[ NNSquad ] Moderation policy (and previous message from Brett Glass)

[Lauren Weinstein <lauren@vortex.com>]

Greetings.  Since posting Brett Glass' "P2P == Airliner Bombs"
analogy message a short time ago, I've already received a pile of
messages asking why I sent it through, since Brett has indeed made
the same kind of blanket statements about P2P so many times
previously here.  As it happens, Brett is among the persons with the
most messages ever posted on the list.  Admittedly, he claims
censorship since I don't send through many of his messages (and
since he usually submits a response to most other messages, press
releases, meeting announcements, or other texts that say anything
neutral or positive about P2P or any kind of regulation of ISPs,
that's a lot of messages).

But there are also other persons who claim censorship when I
don't put through their messages (some of which retort Brett), which
if published would of course generate another reply from Brett, which
would trigger yet another reply and so on and so on ...

But basically, the policy I try to follow is fairly simple.
Comments that add to the existing discussion in terms of bringing
out new points are likely to go through.  Messages that consist
mainly of soapbox talking points that have been covered here many
times before, e.g. "All P2P is bad" or "No P2P ever causes ISPs any
problems," and so on are unlikely to pass muster.

Obviously these determinations are not an exact science, but I
believe that anyone looking over the archives of this list would
likely determine that all sides of the arguments are fairly well
represented, and that Brett's assertion that this group is
conducting a "vendetta" against him is inaccurate.

However, Brett has also complained that some readers of this list
apparently send him nasty direct e-mail in response to some of his
postings here.  Such e-mail is definitely uncalled-for.  Though
Brett does tend toward the dramatic and sweeping generalizations,
that's no excuse for being impolite in messages to him, and I'd ask
that however heated the arguments get we still keep things on a civil
level.

Many persons have asked me to "ban" Brett from this list and/or
complain loudly to me about his postings that do go through.  I have
no interest in banning anyone, and will continue to use my best
judgment about which messages (from anyone) go through.

In respect to Brett's "airliner bomb" message, I called his comment
"interesting" -- and sent it through -- not because I thought it had
any validity (obviously I think it's a ridiculous comparison) but
because it demonstrates the depth of emotion that gets tangled up in
these topics, especially when persons' feel that possible changes in
the regulatory landscape might negatively affect their livelihood.  

And indeed, Network Neutrality is not a purely technical issue, and
has real impacts -- as do ISP business decisions in their role as
the only portals to Internet resources for most consumers.

In any case, I always welcome e-mailed comments on moderation
policies, but my sense from responses to date is that the
overwhelming majority of the readership is relatively satisifed with
the current policy and level of discourse.

Thanks as always.

Let's move on.

--Lauren--
NNSquad Moderator