Walter Bright schrieb:
> It's been proposed that a new newsgroup be created, digitalmars.D.moderated. It would work like moderated newsgroups on usenet do, such as comp.lang.c++.moderated. There would be 3 or 4 volunteer moderators (not me), who would disallow posts that were off-topic, me too, spam, lacked content, or contained personal attacks. Ideally, the moderated group would set the bar for the quality of the messages.
> 
> The original newsgroups will remain as the free-for-all wild west that makes them both fun and perhaps a little intimidating for some. While I like the wild west approach, many others clearly find it uncomfortable.

NO!
It is sometimes uncomfortable to have a free NG, but disallowing opinions is in no case and never acceptable.  (It is not even a win)
In case that you establish such a NG be asured I'll drop out. FWIW
Bjoern

Sean Kelly schrieb:
> Walter Bright wrote:
>> It's been proposed that a new newsgroup be created, digitalmars.D.moderated. It would work like moderated newsgroups on usenet do, such as comp.lang.c++.moderated. There would be 3 or 4 volunteer moderators (not me), who would disallow posts that were off-topic, me too, spam, lacked content, or contained personal attacks. Ideally, the moderated group would set the bar for the quality of the messages.
>>
>> The original newsgroups will remain as the free-for-all wild west that makes them both fun and perhaps a little intimidating for some. While I like the wild west approach, many others clearly find it uncomfortable.
> 
> If we can find the volunteers, I think it would be great.
> 
> 
> Sean
Is it you ? Is it you who has to decide about to publish or not to publish unpopular opinions ?  What kind of volunteers you are thinking about ..  BAH
Bjoern

Reply to bls,

> Walter Bright schrieb:
> 
>> It's been proposed that a new newsgroup be created,
>> digitalmars.D.moderated. It would work like moderated newsgroups on
>> usenet do, such as comp.lang.c++.moderated. There would be 3 or 4
>> volunteer moderators (not me), who would disallow posts that were
>> off-topic, me too, spam, lacked content, or contained personal
>> attacks. Ideally, the moderated group would set the bar for the
>> quality of the messages.
>> 
>> The original newsgroups will remain as the free-for-all wild west
>> that makes them both fun and perhaps a little intimidating for some.
>> While I like the wild west approach, many others clearly find it
>> uncomfortable.
>> 
> NO!
> It is sometimes uncomfortable to have a free NG, but disallowing
> opinions is in no case and never acceptable.  (It is not even a win)
> In case that you establish such a NG be asured I'll drop out. FWIW
> Bjoern

I think the idea is that peoples opinions should be aired, but only if they pertain to the subject under discussion. The moderator would be expected to make judgment calls like does an opinions about the social history of another posters's parents fall under this category. If it is on topic (even if the moderator is opposed to the opinion) then it should be let through.

That said, I am undecided as to if this is a good idea.

BCS schrieb:
> Reply to bls,
> 
>> Walter Bright schrieb:
>>
>>> It's been proposed that a new newsgroup be created,
>>> digitalmars.D.moderated. It would work like moderated newsgroups on
>>> usenet do, such as comp.lang.c++.moderated. There would be 3 or 4
>>> volunteer moderators (not me), who would disallow posts that were
>>> off-topic, me too, spam, lacked content, or contained personal
>>> attacks. Ideally, the moderated group would set the bar for the
>>> quality of the messages.
>>>
>>> The original newsgroups will remain as the free-for-all wild west
>>> that makes them both fun and perhaps a little intimidating for some.
>>> While I like the wild west approach, many others clearly find it
>>> uncomfortable.
>>>
>> NO!
>> It is sometimes uncomfortable to have a free NG, but disallowing
>> opinions is in no case and never acceptable.  (It is not even a win)
>> In case that you establish such a NG be asured I'll drop out. FWIW
>> Bjoern
> 
> I think the idea is that peoples opinions should be aired, but only if they pertain to the subject under discussion. The moderator would be expected to make judgment calls like does an opinions about the social history of another posters's parents fall under this category. If it is on topic (even if the moderator is opposed to the opinion) then it should be let through.
> 
> That said, I am undecided as to if this is a good idea.
> 
> 
Hi BCS/Brad ? Which person in monitoring the moderator ?  Who is finally responsible ?     NO, Sir, a moderated forum is bullshit.
Bjoern

Walter Bright schrieb:
> The original newsgroups will remain as the free-for-all wild west that makes them both fun and perhaps a little intimidating for some. While I like the wild west approach, many others clearly find it uncomfortable.

