Alan Schwartz
2012-03-19 04:37:35 UTC
Dear s.o.f. readers,
After more than a decade of moderating s.o.f, the current moderation team
(Alan, Jack, and Greg) are all planning to call it quits. s.o.f. is a
low-traffic group, and much of the internet discussion of Freemasonry
is taking place in other fora. There are several options with respect
to the group, and we hope that those of you who still read and post will
chime in with your preferences.
1. s.o.f. can remain a moderated USENET newsgroup, with new moderators.
The new moderators ought to be familiar with the technical aspects
of USENET moderation. s.o.f's current moderation software, which
is hosted on one of my servers, will be turned off, but the configuration
can be transitioned to a new moderator's server if desired (or moderators
can moderate manually, which is not unreasonable for a low-traffic group).
2. The moderators can ask the Big 8 Management Board to convert s.o.f
into an unmoderated group (like alt.freemasonry, but in the soc.
hierarchy).
3. We can simply stop moderating. The group will go silent. Eventually,
if someone cares enough to notify the Big 8 Management Board, they
may initiate a Moderator Vacancy Investigation, which may eventually
lead to formal removal of the group if no one steps up to take over
moderation.
If you have an opinion on the above, please reply and state it. If you
are interested in taking over moderation responsibility for the group,
step up and let people know (along with any qualifications, Masonic
or technical, that you think are relevant). If you think the group
should go away and people should talk elsewhere and you want to invite
people to do so, that's good too.
It's now March 18, 2012, and we'll be following this thread until at
least April 17, 2012, after which time, we hope to take action, such
as announcing new moderator(s), asking group members to select new
moderator(s) from a list of candidates, or letting you know that we've
contacted B8MB to unmoderate the group. If there are no replies to this
posting during that period, we will likely announce and pursue option 3.
Sincerely and Fraternally,
Alan Schwartz (for the s.o.f. moderators)
After more than a decade of moderating s.o.f, the current moderation team
(Alan, Jack, and Greg) are all planning to call it quits. s.o.f. is a
low-traffic group, and much of the internet discussion of Freemasonry
is taking place in other fora. There are several options with respect
to the group, and we hope that those of you who still read and post will
chime in with your preferences.
1. s.o.f. can remain a moderated USENET newsgroup, with new moderators.
The new moderators ought to be familiar with the technical aspects
of USENET moderation. s.o.f's current moderation software, which
is hosted on one of my servers, will be turned off, but the configuration
can be transitioned to a new moderator's server if desired (or moderators
can moderate manually, which is not unreasonable for a low-traffic group).
2. The moderators can ask the Big 8 Management Board to convert s.o.f
into an unmoderated group (like alt.freemasonry, but in the soc.
hierarchy).
3. We can simply stop moderating. The group will go silent. Eventually,
if someone cares enough to notify the Big 8 Management Board, they
may initiate a Moderator Vacancy Investigation, which may eventually
lead to formal removal of the group if no one steps up to take over
moderation.
If you have an opinion on the above, please reply and state it. If you
are interested in taking over moderation responsibility for the group,
step up and let people know (along with any qualifications, Masonic
or technical, that you think are relevant). If you think the group
should go away and people should talk elsewhere and you want to invite
people to do so, that's good too.
It's now March 18, 2012, and we'll be following this thread until at
least April 17, 2012, after which time, we hope to take action, such
as announcing new moderator(s), asking group members to select new
moderator(s) from a list of candidates, or letting you know that we've
contacted B8MB to unmoderate the group. If there are no replies to this
posting during that period, we will likely announce and pursue option 3.
Sincerely and Fraternally,
Alan Schwartz (for the s.o.f. moderators)