military-request@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) (02/07/91)
From: military-request@att.att.com (Bill Thacker)
As of tonight, you're experiencing a leaner, meaner sci.military.
Our volume has skyrocketed and I can afford (and indeed, am compelled)
to become more selective in what I post.
This means I'm going to start rejecting "chatty" stuff (ala' "I remember
my old mess sergeant talking about the time...") and rumors ("I heard from
a guy who worked with a woman whose brother was in the Navy...").
I'll be firmer about quoted text. Please only include what is necessary
to remind the readers of the topic, and no more. (For starters, if I
see the "From:" line still in the article along with another attribution,
I'll probably return it for editing. Ditto if you leave in the original
poster's signature.)
I'm also going to begin editing some articles; mostly to eliminate
redundancy, but also to trim signatures to four lines or less.
Finally, I'll start rejecting articles which seem "fishy" to me;
i.e., if I question their factuality.
These last two points will require great care. If I trim you article
and you feel that it adversely affects its quality, let me know, I'll
print a retraction. If I challenge your facts, please, please don't take
it personally, just cite a source or otherwise document it. If you can't
cite a firm source but are certain it's correct, then tell me that and I'll
post it (but if the readers then show you were wrong, you'll have zero
credibility with me thereafter.)
I had never intended to be as oppressive as this in my moderation; in
fact, it will take even more time than ever to do so, so I'll be glad
when I can relax. I see this as necessary to preserve the quality
of the newsgroup.
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Bill Thacker Moderator, sci.military military-request@att.att.com
(614) 860-5294 Send submissions to military@att.att.com