[...]
The moderated list was started by people who couldn't stand reading
the unmoderated list at the time. It's your choice which groups you
want to follow.
Nowadays many of us (including most of the moderators
actually
read both groups, just not to miss any interesting topics.
Some historical context might be interesting. The moderated
group was founded because this group became pretty much
unusable, because of too many off topic postings. I was one of
the founders: I hate censorship, but at the time, it was that or
not having any usable group at all.
Since then, things have changed: all of the newbies have moved
on to other mechanisms, and with some exceptions, leave
newsgroups alone. The result is that this group has become
usable again. That, coupled with the fact that moderation in
the moderated group has become more heavy handed than I
originally envisaged it, means that I pretty much only
participate here, and not in the moderated group. But... I
would like for this group to remain usable, and that means some
degree of self moderation. An occasional off topic posting, or
even a thread which derives completely off topic, doesn't hurt
that much, but it can't become a regular thing, or the group
becomes unusable. (Similarly, overuse of personal insults and
ad hominum attacks renders the group less usable.) It's a fine
line, and I'd prefer that the non-moderated group remain usable.
And FWIW: I agree with Alf on this one, although it's a
borderline case. The question wasn't "what compilers are
available", but "what compilers are available for Windows".
Which is definitely Windows specific. But since it does concern
more than one implementation (potentially, at least, and in fact
in practice), I'd be in favor of stretching the rules.
