[Python-ideas] Moving to another forum system where moderation is possible

[Richard Damon]

On 9/18/18 11:02 AM, Jonathan Goble wrote:
> On Tue, Sep 18, 2018 at 10:49 AM Robert Vanden Eynde
> <robertve92 at gmail.com <mailto:robertve92 at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     About moderation, what's the problem on the list ?
>
>
> The biggest moderation issue I see with mailing lists is the inability
> to lock threads and delete posts (i.e. those that are spam or a Code
> of Conduct violation). Both of those are basic features that are core
> to virtually every forum system in existence today.
>
> Mailing lists offer no moderation of posts or threads unless every
> post is held in a moderation queue and manually approved before being
> sent, which isn't practical for large high-traffic lists like this.
> Instead, the only recourse is to moderate the user by banning or
> muting them, which can sometimes result in essentially using a
> sledgehammer to kill a fly. That is particularly the case if the only
> problems are on one heated thread where five people are attacking each
> other, but all are contributing constructively to other threads, in
> which case the best response is to simply terminate the argument by
> locking the thread. But on a mailing list, one would have to ban or
> mute all five users instead, impacting all of the other threads those
> users were contributing to.
This is incorrect. I run a moderate volume (~100 posts per day) mailing
list for my local community using the same software as python.org. When
a thread gets out of bounds I can enter a message filter to hold for
review any message matching the subject of that thread (or specified
parts of it). While people can get around the filter by changing the
subject line, they can do the same on a forum by starting a new topic.
Someone who intentionally does this does get themselves on personal
moderation.

-- 
Richard Damon