In article . com,
"Andrew Sarangan" wrote:

Actually I don't quite understand why there are so many 'private'
discussion groups, for all kinds of products and applications, some
where you even have to pay. I can understand this where membership is
controlled due to sensitive or private information, but for the vast
majority of these groups anyone can join just by sending an email to
majordomo. May be they are afraid of a wider audience, or stage fright.
May be this is also why some specify 'no-archive' on their usenet
postings.

If it is moderated, you won't get the off-topic thread drift and flames.
This would seem to make it a more "civilized" forum.