Francois	Re: What is a Moderator?
	I don't agree that "...just as meetings need to be chaired to keep things moving smoothly so do meeting places like this ...." I don't believe this board needs any such thing. And I tend to be very suspicious of people who make loud noises about how qualified and enthusiastic they are about serving in such capacity. If this board is moderated, it is so subtle as to be unnoticeable. And that's as much "moderating" as I can tolerate. It is as true now as it was over a hundred years ago, "That government is best that governs least." And adding to that, I think moderators, if we MUST have them, should be anonymous, and should be VERY easily removable upon motion made by a Master Member or above, and a simple majority of those voting on such a question. Anonymity would tend to help make such service less attractive to certain giant egos, and if a moderator's "cover" were ever to be blown, and their identity discovered, they should - in my opinion - be immediately removed as a moderator. "Moderate" means to "observe reasonable limits," and thus is introduced someone to make a subjective call on what constitutes "reasonable." My reasonable may be your extreme. I think we tread on very thin ice here. Frankly, I think this board self-regulates quite well, which is one of its attractions. I clearly remember having had intense and widespread exception taken to a topic title I once used in a fit of utter pique. And responding to the obvious sensitivities of others here, I changed the topic title myself. That felt good. No Big Brother intervention, just responsible adults handling things for themselves. I have for three and a half years been a regular on a bulletin board run by some very caring people for people who have melanoma, or who support melanoma patients. There is a posting policy. Rarely is the board owner heard from. And if someone does get out of line with an obnoxious post - requiring it to be deleted, there is a citation made referring to the posting policy clause violated. I don't recall the last time that happened, even though subjectively the policy is violated more frequently than posts are deleted. The violation must be so egregious that even the person who submitted the post cannot honestly object to its removal. My $0.02. Francois
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