[Discuss] time to scrap the moderated list

[John P. Murphy]

On Dec 6, 2007, at 7:06 PM, James wrote:

> That's my biggest problem.  Right now (especially) is finals week  
> and I
> tend to reply to a lot of messages.  Between the two I usually either
> don't have the time to mod the message or I've already replied to the
> message.

I still fail to see why having replied to a message is a problem.  Is  
this intentionally modeled after Slashdot's moderation system?  If  
so, please don't -- that system sucks.

Look at it this way: moderators are going to be the more trusted and  
more motivated posters to a group.  If they can't moderate threads  
they participate in, then you get one of two effects:
1) Only a small handful of moderators can mod interesting threads,  
because all the rest have posted in it.  Those who haven't posted are  
usually going to be the ones who are too busy to read, and thus will  
not post.  Ergo: it takes forever for the thread to get approved.
2) Moderators will stay out of threads, and those threads will be  
less interesting as a result of their lack of participation.  And by  
not participating, those moderators are going to be less interested  
and come to see moderation as a chore, and procrastinate.

Either way, the moderated list loses: either we get a choked-off  
intermittent stream of interesting messages, or a steady stream of  
less-interesting messages.

I strongly suggest that you try, for just a month or so, allowing  
moderators to moderate their own messages and threads they've  
responded to.  I am highly confident that the moderated list will  
improve dramatically, and that very few "bad" messages will get through.

John