META: Making the list public?

[clawrenc at cup.hp.com]

Writing as List Owner:

For a variety of reasons and with considerable encouragement I'm
considering taking the list public.  Mainly this will consist of
advertising it in r.g.m.announce and setting up a supporting web page. 
I'm interested in arguments for, against, and surrounding this motion. 
I'm especially interested in concerns, predicted problems, or possible
ideas for heading off problems.

A)  Should the archives be requestable or browsable by non-members? 
Note that this effectively makes ever poster's email address open.

B)  Should the list be echoed (one way) to a newsgroup?  If it is
echoed to a newsgroup should that group be a private group on a
private newsserver, or should I create a moderated alt.mud.development
group?

C) Should the list be split into seperate lists, divided by topic? 
What should the topic splits be?  (Note: I'm not keen on this motion. 
Convince me)

D) How should the list be publicised?  As part of this can the current
list invitation be extended as the publicity banner, and if so, how
should it be modified?  (Hey, Keegan!  How about that invitation
update for the introduction message!)

E) How should new membership be handled?

  Possible membership options:

    1) Publicise the list but only allow membership by application. 
ie New members would have to apply, stating *why* they should be
considered as members.  These applications would be posted to the list
as well as my decisions on them.  (I'm not fond of this approach for
the overhead it puts on me).

    2) Publicise the fact of the list, but leave membership by
invitation only.  Require any new member to be sponsored by an
existant member.

    3) Variation on #2: require the sponsor to also be an actively
posting member.

    4) Make membership uncontrolled.

    5) Something else?

Note:  None of this means that the list will become a flame-fest or a
counter part to the r.g.m.* newsgroups.  I would continue to actively
moderate the list.  Only the publicity and subscription methods of the
list would change.  

Do realise however that taking the list public opens it to the Reese
idiot intolerace flames, Katrina's dunno-how-C++-works prattles,
Addledbrain III's LP-is-da-deity pieties, DikuHeads R00L chants etc of
the world, etc and that any moderation I do will be after the fact. 
As such it will potentially open us to hit-and-run attacks.  I don't
think this is a huge danger, but it is present and should be
acknowledged.

  Note; Yes, I can close subscription for a while, ban selected 
  users, remove posting priviledges, personally accept/reject 
  every post for a while, etc, but the more time and effort 
  these tactics require of me, the less eager I am to use them.

Please only discuss this thread under the above Subject: header.  This
will allow disiterested members to easily filter this meta noise.

--
J C Lawrence                           Internet: claw at null.net
(Contractor)                           Internet: coder at ibm.net
---------------(*)               Internet: clawrenc at cup.hp.com
...Honorary Member Clan McFUD -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith...