Olin Elliott wrote: I agree. I often don't participate in conversation threads online > (including on this forum) for precisely that reason, because they seem to > degenerate too easily into name calling and other nastiness. I like having > a moderated forum, but the problem is always how to draw the line between > moderation and censorship. At the extremes its easy (usually) -- the > totally whacko responses are generally obvious. But the closer we edge in > toward the center the more dificult it becomes to tell crazy criticism from > truly valuable criticism, and I always have to aware of my own biases and > anxieties. Is this criticism really crazy or does it just make me > uncomfortable for personal or ideological reasons? Am I rejecting it for > legitimate reasons or am I just protecting my belief system? It is never an > easy line to draw and I think we have to err always on the side of letting > in more criticism, not less. As much as I hate it .... > > I've been on this list for over 10 years and the discussions here have certainly gotten heated at times, but it very seldom degenerates into name calling etc. Less so now that most of the conservatives have gone into hiding 8^).
Brin himself asked that the list _not_ be moderated iirc. I agree we have to err on the side of openness. Even the crazy stuff can provide some insight. Sometimes. Doug _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
