Re: Banning any subscriber

[hfinney@shell.portal.com (Hal Finney)]

The problem with user-based filtering is that the noise may still drive
people off the list.  New subscribers won't have filters set up initially
(they may not know how to set them up, or it may take a while to figure out
who, what, and how to filter) and they'll be subject to a barrage of rants and
raves.  They're likely to unsubscribe in disgust before taking the time to
uncover the jewels amid the slime.

Also, Tim has noted problems with the user-based filtering on the extropians
list.  Different people have different filter settings, so there can be
multiple redundant postings of outside information - magazine articles,
other newsgroup or mailing list posts, etc.  Nobody knows what material
anyone else has seen.  There is also something of a learning curve in
using the extropians filtering, despite it being conceptually easy to
use.  A few weeks ago, it seemed that almost every day someone
accidentally posted a filter command to the list.  Tim noted at one point
that he had surveyed local list members and found a great deal of ignorance
about using the filters.

I think it works better if the list community is seeing a common message
stream, one which is of high quality, one which does not include messages
of disruptive posters.  Eric has given his blessing (at least implicitly)
to an alternate list, one which is gatewayed bidirectionally to cypherpunks,
but where such filtering is done.  New subscribers to CP who were upset
by the noise could be directed to this list when they unsubscribed.  This
would allow people to avoid receiving harrassing messages while still
participating on the cypherpunks list.

Hal Finney
hfinney@shell.portal.com