Cub Driver wrote:

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.

Moderated lists don't often work.

snip

Quite agree, which is why I'm not suggesting one; I don't want to wait until the
moderator has read and passed on a message. A restricted-subscription list with a
clearly stated charter and rules of behavior is a beast of a different color.
Subscribers can post anything they want and it shows up within a few minutes just like
r.a.m., but if the post doesn't meet the standards and someone complains (or the
moderator happens to notice it and thinks the violation egregious enough), the
offender(s) is/are first warned/asked to take it elsewhere and then, if they continue
to abuse the rules, their posting privilieges are suspended/banned. The control is
virtually unnoticeable with a good moderator, and the ones I've been exposed to on the
mailing lists I subscribe to (for a decade or more in some cases) have all been
laissez-faire types who only take action when the violation is prolonged or completely
outside the pale. Usually just a reminder of the charter and request to take any
continued discussions elsewhere is enough to solve the problem.

There used to be and presumably still is a Vietnam war newsgroup,

which was ruined by one individual (Phill Coleman and his alter egos
of the American War Library) and the reaction of others posters to
him. It became so disheartening that someone started a moderated
Vietnam newsgroup--which died after a year or two.

With a restricted-subscription group, he would have been banned by the moderator and
the group would have happily continued on without him.

I think Dudley got the grouch this morning. He will get over it and
come back. If not, somebody will turn up to take his place. Let's face
it, people just plain like to have their opinions in print, even if
only on a newsreader. That works for the trolls as well. But it's the
trolls in my experience who don't have the staying power. They'll go
away. Hatred is not a healthy emotion, and the Tilde Guy is clearly
consumed by hatred; he'll self-destruct sooner or later.

In his case, the kill file is your friend, and he's gone out of his way to be helpful
there ;-)

Guy