Depression Recovery

Question:

You remember the old saying……if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it??? well, that’s the way I feel about the newsgroup becoming a moderated group. We all have a  delete button, and can choose not to read articles that might be offensive. As for SPAM, well, I hate it as much as the rest of you. It is a nuisance, but it can also be deleted, and sent to the trash, or returned to sender’s isp. The character of the group will change if it is moderated. my 2 cents

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says… – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – >You remember the old saying……if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it??? >well, that’s the way I feel about the newsgroup becoming a moderated >group. We all have a  delete button, and can choose not to read >articles that might be offensive. As for SPAM, well, I hate it as much >as the rest of you. It is a nuisance, but it can also be deleted, and >sent to the trash, or returned to sender’s isp. The character of the >group will change if it is moderated. >my 2 cents

Hi barb, I tend to agree with you on this one but though I hate spam so much I hate the  porno stuff even more and can’t understand why they think we are interested.  ( or perhaps some are?) Regards Joan

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- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > says… >You remember the old saying……if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it??? >well, that’s the way I feel about the newsgroup becoming a moderated >group. We all have a  delete button, and can choose not to read >articles that might be offensive. As for SPAM, well, I hate it as much >as the rest of you. It is a nuisance, but it can also be deleted, and >sent to the trash, or returned to sender’s isp. The character of the >group will change if it is moderated. >my 2 cents > Hi barb, > I tend to agree with you on this one but though I hate spam so much I hate > the  porno stuff even more and can’t understand why they think we are > interested.  ( or perhaps some are?) Regards Joan

A couple of comments on this…. First of all, a clarification. I never said I was in favor of a moderated group.  I justed wanted everyone’s opinions on this.  Personally, I have mixed feelings. Second, I never see most of the porno posts you are referring too.  Why? Because my ISP (Brigham Young University) is extremely aggressive in blocking these folks.  If one does get through, I just forward it to our postmaster and that address is immediately and permanently blocked.   I think other ISP’s would do the same if you asked – so ask!  I am sure AOL would, and I imagine others would as well. Let’s here from more of you and see if we can build a concensus. Walt Hanks — Visit my website at http://www.itsnet.com/~wdhanks/WaltHP.html

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> You remember the old saying……if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it??? > well, that’s the way I feel about the newsgroup becoming a moderated > group. We all have a  delete button, and can choose not to read > articles that might be offensive. As for SPAM, well, I hate it as much > as the rest of you. It is a nuisance, but it can also be deleted, and > sent to the trash, or returned to sender’s isp. The character of the > group will change if it is moderated. > my 2 cents

I agree. I like it the way it is. Catherine

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Barbara, How do you return mail to the sender’s ISP? In my experience, the bulk of such mail appears to be undeliverable. Elena – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > You remember the old saying……if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it??? > well, that’s the way I feel about the newsgroup becoming a moderated > group. We all have a  delete button, and can choose not to read > articles that might be offensive. As for SPAM, well, I hate it as much > as the rest of you. It is a nuisance, but it can also be deleted, and > sent to the trash, or returned to sender’s isp. The character of the > group will change if it is moderated. > my 2 cents

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that sounds like a great idea skipper, can you post a new topic and get us all on board with it, May God Bless You and Yours, Michelle

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>> You remember the old saying……if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it??? > well, that’s the way I feel about the newsgroup becoming a moderated > group. We all have a  delete button, and can choose not to read > articles that might be offensive. As for SPAM, well, I hate it as much > as the rest of you. It is a nuisance, but it can also be deleted, and > sent to the trash, or returned to sender’s isp. The character of the > group will change if it is moderated. > my 2 cents

I agree. I like it the way it is and hope that in the future there be less need for it anyway… Dick

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>> It isn’t quite that simple.  We would have to actually recreate this

NG, going through the formal proposal – discussion – voting process.  It will take time, a lot of it.   How willing is everone to do this? << The time factor wouldn’t be unbearable if a person knew they would end up with a quality product. The problem is, it’s like buying a "pig in a poke". That pig (moderator) could end up being the most intractable opinionated jerk this side of alt.lunacy. Even shared or rotated moderator duties would assure we get to taste a variety of individual idiosyncrasies. I’d much rather have an environment where someone can tell me to get (bleeped) occasionally. Which happens, and by golly, sometimes for good cause. !^NavFont02F02520007RGHHI535E10 !N3

