I joined Conch-L to 'try it and see' for a month or so. I will jump off
again soon, so here for what it's worth is what I think about it.
Conch-L is a broad tent indeed; there are contributions at all levels and
the flow is fairly even, but the absence of a moderator is a serious
problem. Previous to joining Conch-L I was in a similar discussion forum
for owners of the particular model of motorcycle I ride. Contributions were
occasionally only tenuously linked to this topic, but happily a moderator
was on hand to nudge talk back towards the sort of thing for which people
had joined. Humour and levity were there alright, but not as an end in
themselves. In all, the proportion of utterly irrelevant material was about
ten per cent. This of course made the forum utterly uninteresting to anyone
but its members, which was the idea in the first place. Flamers and
persistent off-topic contributors were given one or two warnings before
being excommunicated via an automatic filter on the server. Personal
defamation of other members, however subtle, was the ticket to immediate
extinction. I was very grateful for this regulation of the forum,
especially as the moderator was a volunteer.
Conch-L unfortunately is a little too anarchic for my tastes. The flying
pigs are a case in point - I find that string extremely annoying, but the
number of supportive messages for Art indicates that for many subscribers
the amusement value of the forum is as important as its relevance to
Conchology. The proportion of messages which go straight in my bin is
consistently over fifty per cent, and this is not because I am some kind of
snob - they simply don't mean anything in the context of the original charter.
I certainly would not volunteer for the job of moderator at Conch-L, but
until someone does (and is prepared to grit their teeth and be a bit
unpopular at times) the forum is always going to be in the lobby of the
conference rather than the hall itself.
There now, I've no-one but myself to blame when they burn me in effigy at
COA.