Rick,
rec.gardens.orchids is not a moderated group. Given that it is not
moderated, it is actually quite amazing how few spam messages we get here.
We also have very few off topic messages. Flames are relatively rare. People
here are patient with beginner's questions, and we also get discussions that
are quite sophisticated at times. It's a high quality group. The few spam
messages that we do get, can usually be easily recognized by cursory
scanning of subject, and deleted without opening. A moderated group would
have the disadvantages of needing someone who actually spends the time
moderating, messages would not appear on the group right away (now they do
appear right away, unless one uses Google Groups to read them), and there
would be the potential for censorship -- not everyone might agree about what
is inappropriate, though some messages clearly are, there are enough gray
areas. I wouldn't want this group to be moderated, and in the case of
rec.gardens.orchids there is really no need for it to be. Look at many other
newsgroups out there for comparison, if you think that this group needs
moderating!
Joanna

"Rick Brewer" wrote in message
oups.com...
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