On Sat, 28 Jan 2006 20:37:19 -0600, Skipper wrote:

This NG has is going through challenging times. Where once it was the
predominant boating NG populated by many industry experts, it has now
become little more than an off-topic chatroom. Most of truly
knowledgeable have long since abandoned this forum for saner climes.
Where once the very best advice could be found here, now serious
questions will most likely be greeted with flame.

Perhaps the time has come to convert rec.boats to a moderated NG and
restore its previous image. Yes, I know it would be a daunting task. To
win, the proposal must have 100 more YES votes than NO votes and
two/thirds of the votes must be YES. We could announce the proposal in
*all* the boating groups.

The moderation could be set up to recognize white contributors and black
contributors. Thus automating 95% of the moderation tasks. New
contributors could be hand moderated until they've posted two or three
times. Moderators could be voted on by the group, and a committee would
have to agree before a contributor was blacklisted (we don't need a
BoaterEd). Open on-topic debate WOULD be encouraged.

Should you be interested in seeing this forum as a moderated NG respond
in this thread. If there is enough support we'll just grab hold of the
tiger's tail and run with it.

Sounds like you need about 167 votes and 101 of those, with rounding, must
by yes votes. I don't think it stands a prayer.

About three weeks ago we were moderating ourselves very well. That has
gradually gone to crap, with a few personal attack folks and a few
political threads that quickly became personal attack threads.

Once you subtract those who desire the freedom to be as uncivil as
possible, you don't have close to 100 people left. I think you're wasting
your time.

My advice, start moderating your own posts, as many others have done. I
wish everyone would do the same.
--
'Til next time,

John H

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