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Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!rutgers!aramis!webber
From: webber@aramis.RUTGERS.EDU (Webber)
Newsgroups: news.stargate
Subject: a simple alternative to moderation -- enforced self-moderation
Message-ID: <522@aramis.RUTGERS.EDU>
Date: Thu, 23-Apr-87 03:48:53 EST
Article-I.D.: aramis.522
Posted: Thu Apr 23 03:48:53 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 25-Apr-87 00:36:08 EST
References: <965@vortex.UUCP>, <7946@utzoo.UUCP> <7947@utzoo.UUCP>
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.
Lines: 37
Summary: moderation does not mean quality improvement

AN ALTERNATIVE TO MODERATED GROUPS:

The natural way to accomplish quality control and flow reduction is to
set up a system that requires people moderate themselves.  Give each
user 10 transferable usenet postings a month and let them decide what
they want to do with them.  If that still generates too much flow
after a few months, then reduce the number (by one every couple of
months) until things become managable.

ON WHY MODERATED GROUPS DO NOT ACCOMPLISH QUALITY CONTROL:

In article <7947@utzoo.UUCP>, henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) writes:
(re future view of usenet)
> They will also ask "gee, didn't that get awfully boring at times, when
> people with nothing interesting to say nevertheless tried to say it?".
> I'll tell them "Yes, it certainly did.  As the volume rose, we had to be
> more and more selective about what we read.  Eventually it occurred to
> many people that being selective about what was sent out would make more
> sense.  Wide realization of that was the beginning of the end."

Moderation does not mean quality improvement, it just means that you
end up with what the moderator thinks is the good stuff.  Remember
Sturgeon's Law, that 90+% of everything is garbage, was generated in
edited journals containing the publications of professional writers.
Most people disagree about what is the good stuff.

Of course, if you want someone else's idea of quality, there are
professionally edited publications on every subject covered by usenet
(well, maybe there isn't one about stargate yet).  The libraries are
full of them and they don't cost a cent (that is a cent more than the
taxes you are already paying).

The unique aspect of usenet was that it allowed people to access a
maximum amount of raw opinion and make up their own minds about what
they wanted and what they didn't.

----------------- BOB (webber@aramis.rutgers.edu ; BACKBONE!topaz!webber)