vision2020@moscow.com: The 2020 listserve: changes?

The 2020 listserve: changes?

Priscilla Salant (psalant@moscow.com)
Sat, 30 May 1998 18:29:40 -0700

Tom's recent post requesting that the 2020 steering committee disallow
gossip on the listserve made me shudder. I had just returned from a
marathon work trip to find 20 messages on multiple subjects in my
mailbox and I was bleary eyed with fatigue. Well-meaning, to be sure, Tom
was
asking me as a member of the steering committee to be responsible for
something way outside my control. The majority of people who have voiced
an
opinion on the subject have indicated they don't want the list moderated
(in the way Sam's described with his horse example). And as long as the
list is unmoderated, no one can "disallow" anything.

Throw me head first off the steering committee if you want, but I do not
want to be responsible for deciding what is gossip and what is truth on
this list. I don't even want to READ every post, let alone judge it.
People who don't find this listserve informative anymore have two choices
-- unsubscribe or don't read what's written by people who offend you. I'm
not going to filter the list for you.

I couldn't be more delighted that people are discussing how the listserve
should be operated. It isn't and can't be under the control of Bill,
Susan, and myself. I know it's scary, but there aren't any rules other
than those the group decides. And, don't say it, I already understand that
we
don't even know who the group is or what "decide" means. It's a new
medium, every day's postings bring new surprises. Sometimes things come
so fast and furious I shut my eyes and wish it would all go away, but it
doesn't, and I'm still on the steering committee using the listserve and
community retreat to encourage informed thinking about Moscow's future.

Now another issue has come up which needs "deciding" by the "group." The
steering committee has recently been asked by two individuals to delete
selected postings from the archives. Both requests were fair and I
sympathized with the reasoning, but they are also a little hard to
accomodate. As a solution, Bill proposed that we delete the entire
archives.

So, assorted folks, what do you think of that idea?

--Priscilla Salant


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