[ADMIN] Policy on frequent/voluminous postings

[Loriliai Biernacki]

Dear Dominik,
 I think your strategy sounds great.  Having said this, on a philosophical
note I couldn't help but be intrigued by what struck me as the latently
oedipal structure of this strategy ("get the guy on the top of the
mountain" game we played as children.) -- don't get me wrong, I'm not
criticizing, just theoretically interested in how paradigms manifest
politically (and by the way yours is certainly a difficult job,
and you've been amazingly good at it)  Just by way of contrast,
another strategy might be (what I perhaps erroneously would label a
Swedish approach) to give everyone a quota of so many words/ bits
per month and anyone who exceeds would be required to sit
out the next month.  This isn't actually a suggestion, I, not by nature an
offender, don't really have a clue as how to get others to lower their
volume. It's just a way of looking at the issue from another angle.
all the best,
Loriliai Biernacki
University of Pennsylvania

According to Dominik Wujastyk:
>
> I have been trying to think of a way to approach some of the perceived
> problems of the INDOLOGY list in a way which is fair and which does not
> involve me personally in an unbearable workload (as active moderation
> would do).
>
> This is what I have come up with.
>
> It is altogether easier to deal with these issues using quantitative
> rather than qualitative methods.  I.e., I'm not (usually) prepeared to get
> into silly arguments about who is right, who is rude, and so forth.  I
> would prefer to allow an open discussion amongst adults, and rely on the
> membership to obey the standard rules of Netiquette and universal
> politeness.  I know this doesn't always happen, but perhaps we can all
> jointly try to nudge the occasional playground bullies into better
> behaviour by example, rather than by fiat.
>
> Okay: this is what I'm doing. I am simply going to attack the problem of
> volume.  Each month I shall draw up two checklists.  One of those who
> posted the highest number of messages, and of those who posted the longest
> messages.  I'll take the worst sinners in each category (commonly the top
> ten), and email a warning to them about their over-exposure on the list.
> If someone gets three of these Warning messages in a row, I shall cancel
> their INDOLOGY membership.
>
> I hope this policy will be taken in the spirit in which it is intended: as
> a way of improving the INDOLOGY list experience for most members, in a
> non-judgemental manner.
>
> Best wishes,
> Dominik Wujastyk,
> Founder, INDOLOGY list.
>
> --
> Dr Dominik Wujastyk,              FAX:       +44 171 611 8545
> Wellcome Institute for            URL:       http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucgadkw/
>   the History of Medicine,        Email:     d.wujastyk at ucl.ac.uk
> Wellcome Trust, 183 Euston Road,  Trust URL: http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/library
> London NW1 2BE, England.
>