Umm, is there a moderator in the house?
David Terracino
I'm starting to get sick and tired of all these "miracle-cure" anecdotes
and "snake-oil" messages, usually complete with pricing, in this newsgroup.
I'm here to get and lend support to others who suffer from these diseases;
I don't want to sift through crap messages that have people trying to sell
me dead skin cells from a rat's butt as the newest cure for CD ("hey, it
worked for me!"). We have too much other stuff to worry about.
Anyway, I'm as open-minded as the next guy, but I don't believe in just
anything. And any of these wonder cures that I've actually taken the time
to visit a home page for has had little more than anecdotal evidence of the
curative properties of the item; hardly a reason to drop everything and
start redirecting part of my check to my "new cure".
So, if there is a moderator, maybe he/she should think about a little
harder line against these types of posts (like I've heard about in other
support groups). If there isn't one, perhaps it should be considered.
Any ideas?
Sue
I'm the unofficial moderator of this newsgroup, and short of starting
an official moderated newsgroup, I know of no harder line to take that
would be *effective*. Note the emphasis on the word effective.
Official moderation would first of all mean creating a new, moderated
newsgroup, which would take some time. All of the posts then go to the
moderator's mailbox where they are either screened by autoscreening
software or by the moderator personally. The autoscreening software
is complex and doesn't work that well. Personal screening means the
moderator's got to log on 4 to 6 times a day, never mind time off for
vacations or illness, otherwise the moderator's mailbox fills up wiht
emails from newbies and other impatient people asking where the heck
their posts went. On top of that, the moderator has to pay extra money
to the ISP for the privilege of moderating usually.
If you know of any other methods other newsgroups are using, and which
newsgroups they are, please post, I'm open to suggestions. I looked
around for autocancelers after the Ken Presner Wars, but came up empty.
Sue s...@panix.com
d. washichek
hi sue,
do you know of any news group programs that allow the user to filter
out the receipt of posts from specific persons or e-mail addresses.
i agree that a moderated news group is not the preferred answer though.
drew
c...@teleport.com
In article <01bc42fa$2165ace0$0100...@u1001884.warwick.net>, "David
Terracino" <tia...@warwick.net> wrote:
> I'm starting to get sick and tired of all these "miracle-cure" anecdotes
>
> So, if there is a moderator, maybe he/she should think about a little
> harder line against these types of posts (like I've heard about in other
> support groups). If there isn't one, perhaps it should be considered.
It is easy to spot these types of posts. Almost as easy as the SE Asia sex
pictures etc.
I wonder if one problem is the designation alt. Perhaps if this was
sci.med. IBD or such it might not attract such postings. I would suggest
such a designation change if the group does become moderated.
Moderating a group does delay posts and "strings out" threads, and is a
time consuming job. Also, does everyone want these "cures" crensored?
--------------------------
It doesn't take all kinds, there simply are all kinds. Churchill
--------------------------
C. L. Waltemath
Gary R. Schmidt
David Terracino wrote:
>
[snip]
> So, if there is a moderator, maybe he/she should think about a little
> harder line against these types of posts (like I've heard about in other
> support groups). If there isn't one, perhaps it should be considered.
>
The alt newsgroups are unmoderated, by definition. Any one with the
right access can create as many of any type as they want. There are
some moderated newsgroups in the comp, rec and soc areas, but newsgroups
can only be moderated by agreement of _all_ machines on the net that are
functioning as news hosts. This number was riduculous when I last
checked in 1990, by now it must be truly boggling by now.
The best thing to do is to try and ignore any messages which you do not
want to read, or if your newsreader has a Kill file, use it.
Cheers,
Gary B-)
--
______________________________________________________________________________
Gary R. Schmidt Internet/ACSNet/FishNet:
g...@werple.mira.net.au
or Gary_S...@pfxnew.ccmail.compuserve.com
______________________________________________________________________________