Re: Handling Politics the plug-discuss way?
a forum would limit my mobile interaction as i dont like running forums on my blackberry.. the interface on buttons is rarely conducive for this. On Mon, Aug 3, 2009 at 8:07 AM, Bob Elzer wrote: > I've just been deleting the topic on sight. But that is more work than > should be necessary. > > This is one reason I thought it would be better to go to a forum. > > With a forum, if the thread goes off course, it can split and moved to the > correct Subject. > > The thread could also be locked if it gets out of hand. > > But best of all when I go to the forum, I see what's new, and I can ignore > all the threads I don't have > an interest in, and when I'm done mark them all read. > > Using a forum cuts down on all the unwanted email being sent to everyone. > > You can still have mail sent to you for topics that you post in. > > Not sure how everyone else feels, but I would prefer if this was a forum. > > Then we can get teamspeak going to replace IRC :P :-) > > > > > > > >> -Original Message- >> From: plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us >> [mailto:plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us] On >> Behalf Of Ryan Rix >> Sent: Sunday, August 02, 2009 10:21 PM >> To: plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us >> Subject: OT: Handling Politics the plug-discuss way? >> -- A mouse trap, placed on top of your alarm clock, will prevent you from rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button. Stephen --- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
"our" URL on gmane.org (was: Re: Handling Politics the plug-discuss way?)
On Mon, Aug 3, 2009 at 10:35 AM, Eric Shubert wrote: > Bob Elzer wrote: > > Is gmane subscribed to our list ? Or does it get it some other way ? > > Yes, gmane is subscribed. I use gmane for list access. I quit getting > the emails once I started using gmane. > -- > -Eric 'shubes' --- > PLUG-discuss mailing list - [...] > Everyone: Just FYI: http://dir.gmane.org/gmane.org.user-groups.linux.phoenix -- Mike Schwartz Glendale AZ schwa...@acm.org --- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
Re: Handling Politics the plug-discuss way?
Bob Elzer wrote: > Is gmane subscribed to our list ? Or does it get it some other way ? > Yes, gmane is subscribed. I use gmane for list access. I quit getting the emails once I started using gmane. -- -Eric 'shubes' --- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
RE: Handling Politics the plug-discuss way?
Is gmane subscribed to our list ? Or does it get it some other way ? I'm sure we could merge the archive into the forum, we're linux users, we can do anything. :) > -Original Message- > From: plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > [mailto:plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us] On > Behalf Of Ryan Rix > Sent: Monday, August 03, 2009 9:58 AM > To: plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > Subject: RE: Handling Politics the plug-discuss way? > > Bob Elzer wrote: > > > > Each has it's own drawbacks and advantages. For one it > would increase > > the web site traffic. More traffic, and they see other > stuff that may > > interest them. > > > > Not sure if it could still be part of gmane or not. > > > > GMane only handles mailing lists, not forum software :( > > > It would certainly not cause someone to leave the list, they would > > just skip the topics they're not interested in. > > It would cut down on internet waste, I haven't looked how > many people > > are on the list ? But all those email to people who just > delete them > > is a big waste of all that traffic. > > > > I'm sure something could be done for someone that wants an offline > > archive, but how many people save all this on their own systems, I > > know where to go if I need to recheck something, and messages that > > teach me something, I save in a folder. > > > > I don't think the admins would have a rift over where to store the > > archives. lol > > I mean, half of the list's archive (the previous one) would > reside in lurker, and the other half would reside in $forumsoftware > > -- > --- > Ryan Rix > (623)-826-0051 > > > NE-2000 clone. Pentium optimizing gcc (pentium gcc pl8 I think). > > > Build a kernel with the proper gcc. Reports with a non > standard compiler are useless. > -- Alan Cox > > http://hackersramblings.wordpress.com | > http://twitter.com/phrkonaleash > XMPP: phrkonale...@gmail.com | MSN: phrkonale...@yahoo.com > AIM: phrkonaleash| Yahoo: phrkonaleash > IRC: phrkon...@irc.freenode.net/#srcedit,#teensonlinux,#plugaz and > countless other FOSS channels. > > > --- > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss > --- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
RE: Handling Politics the plug-discuss way?
