[alt.individualism] CALL FOR DISCUSSION: talk.philosophy.objectivism

bill@twwells.com (T. William Wells) (01/13/90)

This is a call for discussion for a new newsgroup:
talk.philosophy.objectivism. This newsgroup would exist for
discussion of Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand, and
related topics. It would be moderated by me.

My purpose as moderator would be to filter out flames and
postings that are completely unrelated to Objectivism.

I will issue a call for votes on January 27, provided the flames
have died down by then.

---
Bill                    { uunet | novavax | ankh } !twwells!bill
bill@twwells.com

dschein@Neon.Stanford.EDU (Dinah B. Schein) (01/14/90)

In article <9001132357.AA18208@apee.ogi.edu> mehuld@APEE.OGI.EDU (Mehul Dave) writes:
>In article <1990Jan13.140242.14111@twwells.com> 
>bill@twwells.com (T. William Wells) writes
>
>>This is a call for discussion for a new newsgroup:
>>talk.philosophy.objectivism. This newsgroup would exist for
>>discussion of Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand, and
>>related topics. It would be moderated by me.
>>
>>My purpose as moderator would be to filter out flames and
>>postings that are completely unrelated to Objectivism.
>
>I will vote against this newsgroup with the proposed moderator.  An
>unmoderated newsgroup is acceptable.  I do not trust Mr. Wells's
>judgement on what constitutes flames and what is related to objectivism
>and what is not.
>-- 
>--Mehul Dave--                        



	I have been a reader of sci.philosophy.tech for some time now, but
have never posted.  The recent proposal to create a moderated newsgroup for
Objectivism made me decide to post.  I will most emphatically vote against
the _moderated_ newsgroup for the same reasons as Mehul Dave.  An unmoderated
newsgroup is what is needed.

	Dinah Schein              
	dschein@neon.stanford.edu

bill@twwells.com (T. William Wells) (01/14/90)

In article <1990Jan14.074050.18580@Neon.Stanford.EDU> dschein@Neon.Stanford.EDU (Dinah B. Schein) writes:
:       I have been a reader of sci.philosophy.tech for some time now, but
: have never posted.  The recent proposal to create a moderated newsgroup for
: Objectivism made me decide to post.  I will most emphatically vote against
: the _moderated_ newsgroup for the same reasons as Mehul Dave.  An unmoderated
: newsgroup is what is needed.

Followups to my original message were directed to news.groups,
since that is where these kinds of discussions are supposed to be
held. So have followups to this one.

I'll answer objections there, not here.

---
Bill                    { uunet | novavax | ankh } !twwells!bill
bill@twwells.com

lofdahl@lola.uucp (Corey Lofdahl) (01/16/90)

>>I will vote against this newsgroup with the proposed moderator.  An
>>unmoderated newsgroup is acceptable.  I do not trust Mr. Wells's
>>judgement on what constitutes flames and what is related to objectivism
>>and what is not.

>>--Mehul Dave--                        

> [I agree] Dinah Schein              

I'm behind you Mr Wells.  I think the newsgroup should be moderated.
Really, here's a guy that's going out of his way to provide a forum
and these two people "don't trust him".  I really hate to see this.
If Mr. Dave and Ms. Schein don't like the moderation method, there
are plenty of unmoderated newsgroups they can slog through.  Just don't
turn into a little Caesar Mr. Wells and make me regret my support.

----------------------------------------------corey------------------------
                                              lofdahl@ide.com

jeffc@ncr-fc.FtCollins.NCR.com ( Jeff Cook) (01/17/90)

In article <278@ide.UUCP> lofdahl@lola.uucp (Corey Lofdahl) writes:

>>>I will vote against this newsgroup with the proposed moderator.  An
>>>unmoderated newsgroup is acceptable.  I do not trust Mr. Wells's
>>>judgement on what constitutes flames and what is related to objectivism
>>>and what is not.
>
>>>--Mehul Dave--                        
>
>> [I agree] Dinah Schein              

I would vote in favor of an Objectivist newsgroup only if it was
unmoderated.  I would vote against it otherwise.  Trust has nothing
to do with it--I don't know Mr. Wells, so I am entirely unable to
evaluate his "trustworthiness", one way or the other.

However, I think that each person has to judge for themselves the
value of the articles posted.  Each person's arguments must stand on
their own merits, and their value must be determined individually by
the people reading them.

I would not want to read articles through a filter provided by Mr.
Wells.  He would be free to give his opinions as to the value of the
articles or their relevance to Objectivism, and I would be very much
interested in his comments.  But I don't want him standing between me
and the opinions expressed by others.

Mr. Lofdahl wrote:
>I'm behind you Mr Wells.  I think the newsgroup should be moderated.
>Really, here's a guy that's going out of his way to provide a forum
>and these two people "don't trust him".  I really hate to see this.

I would hope that Mr. Wells' efforts to create an Objectivist
newsgroup are a result of the potential benefit to his own self-
interest that he sees in the outcome.  I don't think he would demand
moderator status as "payment" for those efforts--he will benefit by
creating the newsgroup regardless of his own status within that
group.

I doubt that he is only willing to create the group if he is the
moderator.  In the unlikely event that this is his prerequisite for
creating the newsgroup, then should the vote for a moderated group
fail, I would be willing to push for an unmoderated one.  This is
not my intention--I would prefer to give my support and "yes" vote
to the efforts already being made by Mr. Wells.
--
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Jeffrey L. Cook                  jeffc%ncr-fc@ncr-sd.SanDiego.NCR.com
NCR Microelectronics                 uunet!ncrlnk!ncr-sd!ncr-fc!jeffc
2001 Danfield Court
Fort Collins, CO 80525          These views are entirely mine, etc...

"I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did.
I said I didn't know."  -- Mark Twain
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