[extropy-chat] META: "Killthread": Is it censorship or sensible?

[Lee Corbin]

Further thoughts on when threads should be "killed".  (The scare
quotes are to prevent certain people from forming connections
that make the termination of a particular discussion reminiscent
of the termination of real folks.)

An important consideration is list volume.  If the list is quiet, it
could be a mistake to "kill" even the most off-topic or silly thread.
This is because it could contribute to a great silence falling over
a list, a silence that could be self-supporting.  E.g., it could help
generate the unconscious impression that not so many people
are reading posts on the list, or that checking the list from time
to time to see what is new on it might be a waste of time (if no
one is posting or reading it).

But when volume is heavy, precisely the opposite:  the "killing"
of off-topic threads attracts rather than repels more readers of
the kind we want reading our posts.

Lee