with a forum, the admin could just move the topic to the correct list. :-) _ From: plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us [mailto:plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us] On Behalf Of mike havens Sent: Monday, August 03, 2009 9:04 AM To: Main PLUG discussion list Subject: Re: Handling Politics the plug-discuss way? no one will post to it and it won't stop in the general list. if I remember right none of the other lists get any traffic; just this one, the one for general discussion. On Mon, Aug 3, 2009 at 11:15 AM, Lisa Kachold wrote: PLEASE Add a Political LIST for PLUG members interested in such discussions. On 8/3/09, Bob Elzer wrote: > I've just been deleting the topic on sight. But that is more work than > should be necessary. > > This is one reason I thought it would be better to go to a forum. > > With a forum, if the thread goes off course, it can split and moved to the > correct Subject. > > The thread could also be locked if it gets out of hand. > > But best of all when I go to the forum, I see what's new, and I can ignore > all the threads I don't have > an interest in, and when I'm done mark them all read. > > Using a forum cuts down on all the unwanted email being sent to everyone. > > You can still have mail sent to you for topics that you post in. > > Not sure how everyone else feels, but I would prefer if this was a forum. > > Then we can get teamspeak going to replace IRC :P :-) > > > > > > > >> -Original Message- >> From: plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us >> [mailto:plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us] On >> Behalf Of Ryan Rix >> Sent: Sunday, August 02, 2009 10:21 PM >> To: plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us >> Subject: OT: Handling Politics the plug-discuss way? >> >> Group, >> >> Are these political discussions (examples: the second half of >> Re: Guess What, when I relabelled unsuccesfully, and whatever >> happened to the Geeky/entrepreneurial thread) detracting from >> the point of this list (which is to discuss GNU/Linux and >> Free Software, and not necessarily to discuss the economy, >> the government, or conspiracies about whether or not our duly >> elected President was an American or not) and in general >> daunting for people who may be new listers/Linuxers? >> >> Hans agrees with me (via a quick discussion in the IRC >> channel) that these discussions in general detract from the >> list, and make the non-political- flame-war discussions less >> active/less... what is the word... visible, so I think that >> something should be done, or at least a discussion should >> take place about it. >> >> I see a few options: >> 1) We leave it here and do nothing. Most email clients have >> the ability to filter on subject/topic of a discussion, so >> those who didn't want to see/deal with/get drug into these >> discussions could easily filter them out. >> We could create a new topic heading, like we have for OT: >> (politics: or something, when someone posts something >> politically kinda sorta related), allowing those who want to >> take part in these discussions to do so, while the others are >> safely shielded from them. The problem with this is that new >> users will still see these discusions taking place, which >> could, imo be very detrimental to their joining this >> community/getting the help with a question they may need/just >> feeling comfortable. But of course, this is easy enough to do >> and leaves the work for the users who don't like said >> discussions to take care of. >> >> 2) Create another list for these mails. The problem with this >> idea is that >> (imo) mailman has no easy way to control WHERE messages >> between two different lists go, so I think that it could be >> hard to transition between the two lists when a discussion >> does eventually go OT-Political. This would rely mostly on >> the good will and rememberance of the posters, which in the >> experience of the last few OT-Political threads has given me >> the impression that this will NOT work. >> >> 3) We moderate OT threads. My personal opinion is that the >> best way to keep flame wars down is to moderate. Not so much >> eliminate the posts that may incite these political >> discussions but to put a long enough delay on the posts that >> it hampers the quick reply-reply-reply-reply that usually is >> what completely derails thoughtful discussion. If users are >> given the instant chance to write a quick retort to a >> discussion and have that instant
RE: Handling Politics the plug-discuss way?
