Several days ago, a friend, who has been on the list for a year made an
observation that perhaps I control things too tightly - too much so for
my own good, at least. This is not an original idea, because it's some-
thing I've wondered from time to time myself.
I find that I can separate what I do into the essential and the non-
essential, and I can even make further subdivisions within those broad
categories. Clearly, the mailing list could survive in some form even
without the constant shepherding of a fussy facilitator like myself.
At one extreme, the list could be set up to be completely unmoderated,
but I've found through long experience, and I think some of you have
also, that unmoderated mailing lists and newsgroups tend to get very
"noisy," as happened even here, about a year ago, when I left the list
largely unattended for about a month, while I visited with my family in
California. (I modified my software a bit to just route all incoming
messages to the appropriate lists without waiting for approval - a mode
I've come to refer to as "auto-pilot.") That experience has convinced
me that we do need some kind of moderation and/or facilitation. (The
difference between the two roles is that I see a moderator as having
an active hand in shaping the discussion - trying to clarify subjects
by such techniques as referring back to previous articles, or making
suggestions to parties who disagree about mechanisms for resolving
their disputes, and just generally doing the kind of thing that a
moderator might do in an in-person discussion (like Paul Duke on PBS'
"Washington Week in Review"). A facilitator, on the other hand, is
someone who handles the technical aspects of keeping things running.
I'll have more to say on this subject later in this article. Sometimes
I use these terms as if they're synonymous, but I do see a distinction
between their meanings.
As to whether I control things too tightly, I'll leave that subject for
your own personal consideration. I recognize there are some items on
the list I included yesterday which are quite non-essential in one re-
spect (like fixing up article formatting or trying to clarify who is
being addressed in a given statement), but I feel they add value to the
result. Well, I'll go into these items in my revised list later on.
I do know that I could achieve greater peace of mind if I could just
"let go" of some of these concerns, but I'm afraid it's not quite so
simple for me, and I know I'd just suffer from feelings of letting
you down in a way. I just need to work on this one a bit more.
The following is intended for those who might like to consider helping,
either in the role of a moderator or that of a facilitator.
Here's a list of what I feel a moderator's duties could be:
1. make sure the subject of each article falls within the scope of
the defined subject of a given list, and communicate with authors
of articles which are felt not to be germane to the discussion
2. make sure that each article has a properly descriptive subject line
3. help clarify terminology & offer summaries of positions in an attempt
to make disscussions as clear as possible and to help avoid misunder-
standing based on semantics
4. help identify the source of a comment being quoted when the author
of an article has not made it clear enough by context
5. consult with authors when you feel it is required in order to
clarify some point before an article is posted (something you
should not need to do very often - I rarely have)
6. recognize when a discussion begins covering the same ground, and
suggest ways of getting "unstuck" - referring readers to previous
discussions in archives when appropriate
7. help refocus attention on the main subject of a given discussion,
or to try to help bring it back to an earlier important point that
you feel is being neglected
8. suggest new topics for discussion
9. help keep discussions from getting too acrimonious and non-pro-
ductive. (This one invoves an extremely subjective judgement,
and it would be largely a matter of outlook and style how a given
situation would be handled by a given moderator - I would give
moderators rein to handle these things as they best see fit, as
long as they're making a good-faith effort to avoid what seems
to the rest of us as unnecessary or pointless controversy.)
10. offer to accept anonymous articles on a controversial subject
for posting without author attribution (I may be able to obtain
software for this purpose which helps avoid concerns about mis-
placed trust in a moderator)
11. do whatever reformatting you feel to be necessary to avoid problems
with overly long lines or unclear attributions in quoted material
12. do whatever else a good moderator does to keep a discussion lively,
productive, and interesting
Now I cannot claim I have been doing all of these things, but they sort
of represent my ideals, and the things I would like to be able to do.
Given that I have not been doing all of them, I certainly would not
expect a volunteer moderator to do so. All that's required is sincerity
and patience and genuine concern about the subject matter of the mailing
list - and good facility with a text editor. There are techniques which
I feel could make the task easier, so that not all articles would have
to be individually approved, which I'd be glad to discuss with prospective
moderators.
Now for the facilitator's job description:
1. weed out material that finds its way into the list which is in-
appropriate for posting:
a. undeliverable article messages from LISTSERV
b. misaddressed requests from people asking to subscribe or
unsubscribe
c. mass mailing appeals from people seeking to exploit the large
audiences represented by mailing lists ("electronic junk mail")
d. personal messages, sent to the list address rather than to the
"Original-Sender" address
2. deal with each type of message appropriately:
a. communicate with system postmaster in the case of undeliverable
messages (sometimes only a given workstation is down on a local-
area network, sometimes a mail configuration has gotten messed
up temporarily, sometimes two hosts play ping-pong with a message
until one of them reaches its returned message limit and the
message is returned to the list administrator) - communicate with
list maintainer (a role I will retain) in the event of irresolv-
able delivery problems to deactivate or remove a problematical
address
b. advise people on the correct procedures for subscribing or
unsubscribing, communicate with list maintainer in cases of
situations where person needs extraordinary assistance
c. reprimand mass mailers if deemed appropriate and worthwhile
d. help personal messages get to proper addressee, and advise sender
of correct procedure for sending personal mail (this problem is
due to a glitch with most mail systems, which permit "Reply-To:"
header to override the "From:" line; aparently some IBM mainframe
systems permit a user to choose between these addresses when send-
ing a reply, but we're stuck having to deal with the lowest common
denominator).
3. select articles from Usenet which may be appropriate for posting on
a NativeNet mailing list, and relay them to the moderator for
final approval.
I'll be looking forward to communicating with prospective facilitators and
moderators as soon as possible, so we can begin planning for an orderly
transition.
Thanks.
Gary
--
Gary S. Trujillo gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us
Somerville, Massachusetts {wjh12,bu.edu,spdcc,ima,cdp}!gnosys!gst