Klarinet Archive - Posting 000526.txt from 1997/12

From: "Edwin V. Lacy" <el2@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: Flaming and Trolls - long
Date: Thu, 11 Dec 1997 19:42:00 -0500

On Sun, 7 Dec 1997, Mark Charette wrote:

> Many times I have thought of creating a moderated list for those
> that don't have the time to wade through all the off-topic postings.
> I do know (factually) that some very well known clarinet personages
> have joined and left this list because they don't have the time to
> go through all the postings.....

This is something I have been thinking about recently. On several of the
lists to which I subscribe, notably this one and the flute list, a natural
progression has taken place. The internet is young, and it isn't
surprising that its uses are going to evolve. However, if it is going to
be of the most usefulness to us, we will have to figure out a way to make
it work.

What has happened is that there were a number of professional players and
experienced teachers who joined the list some two, three or four years
ago. By now, they have tired of seeing the same threads come up time and
time again. (What brand of reeds work best, what kind of mouthpiece
should I buy, should I use vibrato, I'm playing Mozart, can anyone tell me
anything about him, etc., etc.) So, some of them have dropped out, and
others just read the subject lines and delete all the messages that seem
to be about topics which to them are well worn out. Now, we have the
situation where often most of the traffic consists of relatively young and
inexperienced players giving advice to other players, equally young and
inexperienced. There's nothing wrong with that, except that some of the
information being transmitted is of questionable value, to say the least.

What can be done about this? I don't have any answers. I can say that I
am on several unmoderated lists and some moderated ones, and the quality
of the posts on the moderated ones is considerably higher, and the
information transmitted is more substantial.

I know that some people object to moderated lists on the basis of the fact
that the process of moderation represents "censorship." I have never felt
that way. If there is a small degree of censorship involved, I'm
personally willing to accept it rather than have to read so many scams,
spams, flames (mild ones on this list), "me, too" messages, reposts of
entire messages or digests, etc., etc.

If anyone else has observed that this is a problem, and if there are any
proposed solutions, I'm sure it would be helpful to all of us if they
could be made known.

BTW, I am not an administrator of KLARINET, and have no part in its
operation or functioning.

Ed Lacy
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Dr. Edwin Lacy University of Evansville
Professor of Music 1800 Lincoln Avenue
Evansville, IN 47722
el2@-----.edu (812)479-2754
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