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Actually, I like the group the way that it is (without a moderator).I resent the spam, but it is easy enough to skip through the messages, or put a lock on future messages (if you use Free Agent). To me, it is the problem of unsolicited e-mail messages that are the most annoying. Sometimes I have several messages at a time. And the topics are very inappropriate. But I wonder if this would still be a problem even with a moderated group. Wouldn’t the spammers still do whatever they do to get our e-mail addresses? Wouldn’t they even increase the amount of personal e-mail to advertise their wares? Rose

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OK….So no one asked for it, but I’m gonna give it anyway! <G> This has been the group that I have always returned to, time and time again.  I can understand the problem with spammers.  I haven’t done much toward giving them the "business" because for the most part, I figure I can shut them up by passing the post by, or just deleting them. But, I think that this group would lose a lot of what makes it the group it is if it went to be moderated.  As has already been mentioned…..there isn’t any real problem between any members…and I have even seen one person very strongly put another in their place, and it was accepted, and I believe appreciated.  We are all different, but I have not seen the fighting and bickering here that I have on other groups.  Value what you have…keep it the way it is. I’ve not been an asset here, but would hate to see a good thing spoiled. That’s the last I have to say. — Marijo Replies to:

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Hi group,     My belated $0.02 re:  a moderated group-I would vote against it, also.  It seems a little too close to censorship for my taste.  Besides, you know the saying "don’t sweat the small stuff"?  I think we all have plenty enough going on in our lives to make occasional  unwanted/offensive posts qualify for "small stuff". Denise

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>I’ve not been an asset here, but would hate to see a good thing >spoiled.

I agreed with all your points except this one… sure you’re an asset! Best regards,

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>I’ve not been an asset here, but would hate to see a good thing >spoiled. >That’s the last I have to say.

Marijo, Who said you havent been an asset here? Your just as much an ass(et) as the rest of us!!!! <G> Keep Smilin’ ~Krissy "The most thoroughly wasted of all days is that  in which one has not laughed." Nicolas Chamfort

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> Second, I never see most of the porno posts you are referring too.

Me neither! That is about the only positive thing about my new ISP, they seem to be blocking some of the spammers. The past month I think I have got one porn posting… For those of you that get them all the time, keep mailing your ISP’s and ask for spam-filters. On the moderation issue, although I am sick and tired of all the ads, I think I’m against moderation… As it is today, we don’t have all that much ads here (not as in many other groups), flame wars are almost non-existant and we have quite a lot of offtopic, but positive posts. Moderation could mean that we lost the freedom we have today to post offtopic, but yet appropriate stuff… — Best regards / Med vennlig hilsen,       Aase Marit ))))))            ("Aw-Se-Mareet" from Norway) http://w1.2380.telia.com/~u238000263/flaker/docs/index.html

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I have changed my mind too. I am joining a new ISP that will give me access to my newsgroups but will block most spam, unlike AOL.  I love my newsgroups friends and would be really upset if even one person quit because of moderation.   God Bless You Michelle           "Only the good die young " – Billy Joel

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>It isn’t quite that simple.  We would have to actually recreate this NG, >going through the formal proposal – discussion – voting process.  It will >take time, a lot of it.   >How willing is everone to do this? >Walt Hanks

I do not care on how long it takes to get this newgroup and some others moderated, I am so tied of trying to shift through messages about someone’s love life or where you can find porno pictures.  They do have newsgroups for that type of thing. —— God is good all the time, and all the time God is good. Tricia

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> I do not care on how long it takes to get this newgroup and some others > moderated, I am so tied of trying to shift through messages about someone’s > love life or where you can find porno pictures.  They do have newsgroups for > that type of thing. > —— > God is good all the time, and all the time God is good. > Tricia

I don’t know if my server sifts these out or what but I’m not getting prono pictures etc. Catherine

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>I don’t know if my server sifts these out or what but I’m not getting >prono pictures etc. >Catherine

I don’t get them either. —- The Skipper To reply remove "booger".

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> I have no idea how to go about whatever needs to be done. But I am willing to > do whatever I can to get rid of the spam!!! Just let me know what I can do!

