On Mon, 19 Feb 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
The MLC should send out a form letter which is carefully worded to avoid giving offense but which firmly states that after polling the members opinions on this issue, most people felt that this topic does not belong on NANOG. Followed by a request for comments on the issue to be mailed privately to the MLC and not discussed on the list.
Ah - political correctness comes to NANOG. Next you'll be asking people to not be 'mean' on IRC, and not discuss 'adult entertainment' at meetings.
But these are details. The principle is for the MLC to be seen to be active, for the MLC to solicit comments explicitly, and for the MLC to pop up whenever these borderline topics seem to be getting out of hand. The very fact that the MLC is more visible and explicitly asks for member comments, is likely to reduce the number of off-topic or borderline topic postings.
I'm afraid that I don't share your faith.
Quite frankly, if an MLC member tells someone that their post is off-topic, period, that is unlikely to be effective. Then the issue has to escalate, on and off list until the member is banned or suspended. It is more effective to tell someone privately, that after soliciting comments from the members, the consensus leans towards reducing the amount of their postings. You can include choice phrases from the member comments, as long as those phrases are not abusive. The fact is that borderline off-topic messages have a constituency on the list that is interested in them and that constituency is likely to send thank-you messages to the poster. An MLC caution is not sufficient to convince such posters that they have breached the list rules. But an MLC message enumerating the comments that have been received about the postings is more likely to have an effect.
IMNSHO, people that won't listen, won't listen. We've seen that very clearly on the list over time. An MLC message enumerating the comments is likely to receive "People support me in private email" and "It's just the mailing list cabal" accusations, the same way as they do now. cheers! ========================================================================== "A cat spends her life conflicted between a deep, passionate and profound desire for fish and an equally deep, passionate and profound desire to avoid getting wet. This is the defining metaphor of my life right now."
