From Dick B.

Just a comment, David, about the "moderating" of your posts. I've seen many
extraneous posts recently, and I'm sure we are all too busy on the internet
these days to be deleting stuff from groups we want to hear from. As you know,
I'm not one who has been posting. But I can tell you from recent unpleasant
reports and personal experiences that the "moderating" of one history site is
so offensive that the moderator chides those who submit materials she doesn't
like, then refuses to post them, uses personal bias to exclude, and eventually
in a case or two simply sends a "you are banned" notice. The site has less
than 150 people I believe, but many are good researchers and writers and ask
why history items are not appearing. I don't know what they are missing and
they don't seem to either. But I do know that the subject matter of the site
is not open to scholars, inquirers, or "buffs" if the "moderator" doesn't like
the material--regardless what the members of the list might or might not want
to learn. The answer--which should be kept out of your fine group--is that the
"moderator" can be, and is, in this case, a censor. And what do we need with a
censor in the world of historical research. How would we know how much Solomon
drank, Nero burned, or the Huns destroyed if we didn't like details about
Jews, Romans, or Germans?. Extraneous wine tastes and brands don't seem to add
much to your site, but neither would editorial exclusions. So you have my best
wishes for healthy First Amendment freedom. Dick B.

***

I hope that I don't become a censor.  My intent is modest: to screen out
totally irrelevant commercial messages, to intercept messages meant for
somebody else, and to edit out duplication (such as forwarded posts in
which, for some reason, the text is repeated twice in the same
post).  Maybe I'll also discover and block virus-tainted messages.  All
that the listserv asks me to do is type <OK>.  I plan to answer <OK> to
almost everything and post messages that may seem irrelevant to some
subscribers in order to meet the needs of other subscribers.   Individual
subscribers will still need to exercise their delete key!

David Fahey