Folks, whatever you may think of this, please don't post your
thoughts to the list.  Thom's got enough trouble, what with his
watchdog at the vet at all.  And, please, let's make this the
last word on the subject of Tybalt, et al.

     As the apparent instigator of this current donnybrook
concerning Mr. Tybalt and his position here on the ML, I would
appreciate it if you all would kindly allow me the last word then
let's drop the whole subject.  We aren't going to change anything
and we're just burning good bandwidth with hot air.  (You're not
impressing anyone with your cheers or your brickbats.)

     First of all, kiddies, allow me to give you all a small bit
of advice.  When taking anti-depressants, stay away from alcohol
and computers.  Both will get you in trouble faster than anything
known to man.
     Sometime shortly after posting 'Too Much To Ask', I received
a small, non-judgmental post from Tybalt that really required no
response from me.  He wasn't being nasty, or angry, or anything
negative.  It was just an almost joking 'Oh Yeah?' type message.
     With my veins pumping a veritable drug store, I threw
caution (not to mention good sense) to the wind and chose to tell
him exactly what I thought of his job.  To say it was out of line
would be an understatement.  To say it was genuinely
unintelligible would probably be more accurate.  Whatever was in
that post, I really set the guy off.  After several back-and-forths, 
he wound up issuing the kind of insult not usually uttered by civilized 
human beings to each other.  Something, I'll admit, I probably deserved.
     Anyway, after 'drying out' and having some more time to
think, I would like to explain, rationally what I see as going on
here and offer some kind of sane solution.

     Please understand, I totally agree that some form of content
control is going to be necessary if Thom intends to continue to
allow this service of his to grow.  Six hundred people all
talking at the same time about whatever pops into their little
peanuts would probably kill his machine (and most of the machines
in between).  Spam *has* been a problem in the past in that it
tends to crowd legitimate posts off the bandwidth.  To gain some
kind of control, Thom turned to whatever he had at hand, a spam-seeking 
missile named Tybalt.

     First of all, let me just say, at the worst, the guy's got a
real PR problem.  Granted, some of it could be laid back at his
own feet as his introduction was somewhat of a jolt and IMO a bit
heavy handed.  Nevertheless, he was here to do a job and cleaning
up Dodge City is not a job for the squeamish (Trust me on this,
I'm from Kansas).  The fact he was having problems balancing
between doing his job and avoiding undue embarrassment to
chastised list members in the process, caused him the appearance
of being uneven and, at times, unfair.  As most of what he was
doing was done quietly and behind the scenes, few noticed except
for the reduced number of messages coming through.  When he
emerged to warn someone publicly, it only led to cries of: "But
what about....?", as members saw, what appeared to be,
inconsistencies.  He was faced with a dandy dilemma.  If he
posted each of his 'tempbans' to the list in order to show he was
doing his job, he would also wind up contributing to the problem
as we would now have Admin-spam as well.  Staying totally behind
the scenes didn't create the proper 'atmosphere' where people see
folks being banned along with the reasons so they could fully
understand where the lines are drawn and that there is a real
penalty for crossing them.  All this just created uncertainties
and confusion for many people and increased their dislike for
Tybalt in the process.  Like I said, a PR problem.

     His second problem is that he's saddled with an almost
unworkable set of guidelines that almost begs for uneven
application.  While he will list proudly (and most correctly) the
'big 3' in things that will get you in trouble (chain letters,
test messages, and flames), the rest of the spam, pseudo-spam,
and what-not is left to his interpretation of the moment.  This
is really where most of the folks have a problem with him.  It's
hard to know how fast to go if the speed limit signs have
spinning numbers on them.  The ground kept shifting under the ML
as he struggled with obtaining some kind of balance between
reducing the 'noise' and choking off the life of the list.  I'm
quite certain it hasn't been easy.

     The rest of his problems appear to be 'personality conflict'
type situations that probably have no easy solution.  You put 600
people in a room and someone's not going to like someone else. 
If one person has a whistle and is tasked with breaking up the
horseplay, he's almost guaranteed to not be liked.

     Anyway, I've offered some proposals to Thom and hope he
takes them in the spirit they were given; a sincere desire to
help.  I think the biggest problems he has ahead of him are: 

     1) Come up with an understandable and comprehensive list of
transgressions that everyone can understand;

     2) Get rid of the 'two tier' system of enforcement.  If
you're on the list, you need to be held to the same standards as
everyone else - writers, readers, newbies, and vets;

     3) Develop a system of punishments that everyone can
understand and don't be afraid to use them.  (Also, it might be a
good idea to post some form of notice of who got booted and why
to the list - perhaps a daily 'rap sheet' or something.  I know
this would create it's own level of 'noise' but would serve to
let everyone know that the job is actually being done and why. 
It's hard to get pissed if you are told the rules, you break
them, and get booted for your actions.)

     I think the moderation of the list can work if it's done
right.  At the moment, I fear it's inconsistent at best.  (All of
which is causing old Tybalt to have to endure late night blitzes
from some drunken junkie in Kansas.  Again, sorry about that. 
One of these days, you *must* tell me what it was you called me. 
I couldn't find it in the dictionary anywhere.)

     Okay, kiddies.  I'm finished now.  So let's break it up, go
back to your writing, C&C'ing, or lurking and let's try to calm
down and play by the rules (I'm sure Thom will figure them out
sooner or later).  Or grab yourself a Bosco and go to bed.  Me? 
I'm on diet soft drinks for the weekend (or until the 'crawly'
thing go away.)

     - Greg
     (But I'm feeling *much* better now.)