. Even those that are still quite lively > > (e.g. the microbiology group) are less so than they were even a year ago. > I > > do NOT notice any similar trend in the other (non-biological) groups I > > visit, e.g. on yahoo or google groups. Maybe it's just that biologists are > > a bit disillusioned with news groups, finding that they are not living up > > to their promise of a few years ago. I hope that is not true, but it's > > certainly not just this group that has fallen on bad times. > > > > 2. Something I found very striking was that during the period when Pentcho > > was favouring us with his views there were quite a lot of contributions on > > more interesting subjects as well, but when he went away the good stuff > > went away as well, more or less immediately. It was as if people need to > > have SOMETHING appearing regularly to whet their appetites, even if it's > > just raving about thermodynamics. > > > > 3. Although I'm in favour of moderation, I don't think it's the lack of > > moderation that's the main problem, it's the lack of a discussion leader. > > What we need more than a moderator is an energetic, enthusiastic and > > preferably young person who can feed us with interesting things for us to > > discuss. After all, Douglas, David and I are nearer to the days of our > > compulsory retirement than to the days we started as newly appointed > > lecturers, full of enthusiasm at the chance to train eager young minds in > > the exciting field of enzyme kinetics and thermodynamics. > > > > 4. Len told us > > > > >I don't think this list is dead, just thoughtful ;-). I certainly have a > > >lot of questions I'd like to ask but don't want to appear too stupid in > > >the asking. I imagine others feel the same. > > > > Please: ASK YOUR QUESTIONS ! We won't think they are stupid. We'll only > > think you're stupid if you don't pay any attention to the answers but just > > repeat the same old questions over and over and over again. Even Pentcho > > drew a great many serious answers before people decided it was a total > > waste of time and energy. > > > > 5. If possible, I'd prefer to stay with BioNet, for the reason that David > > gave: to stay with related groups and with our history and archives. > > > > athel > > > > -- > > Athel Cornish-Bowden > > athel@ibsm.cnrs-mrs.fr > > http://bip.cnrs-mrs.fr/bip10/homepage.htm > > > > > > > > > > --- > > .