I think this would be re-defining the role of the moderators for list, which is essentially to filter out spam. Only new members are subject to this moderation, and if a message is genuine then their moderator flag is cleared (i.e., they are no longer subject to moderation). Thus the list isn't moderated in the 'usual' sense.
That said, I have occasionally asked a new poster to reword their question (or simply add a subject line) and explained that this helps ensure they get a good answer, and not a rude one. Mostly people seem to appreciate that. Peter Alspach (one of the 'moderators') -----Original Message----- From: R-help [mailto:r-help-boun...@r-project.org] On Behalf Of Oliver Keyes Sent: Tuesday, 26 January 2016 10:23 a.m. To: Duncan Murdoch <murdoch.dun...@gmail.com> Cc: r-help <r-help@r-project.org> Subject: Re: [R] R-help mailing list activity / R-not-help? Sorry, poor phrasing on my part; on the occasions where someone is rude, all I see is... I agree the public cautioning should be done by moderators, yes. On 25 January 2016 at 16:13, Duncan Murdoch <murdoch.dun...@gmail.com> wrote: > On 25/01/2016 3:33 PM, Hasan Diwan wrote: >> >> There exists a fine line between being unintentionally rude, but >> helpful and purposely putting someone down. -- H > > > I'm afraid I don't think your point is relevant. I didn't claim all > the people who were rude did it unintentionally. However, I don't > know anyone on the list who is always rude and never helpful. Oliver > claimed almost everyone is like that. > > I actually agree with a weaker version of John's proposal (which I cut > out of my reply to Oliver). I can imagine a public reprimand from one > of the moderators would be appropriate. It would never be appropriate > from general list members; that's what leads to flame wars. > > I'm not a moderator, so I would not publicly "remind the poster to > reply in a more moderate tone", and neither should you (unless you're a > moderator). > It would be much better if one or both of us posted a more helpful > response when we saw a rude, unhelpful one. > > Duncan Murdoch > > >> >> On 25 January 2016 at 12:07, Duncan Murdoch >> <murdoch.dun...@gmail.com> >> wrote: >> >> > On 25/01/2016 2:45 PM, Oliver Keyes wrote: >> > >> >> I disagree, and would argue that fails to take a systemic view of >> >> this kind of behaviour. >> >> >> >> If individual commentators are acerbic and are only privately >> >> reprimanded, from the perspective of everyone else it looks like >> >> the acerbic reply was A-OK. Someone said something unnecessarily >> >> hostile and the response was...nada. That creates an environment >> >> where there are no clear examples of what crosses a line and no >> >> clear expectation that moderation is even a thing that happens. >> >> Indeed, I was shocked to discover this list _was_ moderated >> >> precisely because all I see is people being mean and nothing much else >> >> happening. >> >> >> > >> > Why would you bother to read it if that's all you see? I think >> > there are examples of posts here which are not at all helpful, and >> > others which are rude, but the majority are actually helpful (even >> > some of the rude ones). >> > >> > Duncan Murdoch >> > >> > >> > ______________________________________________ >> > R-help@r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see >> > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help >> > PLEASE do read the posting guide >> > http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html >> > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. >> > >> >> >> > > ______________________________________________ > R-help@r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > PLEASE do read the posting guide > http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. -- Oliver Keyes Count Logula Wikimedia Foundation ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. The contents of this e-mail are confidential and may be ...{{dropped:14}} ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.