UKHA Overmoderated?

["Philip Coombes" <philip.coombes@xxxxxxx>]

Hi,

I rarely post but often read, but I share the disquiet of some who clearly
feel that this group has become somewhat overmoderated recently.

There seems to be a large group of moderators who close threads willy
nilly,
usually for fairly arbitrary or political reasons, in fact this is the most
moderated un-moderated group I've ever come across. It's one thing to steer
threads back on track when they drift slightly but to close threads which
people are interested in and continue to contribute to because they aren't
100% on track or content rich seems somewhat dictatorial to me. There seems
to me a definate atmosphere about this group which is unlike most other
groups I belong to where things seem more relaxed and enjoyable.

I have no axe to grind here I'm rarely involved in any of the contentious
threads though often they may be among the most interesting on here.
Killing
them because of bandwidth would seem slightly disingenuous when the rest of
the time the group is often filled with threads just as peripherally
related
to HA and just as full of nonsense or in-jokes about Star Trek characters
but because they are deemed to be acceptable to the inner core are allowed
to continue or even encouraged. It does seems to me as neutral lurker that
there are definate double standards being applied.

The most recent thread (which shall not be named) is a perfect example.
Even
if all the names were removed it should serve as a salutary example about
the risks of taking action because of an email or the assurance of someone
you really don't know. Equally the risks of not preparing for the
consequences as they have transpired. Personally I am curious to hear both
sides of the story and not just those of the inner cabal and their
'official' line. To me this thread has more potential value than any number
of Xbox or Tivo threads, though I welcome those as much as any others.
Judicious use of email filtering and the delete key enables me to whittle
down UKHA to just those elements that interest me, and I would encourage
the
moderators to take a more hands off approach and encourage readers to just
ignore or delete threads they aren't interested in. I don't read 90% of
what's on here but now and then a really useful nugget comes along and I
would consider a number of the ever growing list of killed threads among
them.

Just my opinion of course, reply if you like, don't if you don't want to. I
don't really mind either way.

Regards,

Philip Coombes