Re: END the MODERATION

There is no question that moderating a list can be a lot of hassle. Some of
the time lag may be due to a moderator not getting to a list between 4 pm
and the next morning (moderators do have a right to lives also)

And Steve is also correct about time lags in receiving messages.  As he
pointed out, from sender to recipient is not always instantaneous.  I've
seen a lag of hours sometimes in sending from my home to my work (two miles
away, although the message might have been bounced around the world.)

The UPPER CASE-CAPITAL letters issue is more complex. I've been told that in
some places, especially outside the USA, there are people with computers on
older systems that do not handle "HTML" letters very well and would rather
receive in "plain text."  As a courtesy to them, I generally send my e-mail
messages out in "plain text" fashion, rather than HTML. But "plain text"
does not allow for boldface or italics style--which is a way of emphasizing
a particular point that one does not want to get lost in the sea of words on
the screen. So, in my case, I try (carefully, and only occasionally) to use
UPPER CASE letters as if they were italics.  Readers should not take offense
at that----usually one can tell from the context if it appears to be YELLING
or simply emphasis. On the other hand, writers should avoid overuse of upper
case letters--it does appear to be yelling or makes the message look like a
ransom note, especially if there are large parts of the message in upper
case letters.

Just some random thoughts while I try to imagine what kind of world we will
live in if Bush does use some, even one, nuclear weapons on Baghdad,

Alan Spector


----- Original Message -----
From: <Threehegemons@aol.com>
To: <spectors@netnitco.net>; <wsn@csf.colorado.edu>
Sent: Sunday, January 26, 2003 12:41 PM
Subject: Re: END the MODERATION


> Alan et al:
>
> In a message dated 1/26/2003 10:28:59 AM Eastern Standard Time,
spectors@netnitco.net writes:
>
> > My previous posting about moderation was a comment about censorship, and
my guess that there probably was no serious censorship on WSN that was
causing a drop in messages.
> >
> >  However, the other criticism, that of a long time-lag between posting
and appearing is a different issue and a serious
> > one.
>
> Alan et al.  Presently wsn has two moderators.  I handle Tues, Thurs, and
weekends.  The name of the person handling the other days escapes me.  I do
my best to get the wsn messages out quickly, and usually check my mail many
times on any given day.  Despite the hype about e-mail being instantaneous,
I've often found wsn (premoderation) and other lists to sometimes slow down
in getting messages out when traffic is heavy.  Currently wsn does not
receive the sorts of spam you describe for psn, although this certainly
might change.
>
> Elson, I am not sure what happened to your commentary on Wallerstein.  I
remember reading it.  I'd like to blame it on computer error, but I suspect
it was a human one (i.e. I may have spaced on hitting the 'accept' button
after reading through it).  My apologies if this was the case.
>
> Khaldoun--the thread on 'total occupation' was begun on January 15 by
Zainiddin Karaev.  If anyone is interested in older wsn mail check the
archive at http://csf.colorado.edu/mail/wsn/2003/
> It is automatically updated daily.
>
> Everyone:  Please avoid using capital letters when not called for--it is
the cyber equivalent of yelling.
>
> Steven Sherman
>
>