From: John Gilmore <gnu@toad.com>
Date: Mon, 13 Jan 1997 22:37:36 -0800 (PST)
To: cypherpunks, gnu
Subject: You can now subscr. to the moderated/unmoderated/flames lists
Message-ID: <199701140637.WAA14213@toad.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


It's taking a bit longer than we had hoped, but I'm finally getting
the toad majordomo configuration set up for the moderation experiment.

I have set up majordomo so that you should be able to sub-scribe to the
three new cypherpunks mailing lists:

	cypherpunks		the new moderated list
	cypherpunks-unedited	same as it ever was - flames and all
	cypherpunks-flames	the flames that the moderator rejected

MODERATION HAS NOT YET BEGUN.  At the moment, a subscription to either
of the first two lists will get you everything, while a subscription
to cypherpunks-flames will get you no postings.

ALL CURRENT SUBSCRIBERS ARE STILL SUBSCRIBED TO THE CYPHERPUNKS LIST,
which will become the moderated list.  I hope most people will stay on
it, so we can get some real results from the experiment of having
a volunteer moderator for a month.

If you want to change your subscription, send mail to
<majordomo@toad.com>.  You can tell it things like:

subscribe cypherpunks-unedited	(to subscribe to the new unedited list)
unsubscribe cypherpunks		(to get off the cypherpunks list)
which				(if confused about which lists(s) you are on)
help				(if truly confused about majordomo)

The software doesn't care if you subscribe to multiple lists, but you
will probably only want to subscribe to one of them at once.  This
means that to CHANGE your subscription you will need to unsubscribe
from one list and subscribe to another.

I've only briefly looked at the list traffic on the subject of
moderation, but there seems to be a misunderstanding.  I'm planning to
keep the cypherpunks-unedited list around.  This will preserve fast
turnaround (though it frequently takes many hours to send each posting
to each list member -- it isn't *that* fast), and will permit other
people to run their own different brands of moderation if they want to
put in the effortw.  The list I have no use for, and might terminate
after trying things for a month, is the flames list.

Each message will be processed by immediately sending it to
cypherpunks-unedited.  The experimental moderator (Sandy) will be on
the -unedited list, and will therefore receive all the traffic.  He
will forward each posting to either the moderated list, or to the
-flames list.  Note:

	*  The unedited list gets fast turnaround and doesn't require any
	   human action in order to forward a message.

	*  The integrity of the flames list depends on the human moderators;
	   if they drop a message (accidentally or on purpose) then it won't
	   appear on either the moderated or the -flames list.

	John Gilmore

PS:  If you're wondering why I said "subscr." and "sub-scribe" it's because
majordomo doesn't like messages containing those words in the subject or
first five lines.  It keeps down the unintended noise from newbies who
send subscription requests to the entire list.