Bob Elzer wrote: > > Each has it's own drawbacks and advantages. For one it would increase the > web site traffic. More traffic, and they see other stuff that may interest > them. > > Not sure if it could still be part of gmane or not. > GMane only handles mailing lists, not forum software :( > It would certainly not cause someone to leave the list, they would just > skip the topics they're not interested in. > It would cut down on internet waste, I haven't looked how many people are > on > the list ? But all those email to people who just delete them is a big > waste of all that traffic. > > I'm sure something could be done for someone that wants an offline > archive, but how many people save all this on their own systems, I know > where to go if I need to recheck something, and messages that teach me > something, I save in a folder. > > I don't think the admins would have a rift over where to store the > archives. lol I mean, half of the list's archive (the previous one) would reside in lurker, and the other half would reside in $forumsoftware -- --- Ryan Rix (623)-826-0051 > NE-2000 clone. Pentium optimizing gcc (pentium gcc pl8 I think). Build a kernel with the proper gcc. Reports with a non standard compiler are useless. -- Alan Cox http://hackersramblings.wordpress.com | http://twitter.com/phrkonaleash XMPP: phrkonale...@gmail.com | MSN: phrkonale...@yahoo.com AIM: phrkonaleash| Yahoo: phrkonaleash IRC: phrkon...@irc.freenode.net/#srcedit,#teensonlinux,#plugaz and countless other FOSS channels. --- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
RE: Handling Politics the plug-discuss way?
> -Original Message- > From: plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > [mailto:plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us] On > Behalf Of Ryan Rix > Sent: Monday, August 03, 2009 8:11 AM > To: plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > Subject: RE: Handling Politics the plug-discuss way? > > Bob Elzer wrote: > > I've just been deleting the topic on sight. But that is > more work than > > should be necessary. > > > > This is one reason I thought it would be better to go to a forum. > > > > With a forum, if the thread goes off course, it can split > and moved to > > the correct Subject. > > > > The thread could also be locked if it gets out of hand. > > > > But best of all when I go to the forum, I see what's new, and I can > > ignore all the threads I don't have an interest in, and > when I'm done > > mark them all read. > > > > Using a forum cuts down on all the unwanted email being > sent to everyone. > > > > You can still have mail sent to you for topics that you post in. > > > > Not sure how everyone else feels, but I would prefer if > this was a forum. > > > > Then we can get teamspeak going to replace IRC :P :-) > > > > I think the most powerful part of plug-discuss is that it's a > mailing list. > It means I can reply without having to open a browser, I can > search the archives while offline, I can participate via nntp > using GMane... > > Plus moving to a message board at this point would create a > lot of work for the administrators of the site, and would > lead to a rift in where the archives were stored, unless > there is a lurker compatible script for a forum software... Each has it's own drawbacks and advantages. For one it would increase the web site traffic. More traffic, and they see other stuff that may interest them. Not sure if it could still be part of gmane or not. It would certainly not cause someone to leave the list, they would just skip the topics they're not interested in. It would cut down on internet waste, I haven't looked how many people are on the list ? But all those email to people who just delete them is a big waste of all that traffic. I'm sure something could be done for someone that wants an offline archive, but how many people save all this on their own systems, I know where to go if I need to recheck something, and messages that teach me something, I save in a folder. I don't think the admins would have a rift over where to store the archives. lol > > -- > --- > Ryan Rix > (623)-826-0051 > > finlandia:~> apropos win > win: nothing appropriate. > > http://hackersramblings.wordpress.com | > http://twitter.com/phrkonaleash > XMPP: phrkonale...@gmail.com | MSN: phrkonale...@yahoo.com > AIM: phrkonaleash| Yahoo: phrkonaleash > IRC: phrkon...@irc.freenode.net/#srcedit,#teensonlinux,#plugaz and > countless other FOSS channels. > > > --- > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss > --- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
Re: Handling Politics the plug-discuss way?
