I'm wondering if the moderation policy and charter for mwm aren't
being enforced with a bit too much zeal. For example, there was a
mini-thread about unscrupulous recruiters a few weeks ago that
got shut down very quickly by one of the moderators. The thread
was interesting, it was civil ... it just wasn't focussed tightly
enough on writing.

While I think it can be great to have such tight focus, I also
think that newsgroup participants need a little room to breathe.
Given that the annual review of the moderation policy is overdue
(!), I'd like to propose that some of the zeal be relaxed, that
posts be acceptable as long as they a) conform to the charter's
requirements for civility toward fellow posters and b) pertain in
some way to writing. And here I don't mean "pertain to writing"
in the mw sense of "it's a post and I wrote it so it's
writing-related", but rather in some more substantive way. The
criterion I'd like to suggest as a starting point is "is of
interest to writers".

The main moderation questions would then would not be

-- Is it substantially about writing?

-- Is it civil?

but

-- Is it civil?

-- is it of interest to writers?

My goal is to give people some breathing space, to encourage
discussion, and maybe breathe a little life into the group.

Note: This is not a call for a vote. It's a call for discussion.
Can one of you moderator-types post an [ADMIN] notice about this
discussion so that all 5 active posters can get in on the mailing
list action?

My best to you all,

--
Paul Harwood