[ilds] listserv utility

[James Gifford]

Dear Peter & Robin,

I've meant to respond, but the end of term presses, and that means real 
material things in real life (IRL) to those who have urgent demands on 
my time...  Indeed, moderation is necessary (literally and 
euphemistically), if only to keep everyone from receiving the daily spam 
of growing this, putting hair here but not there, or sending funds from 
somethere to overwhere (also literally and euphemistically) [how 
gendered that all seems!].  But we need moderation for other reasons too.

There are two underlying things, apart from keeping safe spaces real and 
avoiding the drift of today's cultural climate: (1) we have a geriatric 
technological platform that, like radio, also offers a real service 
despite inevitable communicative biases (in Harold Innis' sense), and 
(2) the ILDS genuinely wants to serve its members' interests insofar as 
they serve our main purpose of fostering interest in Durrell's works.

We've actually been debating the medium for years, but those of us under 
the exigencies of institutional demands on the trimester system tend to 
work in bursts at 4 month increments.  We might have a blizzard here 
tomorrow -- if we do, I'll write something more concrete.  If not, rest 
assured there are a number of things a long time in the making, but 
maybe just a little bit longer...  I'm underwater until exams finish 
next week, so while I'll respond as best I can to everyone, other people 
do have more urgent calls for the immediate future.

In the meantime, some updates very shortly.

All best,
James

On 2016-12-08 8:21 PM, PETER BALDWIN wrote:
> I would be very fearful if the ILDS list serve was not moderated given the personal nature of some comments posted in the past. I do not know if 'our' forum is unusual in this respect.
>
> Peter
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On 8 Dec 2016, at 21:47, Robin Collins <robin.w.collins at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I am on several listservs (and I moderate one). It is very clear that listservs serve very different functions than does FB or twitter, etc. They enable longer and more considered discussion (including debate) of topics of interest to subscribers.
>> If the problem is not having a moderator that can put in the time of moderating, then the list could be converted to unmoderated. Subscribers can still receive content immediately or in an accumulated format (I use accumulated).
>> I like the current setup (if anyone was asking).
>>
>> Robin