no one will post to it and it won't stop in the general list. if I remember right none of the other lists get any traffic; just this one, the one for general discussion. On Mon, Aug 3, 2009 at 11:15 AM, Lisa Kachold wrote: > PLEASE Add a Political LIST for PLUG members interested in such > discussions. > > On 8/3/09, Bob Elzer wrote: > > I've just been deleting the topic on sight. But that is more work than > > should be necessary. > > > > This is one reason I thought it would be better to go to a forum. > > > > With a forum, if the thread goes off course, it can split and moved to > the > > correct Subject. > > > > The thread could also be locked if it gets out of hand. > > > > But best of all when I go to the forum, I see what's new, and I can > ignore > > all the threads I don't have > > an interest in, and when I'm done mark them all read. > > > > Using a forum cuts down on all the unwanted email being sent to everyone. > > > > You can still have mail sent to you for topics that you post in. > > > > Not sure how everyone else feels, but I would prefer if this was a forum. > > > > Then we can get teamspeak going to replace IRC :P :-) > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >> -Original Message- > >> From: plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > >> [mailto:plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us] On > >> Behalf Of Ryan Rix > >> Sent: Sunday, August 02, 2009 10:21 PM > >> To: plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > >> Subject: OT: Handling Politics the plug-discuss way? > >> > >> Group, > >> > >> Are these political discussions (examples: the second half of > >> Re: Guess What, when I relabelled unsuccesfully, and whatever > >> happened to the Geeky/entrepreneurial thread) detracting from > >> the point of this list (which is to discuss GNU/Linux and > >> Free Software, and not necessarily to discuss the economy, > >> the government, or conspiracies about whether or not our duly > >> elected President was an American or not) and in general > >> daunting for people who may be new listers/Linuxers? > >> > >> Hans agrees with me (via a quick discussion in the IRC > >> channel) that these discussions in general detract from the > >> list, and make the non-political- flame-war discussions less > >> active/less... what is the word... visible, so I think that > >> something should be done, or at least a discussion should > >> take place about it. > >> > >> I see a few options: > >> 1) We leave it here and do nothing. Most email clients have > >> the ability to filter on subject/topic of a discussion, so > >> those who didn't want to see/deal with/get drug into these > >> discussions could easily filter them out. > >> We could create a new topic heading, like we have for OT: > >> (politics: or something, when someone posts something > >> politically kinda sorta related), allowing those who want to > >> take part in these discussions to do so, while the others are > >> safely shielded from them. The problem with this is that new > >> users will still see these discusions taking place, which > >> could, imo be very detrimental to their joining this > >> community/getting the help with a question they may need/just > >> feeling comfortable. But of course, this is easy enough to do > >> and leaves the work for the users who don't like said > >> discussions to take care of. > >> > >> 2) Create another list for these mails. The problem with this > >> idea is that > >> (imo) mailman has no easy way to control WHERE messages > >> between two different lists go, so I think that it could be > >> hard to transition between the two lists when a discussion > >> does eventually go OT-Political. This would rely mostly on > >> the good will and rememberance of the posters, which in the > >> experience of the last few OT-Political threads has given me > >> the impression that this will NOT work. > >> > >> 3) We moderate OT threads. My personal opinion is that the > >> best way to keep flame wars down is to moderate. Not so much > >> eliminate the posts that may incite these political > >> discussions but to put a long enough delay on the posts that > >> it hampers the quick reply-reply-reply-reply that usually is > >> what completely derails thoughtful discussion. If users are > >> given the instant chance to write a quick retort to a > >> discussion and have that instantly posted to a hundred people > >> who may or may not have the same idealogy basically causes a > >> thread to go haywire in a matter of hours. With a sufficient > >> delay in these posts being sent to the group, this haywiring > >> can be pushed out to a day or two, hopefully alleviating any > >> flame wars which may develop. Most of the wars that take > >> place on p-d are about a day or two long at most anyways. > >> > >> 4) We forbid it. I think that this is the WORST option, but > >> an option nonetheless. I am not in favor of censorship at > >> all, but if things get bad enough we could do this. It would > >> probably have to fall back
Re: Handling Politics the plug-discuss way?
