> can't stupid people be booted from a mailing list?
Of course. If you're the BOFH of the whole thing, you don't even need to get anyone else's approval.
But if you do want the community to weigh in on who's "stupid" and who's not, then suddenly you might discover that three out of your ten members actually think that the person in question is a genius and is holding the whole thing together. Four members might think that booting anyone out at all runs counter to the purpose of your mailing list. Two people will privately email you and the "stupid" person, trying to somehow play both sides for no reason you can comprehend. One person will say that if anyone gets kicked out, they'll leave two.
That sounds easy to solve - tell them to go pound salt. If it's a private mailing list where you're judge, jury, and executioner why would you cater to people who are looking to cause problems? Let them leave, there's a billion more people out there to join your list.
Moderation is easy. Moderating without hurting the feelings of anonymous strangers is hard.
Of course. If you're the BOFH of the whole thing, you don't even need to get anyone else's approval.
But if you do want the community to weigh in on who's "stupid" and who's not, then suddenly you might discover that three out of your ten members actually think that the person in question is a genius and is holding the whole thing together. Four members might think that booting anyone out at all runs counter to the purpose of your mailing list. Two people will privately email you and the "stupid" person, trying to somehow play both sides for no reason you can comprehend. One person will say that if anyone gets kicked out, they'll leave two.
And all those numbers may overlap!
Moderation is hard.