Folks,
The group is barely three days old, and I've already had complaints about other members, plus a message calling for moderator involvement. Time for a quick moderator intervention.
I'm not a fan of heavy moderation, don't want to get into banning people, having to mediate between warring factions, or unilaterally deciding that I've had enough of a thread, and locking it. Anyone who's on either RSGBTech or RSGBWorkshop will know that heavy moderation can be pretty unpopular and heavy on the inbox!
I believe that everyone is entitled to their views. and as long as they stay within the accepted convention for online discussion, that's fine. I am conscious that others may not want to, or be interested in, reading messages that are off-topic or outside the hopefully positive scope of this group.
Solutions:
To anyone not interested in a deluge of emails - there are two handy featuires of Groups.io - Switching to a Digest (groups of 12 messages), or a Daily Summary - You can switch to these here: /g/HamChat/editsub
To anyone not interested in a particular thread, then there is an option to "Mute" a thread at the bottom of each email. This is a very effective way of turning off something you're not interested in.
To anyone interested in starting an off-topic thread... please consider whether this is the right group for it. If in doubt, tag your post with a hashtag of #OffTopic, so others can mute it easily if needed.
I'd also suggest that we all try to get into the habit of starting new topics if there is a gear-change mid-thread. Again, this gives the option for people to mute off-topic discussion.
Personally, I tend to agree that the spirit of this group should be to discuss the future of the hobby, not to try to reignite decades-old gripes that no-one in this groups knows about, or can do anything about. There are better corners of the Internet to do that.
So, please can I ask that everyone plays nice, tries to be respectful of others, and uses the tools as necessary if you come across something you'd prefer not to read.
Thanks all,
Pete M0PSX
Pete M0PSX