Didn't we have a really lengthy discussion of this exact issue around three
weeks ago, when Jim got exasperated and quit as moderator?  And the
responses were overwhelmingly that people felt this was a community of
friends and folks wanted to allow some off-topic discussion?

Now as one who posted last Friday one of the off-topic posts, I did forget
to emphasize that people should p-mail their replies, and in fact I think no
one did.  So my apologies for my share in the flood, particularly as it
continued well past Friday.  Perhaps a very strong request that replies to
off-topic posts be made in p-mail might help?  Especially when, like mine,
they are requests for irrelevant technical information.

On the other hand, when the off-topic posts concern personal information
like baby or death announcements, I'd very much rather see all of it on the
list.  That's what makes us a community of friends, that we care about these
things!  I do, at least.

If the issue is not whether to ban off-topic posts (I thought we agreed not
to do that), but whether to have a moderator - well, how many people are
willing to moderate?  I don't think we should vote for moderators based on
their position about off-topic posts, that's too indirect.  We should come
to a consensus on off-topic posts (if somehow we didn't already do that),
and then see who's willing to moderate in a way that will reflect that
consensus.  And if we really have a major surplus and they can't come to an
agreement among themselves about how to share the responsibility, then we
can think about choosing among them.  But somehow I doubt that's likely.

Joy

> dylan friedman wrote:
>
>> Please don't be sorry.
>> This needs to talked about and something done about it.
>> We have lost many knowledgeable listees due to no or weak moderation.
>>
>> This is the Vanagon list.
>> I vote for just Vanagon content.
>> NVC gets put into a separate folder on my computer and I check it about
>> once every two weeks.
>> The size of the folder grows far to quickily IMHO.
>>
>> I belong to over 30 groups and this particular group is the only one with
>> such issues occuring as frequently as they do.
>> Other lists ban "non content" posters after one warning.
>> Any finger pointing or bad mouthing ends with all parties removed from the
>> list.
>>
>> These lists are excellent for sharing info.
>> I find myself using pmail far more than ever now.
>> This is unfortunate for the lurkers.
>> Speak up people or we may loose more and more of the the listees with true
>> experience and the answers needed.
>>
>> How about coming up with a list of likely canidates and having a vote?
>>
>> dylan
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>