    Gad, we went through this in the Taoism group about a year ago.  First you post an RFD (Request For Discussion) in news.groups.  Then everybody bickers about it for a long time after which point the CFV (Call For Votes) is posted.  To get passed it needs to have something better than a 2/3 margin of all votes (meaning abstains effectively count against).     As I recall the long and short of it in alt.philosophy.taoism was that two issues were proposed – 1) moderate a.p.t, and/or 2) create a new moderated group elsewhere.  I think both items failed (narrowly) so in effect nothing at all happened except that the pro-moderation faction got honked off and left (going to soc.religion.eastern which already existed and was already moderated meaning there was already a place for that sort of discussion without doing anything to a.p.t at all).     Of course the things they argue about over there are pretty trivial (and ergo battled over viciously with tooth and nail) – the main reasons I came down on the "against" side were concern over the moderator plan (i.e.-not really confident it would work given the personalities of the people who were proposing to do it), and I was also concerned because the wording of the proposal meant that a lot of light-hearted stuff like jokes and tomfoolery would have to have been ruled "off-topic" and thus axed.     I suspect we’d have less arguments about it here, but in the long term I’m still clearly not wild on the subject of moderation in general since I think it might tend to stifle the character of this group.  Compared with what we had in a.p.t our spam problem here in a.s.a is pretty mild, so although I don’t like what spammers do any better than anybody else I still tend to believe that the disease just isn’t worth the pain of the cure.  If somebody else wants to do the necessary news.groups stuff I’ll volunteer not to abstain or vote against, but after my earlier experience I’d rather not be the one who does the footwork. — Nathan Engle               Shop Steward               Electron Juggler’s Guild, Local #1 "Some Assembly Required"

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I think we are very lucky here.  I don’t think any of us has a problem with any of the "members" of this group.  We don’t get into a lot of heated arguments or flame wars.  I think what all of us object to is the spam. If we would all get together, we can put a good dent in that.  When we see that someone has posted some spam, we all need to send complaints to the spammer’s postmaster.  If every spam post recieves 30 complaints, it will greatly slow down the traffic.  We can rest assured that no one will post spam here twice. —- The Skipper To reply remove "booger".

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I have no idea how to go about whatever needs to be done. But I am willing to do whatever I can to get rid of the spam!!! Just let me know what I can do! Keep Smilin’ ~krissy "The most thoroughly wasted of all days is that  in which one has not laughed." Nicolas Chamfort

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Hi Walt,     I would rather have it like it is.   All the net puts up with some crap and it can be handled to a small extent.   I am not ready to have what I read controled by someone who may an agenda. Harv – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> I for one would not mind sharing the job of moderating this board and > the other ones I post to, on an alternating basis, with say three or > four other individuals.  I also post to the psoriasis board and the > chronic pain board. and the depression/recovery board > May God Bless You and Yours, > Michelle > It isn’t quite that simple.  We would have to actually recreate this NG, > going through the formal proposal – discussion – voting process.  It will > take time, a lot of it. > How willing is everone to do this? > Walt Hanks > — > Visit my website at http://www.itsnet.com/~wdhanks/WaltHP.html

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>It isn’t quite that simple.  We would have to actually recreate this NG, >going through the formal proposal – discussion – voting process.  It will >take time, a lot of it.   >How willing is everone to do this?

I personally would be against this effort.  First, it would require a new group.  Second, the old group wouldn’t actually go away, but would have to be monitored constantly by the moderator, with new arrivals informed of the "dead" status of the old group and redirected to the new one.  (I know from experience of this on another group)  People would be confused, lost, those with links to this group would find the links no longer useful, some would never find their way to the new group.  Some services wouldn’t have the new group carried, so some would be unable to access it (at least in the beginning). There also would be lots and lots of bickering between posters and the moderator/moderators (if my experience on other newsgroups is any example).  They would be accused of using their "power" arbitrarily, of censorship, of purposely losing posts of "enemies"… it can get really ugly! Finally, I can put up with the spam (although I do my part to report spammers to their ISP’s and suggest that others do so as well).  It is worth it for the freedom of an active, popular newsgroup like this one. So… I vote no.   Best regards,

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I for one would not mind sharing the job of moderating this board and the other ones I post to, on an alternating basis, with say three or four other individuals.  I also post to the psoriasis board and the chronic pain board. and the depression/recovery board May God Bless You and Yours, Michelle

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> I for one would not mind sharing the job of moderating this board and > the other ones I post to, on an alternating basis, with say three or > four other individuals.  I also post to the psoriasis board and the > chronic pain board. and the depression/recovery board > May God Bless You and Yours, > Michelle

It isn’t quite that simple.  We would have to actually recreate this NG, going through the formal proposal – discussion – voting process.  It will take time, a lot of it.   How willing is everone to do this? Walt Hanks — Visit my website at http://www.itsnet.com/~wdhanks/WaltHP.html

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