[CentOS] Re: plan of action?

Thu Sep 15 22:57:22 UTC 2005
Greg Knaddison <greg.knaddison at gmail.com>

On 9/15/05, Dag Wieers <dag at wieers.com> wrote:
> 
> It might be because the 4 options you gave all add overhead to 
> subscribers. (actually, the 4th option is no option to most that care)
> 
I think unsubscribing and going to the forum are a very legitimate
option without adding extra work for the subscriber.

If you use a threading email client and can set up filters, it's a 10
second fix that makes the list very reasonable and doesn't require a
long thread about what the "majority" wants.  Moderation is sure to
bring up it's own set of problems that would themselves become long
fight-filled threads (as we've already seen).  Client side filtering
makes you in charge of "what is on topic" which is therefore
guaranteed to be the right answer for the majority :)

> While selective moderation (when long threads, abuse and personal attacks 
> flourish) by someone (not necessarily a developer) needs to be initiated 
> by someone of the project team.
> 
I'veonly seen this model used for _really_ off topic things.  Most
people here seem to stay on topic but get repetitive and flamey.

> If there's someone fair that has the authority to police the mailinglist 
> following some written down guidelines, I'm pretty sure this mailinglist 
> becomes viable again without adding much overhead to the guy who can 
> intervene. (If necessary just a warning might suffice)
> 

That's the tough part, though, isn't it.  A /. style board solves this
problem, but CentOS got established early as a mailing list and
barring the developers completing killing mailman I doubt we'll see a
mass move to a forum or /. style means of communicating...so, given
all that, I think the 4 options I gave remain highly reasonable.

Greg