[ale] Automatic moderation for ALE?

[JK]

Hi folks,

Here's an idea for automatic moderation.  I've seen similar
schemes used on Usenet groups, and they seem to work well.
(Forgive me if this was already mentioned on the "list
issues" thread; I didn't have the time or patience to
follow it to the end.)  I suggest that this scheme might
be applied to the current ALE list, and might work well
enough to keep us all reasonably happy.

Basically, every post would go through an automated
filter that would remove excessive and obviously off-topic
posts. The algorithm would be something like:

   If sender has posted more than N times to the thread to which
   the message belongs, and their non-quoted material does not
   contain the word "Linux" (or "Fedora" or ...) at least once,
   then toss the message (or perhaps send it to an ale-offtopic
   list, or something), and send a "you bad boy" message to
   the poster, containing the moderation guidelines.

Of course, it would be trivial to defeat this filter by
adding the word "Linux" to any message, but you'd have
to *know* you were doing that.  Most of us seem to be
basically sane and mindful of netiquette *most* of the
time, and the filter would simply tend to keep us in
that frame of mind.

The advantages of this scheme are that it is completely
automated (so nobody gets hassled for not approving
posts, or burnt out from having to moderate the list);
and everyone could be apprised of the rules up front
(so no arguments about moderators' biases affecting
the list content). It allows the odd one-liner for those
of us who just cannot resist. And it's possible to defeat
the filter if you really need to; eg on 9/11 we probably
wouldn't have been too wild about *any* moderation.
(OTOH there's a good argument that 9/11-related posts
didn't belong here, even on 9/11; but I wouldn't be
the one making that argument. For me, ALE is both a
resource *and* a community.)

-- JK