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Re: A Modest Proposal



"As someone who has been on the archives list since the early 1990's ..."

        ME TOO!

"...I am amused to see the same sorts of comments recycled over and over
again..."

        ME TOO!    ;)

"...we should avoid a moderator since that would distroy the free flow of
comments that make this listserv unique."

        I have not seen that happen in many years of experience with
moderated professional and academic lists, nor have I noticed that the free
flow of ideas among professionals is in any way unique to this list.

"If you all want discussions with archival content then you have to create
them..."

        We do that every day (well ... maybe not so much on Fridays...), and
I'm grateful to have this list to turn to for that.

"... seems to me like the members of this list don't feel that they can
control what is on this list. . ."

        I think you hit the nail on the head there -- under current
conditions we have virtually no control.  Public and private calls for
civility go unheeded, and "Terms of Participation" are ignored.

"We are professionals and we should be able to create a list where we can
have important and profound discussions without having someone watch over to
make sure that no one says anything
that is off topic..."

        Calling for a moderator in no way calls into question the
professionalism of any individual or group.  Professional groups can and do
benefit from having a moderator.  Many, many professional lists are
moderated, and we all attend chaired meetings or facilitated discussions
with someone who's there to make sure things don't get too far off course
and people don't come to (verbal) blows.

"If you want a list that meets your needs it is up to you to take control
and make it a list that you want."

        That's what we were attempting to do in putting forth a suggesting
for a moderator.

"It needs people who can get past being stuck by one (or ten) off topic
posters."

        If I couldn't do that, I wouldn't have remained on this list for so
many years.  But that doesn't mean I can't hope to see the list continue to
improve.  I know I have a delete key -- I've had to replace the keycap six
times from overuse! ;)  But that's really only effective if you know the
content of a posting from the subject line, and that's not always the case.

        It may well be that there are only two of us on this list who think
this might be worth investigating; if so, I'll just consider this my little
contribution to the free flow of ideas and let it go at that.

Peace ...

Beth LETS-GO-METS!!!! Golding
Florida State Archives
egolding@mail.dos.state.fl.us

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