Constant spam?

[Jon Monroe]

Hi John et al.,

>Is this list moderated?

No.  I serve as a "discussion leader" with Susan Singer.  Most of 
what I do is to help people that need it to get on or off the list, 
acting as the communication link between the BIOSCI administration 
and subscribers, and responding to questions such as yours.  We've 
talked about going to moderation at various times (when spam was 
worse than it is now) but we decided to hold off.  About a year ago 
the whole BIOSCI system was moved to the UK and at the new site a 
form of electronic filtering was implemented that has helped 
eliminate some spam but obviously it isn't perfect.

Mark Spiro just asked: "Jon, Is it possible to open the list only to 
those who subscribe to it?  Would this reduce the spam?"  It would, 
and we could if it was a listserv, but is isn't and we can't.  Many 
Plant-ed users are not subscribers - Plant-ed can be used totally 
through the web.  One big advantage of being part of the BIOSCI 
system is that all past messages are archived and searchable 
(http://www.bio.net/hypermail/PLANT-EDUCATION/).  If the problem 
becomes intolerable we could designate a moderator but someone would 
have to spend time doing it, and the turnaround time from question to 
responses would get much longer.

The more people talk about legitimate Plant-ed issues (the charter 
http://www.bio.net/charters/plant-ed is copied below) and simply 
delete spam without thinking about it, the better off we will all be. 
Please don't respond to spam, even to this group (QDurham, that means 
you - we all know what spam is...).  Based on past years, I suspect 
the rate of legitimate postings will pick up as we get into the 
academic year so fire away folks!

Thanks for your comments John - I hope you stick with us.

Jon Monroe


>I guess not because recently I have gotten almost as many spam 
>messages as on-topic emails. I haven't been on the list long but I'm 
>considering leaving because of this.
>
>Hate to have my first message be whining.
>
>John
>--
>John Mather
>D. C. Smith Greenhouse
>University of Wisconsin - Madison
>
>
>---


Information for PLANT-EDUCATION/bionet.plants.education

USENET newsgroup name:          bionet.plants.education  (unmoderated)

Mailing list name:              PLANT-EDUCATION

E-mail posting address:         plant-ed at net.bio.net

Discussion leaders:

Jonathan D. Monroe,  e-mail: monroejd at jmu.edu
Associate Professor, Department of Biology, James Madison University,
Harrisonburg, VA 22807

Susan R. Singer,  e-mail: ssinger at carleton.edu
Associate Professor, Biology Department, Carleton College,
Northfield, MN 55057

Charter:

The purpose of the PLANT-EDUCATION newsgroup is to function as a means for
communication among all educators, including faculty, instructors, lab
preparators, and graduate assistants, involved in courses on any aspect of
plant biology.

This newsgroup provides:

         A forum for the exchange of innovative laboratory and classroom
         activities.

         A forum for discussing the role of plant education in introductory
         biology courses and ways for improving student perceptions of plants.

         A forum for the exchange of information about educational
         opportunities for students and faculty (REU programs, teaching
         workshops, etc.)

         A forum for the exchange of information about textbooks, internet
         resources, visual materials, and interactive computer programs.

         A source of quick help for last-minute troubleshooting, conditions
         for plant growth, sources of materials, and practical advice.

         An archive of searchable information for future use by instructors of
         plant courses.

Subscribers are welcome.  Contributions within the functions outlined
above are encouraged.

The newsgroup is unmoderated.


--------------------------------------------------------
  Jonathan D. Monroe           	    Associate Professor
  Department of Biology, MSC 7801   office: 540-568-6649
  James Madison University	      fax: 540-568-3333
  Harrisonburg, VA 22807   	email: monroejd at jmu.edu
     http://csm.jmu.edu/biology/monroejd/jmonroe.html
--------------------------------------------------------


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