"Jim Logajan" wrote in message
.. .
"Garry O" wrote:
A simple set of filters will remove most of the spam and it doesn't
take long to recognise the sh!t fights and just ignore them.

Reasonable advice. But the following isn't accurate:

As to Moderation, I see it as freedom to express an opinion without
having worry about upsetting a moderator, moderated groups tend to
descend into censorship and appeasement just as fast as unmoderated
groups descend into anarchy IMHO and in my years on Usenet Moderated
groups seem to die a much faster death on average.

If moderation were as bad as you claim, then hardly anyone would have
moved
to the various moderated web forums like POA and those run by AOPA, EAA,
etc. So there is no evidence to indicate that moderation per se kills
groups. Indeed rec.aviation.piloting was a victim of total lack of
moderation.

A web forum is NOT Usenet now is it :-) (and I am a member of a few such
forums)
and that was where my opinion (and its just an opinion after all) was aimed
because that was where the question was raised.
I still maintain that a moderated Usenet forum is usually set up as a
private kingdom (but I will concede that it is not the case for all
moderated forums) where no views that diverge from those of the moderator/s
ever make it out alive. What you end up with at the end of the day is a
group of people who all think the same way.

--
Flying RA Aus, because its cheaper and I can do it more often :-)