Date   : Mon, 22 Nov 2010 00:25:59 +0100
From   : kortink@... (John Kortink)
Subject: Ban off-topic posts

On Mon, 22 Nov 2010 09:58:27 +1100, msmcdoug@... wrote:

>On 21/11/2010 10:00 PM, John Kortink wrote:
>
>> Um, could we have a vote on completely banning off-topic
>> posts ?
>
>Has anyone considered the fact that this sort of thing is actually 
>self-regulated by the majority of the group?
>
>If the group as a whole were truly opposed to OT postings, then any OT post 
>would simply be left ignored and anyone attempting to flood the list with 
>irrelevant ramblings would soon get bored and move on.

It only takes two morons to make an off-topic rambling
session 'work', and continue ad infinitum. And as long
as they are not 'bored', it will.

This is why moderation exists. Much like with spam, not
all people can be trusted to act in the interests of
all the others. Which, in this case, is simply staying
with the topic that the mailing list was created for,
which is hardly too much to ask for.

>[...]
>
> From my personal perspective, I think an outright ban on OT postings is 
>simply socially retarded.

No, off-topic posting against the objection of half the
community, that is socially retarded. Not least because
it can easily be done elsewhere.

>[...]
>
>But yeah, if this turns into another Facebook, it's bye from me as well.

It already has. The signal to noise ratio is off the scales.


John Kortink

-- 

Email    : kortink@...         
Homepage : http://www.inter.nl.net/users/J.Kortink