PLEASE Add a Political LIST for PLUG members interested in such discussions. On 8/3/09, Bob Elzer wrote: > I've just been deleting the topic on sight. But that is more work than > should be necessary. > > This is one reason I thought it would be better to go to a forum. > > With a forum, if the thread goes off course, it can split and moved to the > correct Subject. > > The thread could also be locked if it gets out of hand. > > But best of all when I go to the forum, I see what's new, and I can ignore > all the threads I don't have > an interest in, and when I'm done mark them all read. > > Using a forum cuts down on all the unwanted email being sent to everyone. > > You can still have mail sent to you for topics that you post in. > > Not sure how everyone else feels, but I would prefer if this was a forum. > > Then we can get teamspeak going to replace IRC :P :-) > > > > > > > >> -Original Message- >> From: plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us >> [mailto:plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us] On >> Behalf Of Ryan Rix >> Sent: Sunday, August 02, 2009 10:21 PM >> To: plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us >> Subject: OT: Handling Politics the plug-discuss way? >> >> Group, >> >> Are these political discussions (examples: the second half of >> Re: Guess What, when I relabelled unsuccesfully, and whatever >> happened to the Geeky/entrepreneurial thread) detracting from >> the point of this list (which is to discuss GNU/Linux and >> Free Software, and not necessarily to discuss the economy, >> the government, or conspiracies about whether or not our duly >> elected President was an American or not) and in general >> daunting for people who may be new listers/Linuxers? >> >> Hans agrees with me (via a quick discussion in the IRC >> channel) that these discussions in general detract from the >> list, and make the non-political- flame-war discussions less >> active/less... what is the word... visible, so I think that >> something should be done, or at least a discussion should >> take place about it. >> >> I see a few options: >> 1) We leave it here and do nothing. Most email clients have >> the ability to filter on subject/topic of a discussion, so >> those who didn't want to see/deal with/get drug into these >> discussions could easily filter them out. >> We could create a new topic heading, like we have for OT: >> (politics: or something, when someone posts something >> politically kinda sorta related), allowing those who want to >> take part in these discussions to do so, while the others are >> safely shielded from them. The problem with this is that new >> users will still see these discusions taking place, which >> could, imo be very detrimental to their joining this >> community/getting the help with a question they may need/just >> feeling comfortable. But of course, this is easy enough to do >> and leaves the work for the users who don't like said >> discussions to take care of. >> >> 2) Create another list for these mails. The problem with this >> idea is that >> (imo) mailman has no easy way to control WHERE messages >> between two different lists go, so I think that it could be >> hard to transition between the two lists when a discussion >> does eventually go OT-Political. This would rely mostly on >> the good will and rememberance of the posters, which in the >> experience of the last few OT-Political threads has given me >> the impression that this will NOT work. >> >> 3) We moderate OT threads. My personal opinion is that the >> best way to keep flame wars down is to moderate. Not so much >> eliminate the posts that may incite these political >> discussions but to put a long enough delay on the posts that >> it hampers the quick reply-reply-reply-reply that usually is >> what completely derails thoughtful discussion. If users are >> given the instant chance to write a quick retort to a >> discussion and have that instantly posted to a hundred people >> who may or may not have the same idealogy basically causes a >> thread to go haywire in a matter of hours. With a sufficient >> delay in these posts being sent to the group, this haywiring >> can be pushed out to a day or two, hopefully alleviating any >> flame wars which may develop. Most of the wars that take >> place on p-d are about a day or two long at most anyways. >> >> 4) We forbid it. I think that this is the WORST option, but >> an option nonetheless. I am not in favor of censorship at >> all, but if things get bad enough we could do this. It would >> probably have to fall back to #3. >> >> My personal preference is #3, but that gives someone an extra >> job, and I don't think Hans should have to do it himself. A >> board of moderators be elected perhaps? Is there any way to >> crowdsource it? If this was a forum rather than a mailing >> list (which I don't support at all!) we could add a >> score/rating system, but I don't think that this is possible >> via e-mail. >> >> Thanks and best, >> Ryan Rix >> >> --
RE: Handling Politics the plug-discuss way?
Bob Elzer wrote: > I've just been deleting the topic on sight. But that is more work than > should be necessary. > > This is one reason I thought it would be better to go to a forum. > > With a forum, if the thread goes off course, it can split and moved to the > correct Subject. > > The thread could also be locked if it gets out of hand. > > But best of all when I go to the forum, I see what's new, and I can ignore > all the threads I don't have > an interest in, and when I'm done mark them all read. > > Using a forum cuts down on all the unwanted email being sent to everyone. > > You can still have mail sent to you for topics that you post in. > > Not sure how everyone else feels, but I would prefer if this was a forum. > > Then we can get teamspeak going to replace IRC :P :-) > I think the most powerful part of plug-discuss is that it's a mailing list. It means I can reply without having to open a browser, I can search the archives while offline, I can participate via nntp using GMane... Plus moving to a message board at this point would create a lot of work for the administrators of the site, and would lead to a rift in where the archives were stored, unless there is a lurker compatible script for a forum software... -- --- Ryan Rix (623)-826-0051 finlandia:~> apropos win win: nothing appropriate. http://hackersramblings.wordpress.com | http://twitter.com/phrkonaleash XMPP: phrkonale...@gmail.com | MSN: phrkonale...@yahoo.com AIM: phrkonaleash| Yahoo: phrkonaleash IRC: phrkon...@irc.freenode.net/#srcedit,#teensonlinux,#plugaz and countless other FOSS channels. --- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
RE: Handling Politics the plug-discuss way?
