What a shame; another military newsroup gone!

Guy Alcala wrote:
Why wouldn't you? Are you a troll or loon, do you continuously post
off-topic crap while providing no valauble on-topic content, are incapable of
reasoned debate so instead spew personal insults, find it impossible to
maintain basic standards of civil discourse, are you a spammer? If you can
answer no to all of the above (and the moderator has no evidence to the
contrary), you'd be in. You're not trying to make such a group elitists
only, just trying to screen out the more obnoxious wasters of bandwidth.


I am reminded of my father's experiences with the WWII moderated newsgroup.
He's been edited out on several occasions because his postings didn't fit the
tightly mandated quote/new material specifications. I can remember on one
occasion where he was edited out because he replied to somebody else's OT post,
even thought the original OT post made it through.

The moderator in question was an academic by trade and a bureaucrat by tendency.
My father was, OTOH, a veteran. It would seem to me he might have something to
offer that group. Not so, according to their moderator.

That's why I don't, as a general rule, subscribe to moderated groups. Besides,
I wouldn't belong to any club that'd have me as a member. G


--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN


http://www.mortimerschnerd.com

"Cub Driver" wrote in message
...

This NG without a Michael Petukhov? No GWB nuking Iraq
with DU? No Confederate naval blockade of the North?

When you put it like that, my affection for the ng returns!

Didn't you pull the same whiney **** Henriques is now not long ago, Dan

Ed Rasimus wrote:
Even the darkest of clouds, does appear to have a silver lining.
Although, I'm sure a session or two in one of my political science
classes might cure your optimism.

Hmmm. As something of a masochist in that regard, I
find that sort of appealing in a twisted way (who knew? ;-) ).

Any chance your Poli Sci class is offered via Distance
Learning? It'd be nice to take a bull course for once, having
just finished a Masters in Mech E that way.


Jeff

On Thu, 08 Apr 2004 10:20:00 GMT, "Mortimer Schnerd, RN"
wrote:

I am reminded of my father's experiences with the WWII moderated newsgroup.
He's been edited out on several occasions because his postings didn't fit the
tightly mandated quote/new material specifications.

Yes, this has happened to all of us. I recall Art B-26 bailing out in
fury because they rejected one of his posts. And I have more than one
replied to a rejection with the dignified response: IDIOT! (My
favorite one was when I replied to a request for information, and was
told that my information didn't relate to WWII... So why did they
admit the question?)

However, they have gotten much more generous in recent months.




all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

The Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
The Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com
Viva Bush! blog www.vivabush.org

On Thu, 8 Apr 2004 09:10:42 -0600, "Jeff Crowell"
wrote:

Ed Rasimus wrote:
Even the darkest of clouds, does appear to have a silver lining.
Although, I'm sure a session or two in one of my political science
classes might cure your optimism.

Hmmm. As something of a masochist in that regard, I
find that sort of appealing in a twisted way (who knew? ;-) ).

Any chance your Poli Sci class is offered via Distance
Learning? It'd be nice to take a bull course for once, having
just finished a Masters in Mech E that way.

As a political scientist, the answer to all questions is inevitably,
"yes and no."

This semester, I'm doing POS 111 American Government and POS 125 State
& Local Government as online courses. They are taught with an
incredible software called Blackboard which is relatively easy to use
and offers a lot of course flexibility. This semester ends in May. The
American Government course will run this summer.

This fall, I may not be doing teaching any more. It's one of those
"adjunct vs full-time faculty vs retirement" issues. As an adjunct,
I've drawn a line in the sand noting that I teach as many classes as
full time, but at a fraction of the compensation. If I leave the
school, there won't be any online Political Science classes in the
fall.

If serious, you might explore www.ppcc.edu for the catalog and
requirements. Recognize that this is a freshman level course.


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN #1-58834-103-8

In article ,
Ed Rasimus wrote:

As a political scientist, the answer to all questions is inevitably,
"yes and no."

Well...

Maybe.

--
cirby at cfl.rr.com

Remember: Objects in rearview mirror may be hallucinations.
Slam on brakes accordingly.

On Thu, 08 Apr 2004 21:28:40 GMT, Chad Irby wrote:

In article ,
Ed Rasimus wrote:

As a political scientist, the answer to all questions is inevitably,
"yes and no."

Well...

Maybe.

That would be waffling and indecisive. I'm quite assertive and
positive about the inherent correctness of "yes and no."