I like the wild west.

I also think that making more and more groups is not useful. They produce double posts, posts in wrong NGs, reading needs more NG switching. Having dtl/learn/dwt/debug/.. I think the "D"-one alone would be enough. leaving only

d          all discussions
d.bugs     bugzilla
d.announce to have them longer visible

BLS wrote:
> Sean Kelly schrieb:
>> Walter Bright wrote:
>>> It's been proposed that a new newsgroup be created, digitalmars.D.moderated. It would work like moderated newsgroups on usenet do, such as comp.lang.c++.moderated. There would be 3 or 4 volunteer moderators (not me), who would disallow posts that were off-topic, me too, spam, lacked content, or contained personal attacks. Ideally, the moderated group would set the bar for the quality of the messages.
>>>
>>> The original newsgroups will remain as the free-for-all wild west that makes them both fun and perhaps a little intimidating for some. While I like the wild west approach, many others clearly find it uncomfortable.
>>
>> If we can find the volunteers, I think it would be great.
>>
> Is it you ? Is it you who has to decide about to publish or not to publish unpopular opinions ?  What kind of volunteers you are thinking about ..  BAH

I don't have the time to act as a moderator.  But moderation seems to work fine for other usenet groups.  One factor is that the moderator for a message is randomly chosen from the moderation pool, so even if there were bias on the part of one moderator, their ability to stifle messages would be limited.  Also, if someone feels that a moderator has acted unfairly then they are free to say so, and even to re-submit (though this is frowned upon in most cases).  So an unfair moderator would be unlikely to retain their position for very long.


Sean

BLS wrote:
> Walter Bright schrieb:
>> It's been proposed that a new newsgroup be created, digitalmars.D.moderated. It would work like moderated newsgroups on usenet do, such as comp.lang.c++.moderated. There would be 3 or 4 volunteer moderators (not me), who would disallow posts that were off-topic, me too, spam, lacked content, or contained personal attacks. Ideally, the moderated group would set the bar for the quality of the messages.
>>
>> The original newsgroups will remain as the free-for-all wild west that makes them both fun and perhaps a little intimidating for some. While I like the wild west approach, many others clearly find it uncomfortable.
> 
> NO!
> It is sometimes uncomfortable to have a free NG, but disallowing opinions is in no case and never acceptable.  (It is not even a win)
> In case that you establish such a NG be asured I'll drop out. FWIW

I fail to see how adding an additional newsgroup would silence anyone. And who says that a moderated group would disallow opinions?  Content is simply filtered for relevance.


Sean

BLS wrote:
>
> Hi BCS/Brad ? Which person in monitoring the moderator ?  Who is finally responsible ?     NO, Sir, a moderated forum is bullshit.

The procedure for moderation is well established.  I suggest reading the FAQ for comp.lang.c++.moderated or one of the other moderated usenet groups.


Sean

Frank Benoit wrote:
> Walter Bright schrieb:
>> The original newsgroups will remain as the free-for-all wild west that
>> makes them both fun and perhaps a little intimidating for some. While I
>> like the wild west approach, many others clearly find it uncomfortable.
> 
> I like the wild west.
> 
> I also think that making more and more groups is not useful.

I do agree with this.  I am not sure that the D community is large enough yet to warrant a moderated group.  But I would still find a more focused forum for discussion to be useful for my own time management.


Sean

Walter Bright wrote:
> It's been proposed that a new newsgroup be created, digitalmars.D.moderated. It would work like moderated newsgroups on usenet do, such as comp.lang.c++.moderated. There would be 3 or 4 volunteer moderators (not me), who would disallow posts that were off-topic, me too, spam, lacked content, or contained personal attacks. Ideally, the moderated group would set the bar for the quality of the messages.
> 
> The original newsgroups will remain as the free-for-all wild west that makes them both fun and perhaps a little intimidating for some. While I like the wild west approach, many others clearly find it uncomfortable.

I vote no.  There's not that much traffic on these newsgroups yet.
Occasionally we get bursts like recently, but even then, the bulk of the
messages have been on-topic.  Maybe not significant, but on-topic
nonetheless.  So I don't see that having a moderated forum would really
change much, except create fragmentation.  When D gets closer to having
comp.lang.C++ levels of traffic and newbie questions, then it's worth
considering.

The other downside to a moderated system is that since someone has to
look at every message, there is inevitably some delay in message
delivery, maybe up to 24hrs.  I'm just guessing though.

--bb