Ed Rasimus wrote:

On Tue, 06 Apr 2004 16:37:14 GMT, "Mortimer Schnerd, RN"
wrote:

Yama wrote:
Amazing how adding just three lines to kill file made this group much more
readable.


Exactomundo. A kill file, oddly enough, should be a living thing. I'm never
afraid to add to it. Generally speaking, a carefully chosen expression can have
almost universal effect, cleaning out pretty much all the crap and leaving the
rest intact.

I would never let off topic stuff run me off. Filter it instead...

While what you say is true, what Dudley has pointed out is true as
well. I used to look forward each day to opening the newsreader and
entering a discussion in R.A.M. Now, the group is filled with
propagandists and petty bickering. The main posters are either
anonymous twits trolling for other twits, or a half-dozen so-called
experts who simply append one-liners to unedited 150 line posts
calling each other fools.

My kill-file grows daily, but much like spammers, the posting source
keeps mutating and as soon as one mole gets whacked another pops out
of a nearby hole.

Unfortunately, after the kill-file does its work, there isn't much
"there" there.

Which is why we need the posters like Dudley who actually provide the quality
on-topic content we're here for, to stick around, not bail. The NG has survived all
the kooks and blind partisans who came out for Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq, the
2000 election et al, not to mention the perennial monomaniacs (Iranair, USS Liberty,
Flight 800, etc.). Surviving campaign 2004 is just more of the same, although I
agree that the continued growth of people with internet access inevitably has led to
more off-topic posts. It's just part of the price we pay, and I've gotten handier
using my kill file. The other thing is for us to stay resolutely on charter with our
posts and ignore all the others so that they swiftly die out, but that's a
restriction we've all broken at one time or another.

Of course, if anyone knows of a good restricted subscription mailing list for the
same subject with after-the-fact moderation that will eliminate the chaff, by all
means let's hear about it. Or if someone is willing to host and moderate one (again,
only after the fact if someone complains, by issuing warnings or if necessary
suspending/banning people's subscriptions), go for it. We could start one on Yahoo
easily enough, or for that matter, there are already several in the recreation and
sports/aviation/military category that might serve. I subscribe to a couple of
semi-related ones which have far higher S/N ratios than this or many other NGs, but
as usual they tend to be harder for new posters to find. But there's nothing
stopping us from placing a recurring ad for it here, much as the FAQ notice recurs.

Would there be enough interest to do so, or are we willing to wait out the current
storm of political bumph? Let's see a show of hands as to how many people here would
want to start such a group. If there are enough, I might even be willing to moderate
it (more accurately, control the subscription list), especially if I could get a few
other volunteers to help screen subscription applications. I can think of several
regular r.a.m. posters who wouldn't make the cut, thus lessening the message volume
and aggravation level considerably, or we could put membership applications up to a
vote.

Guy