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN #1-58834-103-8

"Mortimer Schnerd, RN" wrote:

Guy Alcala wrote:
Why wouldn't you? Are you a troll or loon, do you continuously post
off-topic crap while providing no valauble on-topic content, are incapable of
reasoned debate so instead spew personal insults, find it impossible to
maintain basic standards of civil discourse, are you a spammer? If you can
answer no to all of the above (and the moderator has no evidence to the
contrary), you'd be in. You're not trying to make such a group elitists
only, just trying to screen out the more obnoxious wasters of bandwidth.

I am reminded of my father's experiences with the WWII moderated newsgroup.
He's been edited out on several occasions because his postings didn't fit the
tightly mandated quote/new material specifications. I can remember on one
occasion where he was edited out because he replied to somebody else's OT post,
even thought the original OT post made it through.

The moderator in question was an academic by trade and a bureaucrat by tendency.
My father was, OTOH, a veteran. It would seem to me he might have something to
offer that group. Not so, according to their moderator.

That's why I don't, as a general rule, subscribe to moderated groups. Besides,
I wouldn't belong to any club that'd have me as a member. G

None of which applies to a restricted-subscription mailing list (group) with no
moderator passing judgement on posts in advance. There is no "moderator" such as
you describe above for such a group, just an administrator. There is _no_ vetting
of posts in advance, none. The sole control such an adminstrator has over posts is
to suspend/ban the poster from making further posts.

Personally, while I certainly agree that quoting a several hundred line post only to
append "Me too" is a waste of bandwidth, I can see no need to impose strict
guidelines -- common sense and when necessary, gentle reminders should be enough.
More often than not such reminders (often less than gentle) will be made by the
other posters, as happens on r.a.m. now. If setting such limits is considered
necessary then they can always be negotiated, but again, they seem completely
unnecessary to me given the nature of such a group.

ISTM that your freservations are based on both a misconception of the nature of such
a group, as well as the experience of dealing with a moderator into empire-building.
None of the groups I've subscribed to suffers from such problems, both because the
whole set-up eliminates most such problems, and because the moderators are
enthusiasts themselves, who are endowed with common sense and who are well-balanced
enough not to need to be "Yertle the Turtle" on some discussion list.

In any case this all appears to be moot, as it appears that most people are willing
to ride out the chaff storm rather than bail.

Guy

In article ,
Ed Rasimus writes:

In the current public demonstrations of World Class Idiocy

Even the darkest of clouds, does appear to have a silver lining.
Although, I'm sure a session or two in one of my political science
classes might cure your optimism.

Perhaps. I've kind of a skewed perspective on that, though, coming
from the State that's the first stop for the Primary Circus.

We get 'em all - from Candidates (Ranging from George W. to Tom "Billy
Jack" Laughlin) to Campaign Workers (There I was, walking down Elm
St. in MHT, when suddenly out of the Sun drops Carrot Top, with a full
head of steam & a handful of Kunecich flyers! I jinked left, behing
the CNBC truck, and...) and, worst of all, the Reporters. Oddly
enough, Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" was a lot closer to reality
than almost everyone else. You can't help but step into something.
That, and a long history of Participatory Politics. (Town Meetings
are still a big deal, up here. And that's where the budget gets voted
in, Line Item by Line Item. If you're gonna bitch about your taxes,
then you dhould have gone to the Meeting & voted against something.)

But - out of that has come an early awareness of Political Dynamics,
and the Evolution Thereof. Or, more to the point, we end up having
to explain it all to the incoming transplants.

You'd think that you'd be able to get them interested, though. The
U.S. Constitution, and most State Constitutions, are fascinating
examples of how to design feedback into a system - the balancing act
between the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial, for example, or the
clever and subtle weighting of the design of the Electoral College to
just shade things a bit against the Tyranny of the Majority. Those
Founding Father guys were damned clever - they found a way to make the
baser levels of human behavior mimic the behavior that would be
desired in the more enlightened.

Actually, Ed, I'd love to sit in on one of your courses, If I were
ever to be out to Colorado - just to see the expressions on their
faces.


--
Pete Stickney
A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many
bad measures. -- Daniel Webster

As an adjunct,
I've drawn a line in the sand noting that I teach as many classes as
full time, but at a fraction of the compensation.

A while ago, my daughter was in an English graduate program, teaching
one freshman English course for her fellowship. She loved the
teaching, more than the graduate work, but gave up the thought of
making a career out of it when she learned that as a lecturer she
would be teaching four courses at little more than twice the value of
her fellowship.

So she became a foredeck hand on a around-the-world sailboat race

Thus are career decisions made!

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

The Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
The Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com
Viva Bush! blog www.vivabush.org