sdyer@bbncca.ARPA (Steve Dyer) (10/10/84)
What is mod.motss?
Mod.motss is a forum for the discussion of gay-related issues of interest
to all members of USENET. It is designed to foster discussion on a wide
variety of topics, such as health problems, parenting, relationships,
clearances, job security and many others. Mod.motss is here for both
gay and straight people, men and women.
Mod.motss is emphatically NOT a newsgroup for the discussion of whether
homosexuality is good or bad, natural or unnatural. Not is it a place
where conduct unsuitable for the net will be allowed or condoned.
These groundrules will be enforced by the moderator.
--------
What is the format of mod.motss?
The same as net.motss. Articles sent to the moderator will be
posted individually onto the newsgroup. I am not planning to use
a "digest" format, though this could change if the situation
warranted it, and the readers of the group desired it.
I am not planning to regularly forward items found in net.motss
onto mod.motss. See my comments below about the eventual fate of
both groups.
--------
How does it differ from net.motss?
Net.motss was formed with the same goals as stated above. Mod.motss
serves only one purpose--to remove a number of disruptive topics from
the discussion which have been appearing all too frequently lately.
These are: "homosexuality: good/bad" and variants on this such as
the "hellfire/abomination" school of moral theology. We skirt these
for really only one reason: there is little room for discussion between
the factions, and interchanges rapidly degenerate into mutual flaming.
Gratuitous flaming will not be tolerated in this news group. The
"rules for posting to USENET" will be taken seriously. Other than
occasionally removing duplicate answers to an earlier question, I do not
expect any further role for the moderator--he is not a censor.
Right now, both net.motss and mod.motss co-exist. This does not
mean that the kind of anti-social behavior seen in net.motss suddenly
becomes legitimate. Rather, this is an opportunity for those people
bothered by the recent spate of annoying postings in net.motss to
continue following the newsgroup as it was originally intended.
The actual fate of net.motss (and indeed mod.motss) will be decided
over the next few months, as we observe the activity in both groups.
-----
How do I post a message to mod.motss?
Because mod.motss is a moderated newsgroup, you have to send a mail
message containing your news article to the moderator, who will then
post it onto the net, or if it is deemed inappropriate, return it to you.
For now, the moderator is Steve Dyer, bbncca!sdyer.
Articles intended for mod.motss should be posted, preferably, to
'bbncca!motss' though articles sent to 'bbncca!sdyer' will be posted also.
If posted to 'bbncca!sdyer' you should label your message as a submission
to mod.motss. ALL messages sent to 'bbncca!motss' are presumed to be news
articles. Though I do not favor the practice, if you wish an article
to be posted anonymously, that is, stripped of a signature and path
information, say so at the beginning of the message. It should be
emphasized that the moderator takes no responsibility for failing to
post an article anonymously. I try to be careful, but accidents CAN
happen. If it matters that much, better not to post.
Host bbncca talks directly to the following hosts as of 10/9/84:
wjh12, wivax, decvax, ima, ihnp4, masscomp and sunybcs. This is
fairly good connectivity, so you should be able to reach the
moderator easily.
--
/Steve Dyer
{decvax,linus,ima,ihnp4}!bbncca!sdyer
sdyer@bbncca.ARPA