Author: Moyra J. Bligh
Email: moyra@interlog.com
Date: 1997/07/18
Forums: alt.fan.mira-furlan
Message-ID: <33CF2A62.4D3A@interlog.com>
All Things in Moderation
I'm thinking.....
I'm thinking that it's an honor that you'd like me to so this.
I'm thinking I have some serious reservations about turning this
into a moderated group. The first thing is that Martin Albert, who
created this group chose to set it up as an unmoderated group and
I'm assuming he had his reasons. Before you even think about changing
this group into a moderated one, his feelings on the subject have
to be considered. It's his sandbox, he built it, and he just lets
me play with the bucket and shovel a lot. Another concern is that
it takes some work with usenet to change the nature of a group, I
don't know what all is entailed, or how much time and effort it takes,
but obviously someone is going to have to expend some possibly considerable
time on it. Too, moderated groups can frighten some people off - I
know when I made my first post to rastb5.mod I paused for a long moment
before going ahead. We have few enough posters as it is, I don't want
to lose even one person because we're a moderated group.
I am thinking that it would be real nice to get rid of the SPAM,
however, you must think about the fact that as moderator I would have
some serious power. I would have the ability to kill any post made
to the group. I will go on record as saying that I do not believe
in censorship, or content based cancelling of posts. It goes without
saying that anything that is off-topic to the newsgroup would automatically
be rejected irregardless of content, but taking on the role of moderator
could put me in the position of being caught between a rock and a
hard place. I'm not speaking of someone posting something critical
or even less than kind about her performances, as I do not believe
that this group should be a huggy, kissy , Mira can do no wrong kind
of place. Mira lurks, how much and exactly where I do not know, and
I have no idea whether or not she reads the group, but I'm quite sure
that if she does, she would be the first person to welcome constructive
criticism. Mira strikes me as the type of person who is always striving
to be that little bit better, striving to push her talent to it's
limits, and I'm also sure that she's enough in touch with herself
to be aware of her limitations, aware that she is not perfect. She
quite likely has a better sense of just exactly who and what she is
than most people, going through the type of hell she's gone through
will do that for you. As incredible as I think she is as an actress,
even I have a few scenes from the series where I feel that she was
not her at her best. There's no accounting for taste, and I do know
that there are people out there in the Babylon 5 fan universe who
don't like her as an actress, as misguided as I think they are, I
also strongly believe that they are entitled to their opinions.
The concern I have has to do with the extant possibility that some
one will attempt to post something to the newsgroup that is either
hateful or extremely hurtful to Mira personally. No matter what I
do in that situation, I'm damned. Since the post is about Mira, it
is on topic to the newsgroup and therefore, because I am seriously
opposed to content based post cancelling, ethically I would have to
let it through, Would my heart let me do it, knowing that she could
be deeply hurt by it? I have some slight appreciation of what she
must have gone through in those dark days before she left her homeland,
and I confess that that has brought out my protective instincts when
it comes to Mira. I wouldn't knowingly hurt her for the world, knowing
how badly she's been hurt already. I wonder if scars like that ever
truly heal? And how much flack would I get from members of the group
for sticking by my principals and letting the post through, or listening
to my heart and cancelling it? I'm sure there would be opinions on
both sides of the question. There is no right answer. And I'm not
real sure I want the responsibility.
If the group remains unmoderated, then at least, I can get in there
with my Minbari fighting pike and beat the poster to a bloody pulp
with harsh language, in the position of moderator I feel that I would
have to at least show a modicum of restraint as I would be setting
the tenor of the group. My behaviour would reflect on Mira, it is
her name on the group after all, and as such I would have to behave
myself.
I'm thinking we all need to so some more thinking.
Moyra J. Bligh
moyra@interlog.com
newsgroups - alt.fan.mira-furlan