|
This ADMIN notice was posted to the list on 05/23/01
|
Okay gang, I hate to do this, but I am going to have to put my foot
down
on the recent slew of gutter talk going on. As anyone who has been on
this list for a while can tell you, we have always had a policy of
letting members talk about anything they wish with the exceptions of
religious beliefs and politics -- both of which are topics that garner
strong opinions and do not always make the best of bedfellows in mixed
company. However, when subject matter starts garnering complaints, as
a
moderator I have to start paying closer attention. While we have
often
had complaints about "gutter talk" on the list, we have rarely seen
this
*number* of complaints or complaints from people who have been past
participants. In the past, most "gutter sessions" have lasted 2-3
days.
This one has been going on for nearly a month, and is causing people
to
leave the list or go to "no mail". This is a problem.
This list has always been a place for members to discuss whatever is
on
their minds, whether it's the weather, the price of tea in China, new
music, old music, or the great big bug that landed on the dog. We
realize that strictly on-topic talk for this list would make it a very
slow and dull list since our dear Mr. Perry hasn't been doing a whole
lot of anything of late, so we don't require it to be on-topic. We do
require that the list be respectful of others and since polite
requests
have gone unheeded, I'm afraid we're going to have to forcefully
squash
this topic for the time being.
As for the arguments that "you can always delete what you don't want
to
read" and "so start another subject", I've gained an interesting
perspective on them these last 2 months as I've been lurking in digest
mode. The majority of our list members are either on Web Only or
Digest,
and skipping what you don't want to read and starting a new subject
are
almost mutually exclusive. Here's what I've noticed:
1. When a digest contains 25 messages and 23 of them are "gutter talk"
complete with extra headers and multiple repeats of entire messages,
it's VERY difficult to find the 2 messages that aren't "gutter talk",
so
the whole digest gets tossed without being read. The new topics get
easily lost in the flurry of the gutter talk. People who are
*interested* in the other subjects don't necessarily see them and
since
they aren't interested in gutter talk, they don't post.
2. In order to start a new subject, you have to weed through what else
is being talked about to find an opening for a new thread.
3. As less and less people post, more and more posts become about the
gutter, thus continuing the cycle.
Furthermore, as some of you may be aware, Yahoo! is currently moving
it's "adults only" sites, making them harder to find. They are
considering removing all "adult" content. While this list is currently
NOT an "adult" list, the subject matter frequently is. It is not
beyond
reasoning that Yahoo! would want to move this list to the "adult" area
and/or remove it if they change the Terms of Service. I don't think
any
of us would want to see that happen.
This list has been growing at an amazing rate of late, but I've seen a
lot of people subscribe and then unsubscribe with in a day or two.
While
this is not an uncommon occurrence, I've noticed it's been happening
more frequently than usual. I suspect it's because the new folks
aren't
feeling comfortable with the subject matter.
Finally, for anyone who thinks this is censorship, it is not. We are
not
taking away your right to free speech. We ARE asking that you respect
the wishes of the group and move on to other subjects. If you wish to
continue the conversations you are having, you can easily do that
privately. The gutter talk is to cease on the list for the time being.
I
want to make it perfectly clear that we are not *banning* gutter talk,
however, I also want to make it perfectly clear that we *will*
prohibit
it when it becomes a problem. Right now it is a problem and must end.
If anyone has any comments on this matter, please contact me PRIVATELY
at Michelle.Murray@a... or all the mods collectively at
StevePerry-owner@y...
On behalf of the Mod Squad...
~~~ Have faith, believe...
|