I've just been deleting the topic on sight. But that is more work than should be necessary. This is one reason I thought it would be better to go to a forum. With a forum, if the thread goes off course, it can split and moved to the correct Subject. The thread could also be locked if it gets out of hand. But best of all when I go to the forum, I see what's new, and I can ignore all the threads I don't have an interest in, and when I'm done mark them all read. Using a forum cuts down on all the unwanted email being sent to everyone. You can still have mail sent to you for topics that you post in. Not sure how everyone else feels, but I would prefer if this was a forum. Then we can get teamspeak going to replace IRC :P :-) > -Original Message- > From: plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > [mailto:plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us] On > Behalf Of Ryan Rix > Sent: Sunday, August 02, 2009 10:21 PM > To: plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > Subject: OT: Handling Politics the plug-discuss way? > > Group, > > Are these political discussions (examples: the second half of > Re: Guess What, when I relabelled unsuccesfully, and whatever > happened to the Geeky/entrepreneurial thread) detracting from > the point of this list (which is to discuss GNU/Linux and > Free Software, and not necessarily to discuss the economy, > the government, or conspiracies about whether or not our duly > elected President was an American or not) and in general > daunting for people who may be new listers/Linuxers? > > Hans agrees with me (via a quick discussion in the IRC > channel) that these discussions in general detract from the > list, and make the non-political- flame-war discussions less > active/less... what is the word... visible, so I think that > something should be done, or at least a discussion should > take place about it. > > I see a few options: > 1) We leave it here and do nothing. Most email clients have > the ability to filter on subject/topic of a discussion, so > those who didn't want to see/deal with/get drug into these > discussions could easily filter them out. > We could create a new topic heading, like we have for OT: > (politics: or something, when someone posts something > politically kinda sorta related), allowing those who want to > take part in these discussions to do so, while the others are > safely shielded from them. The problem with this is that new > users will still see these discusions taking place, which > could, imo be very detrimental to their joining this > community/getting the help with a question they may need/just > feeling comfortable. But of course, this is easy enough to do > and leaves the work for the users who don't like said > discussions to take care of. > > 2) Create another list for these mails. The problem with this > idea is that > (imo) mailman has no easy way to control WHERE messages > between two different lists go, so I think that it could be > hard to transition between the two lists when a discussion > does eventually go OT-Political. This would rely mostly on > the good will and rememberance of the posters, which in the > experience of the last few OT-Political threads has given me > the impression that this will NOT work. > > 3) We moderate OT threads. My personal opinion is that the > best way to keep flame wars down is to moderate. Not so much > eliminate the posts that may incite these political > discussions but to put a long enough delay on the posts that > it hampers the quick reply-reply-reply-reply that usually is > what completely derails thoughtful discussion. If users are > given the instant chance to write a quick retort to a > discussion and have that instantly posted to a hundred people > who may or may not have the same idealogy basically causes a > thread to go haywire in a matter of hours. With a sufficient > delay in these posts being sent to the group, this haywiring > can be pushed out to a day or two, hopefully alleviating any > flame wars which may develop. Most of the wars that take > place on p-d are about a day or two long at most anyways. > > 4) We forbid it. I think that this is the WORST option, but > an option nonetheless. I am not in favor of censorship at > all, but if things get bad enough we could do this. It would > probably have to fall back to #3. > > My personal preference is #3, but that gives someone an extra > job, and I don't think Hans should have to do it himself. A > board of moderators be elected perhaps? Is there any way to > crowdsource it? If this was a forum rather than a mailing > list (which I don't support at all!) we could add a > score/rating system, but I don't think that this is possible > via e-mail. > > Thanks and best, > Ryan Rix > > -- > --- > Ryan Rix > (623)-826-0051 > > * LG loves czech girls. > LG: do they have additional interesting "features" > other girls don't have? ;) > -- #Debia
