The future of the list -- nanny time?

[Vaska]

Erick Pohl asked:
>I think I'm assuming a fair, open-minded, "willing-to-discuss-matters"
>moderator; you, perhaps, are assuming someone else?

My fear is that the very existence of a moderator, however moderate he or
she might be, would place a pall over the usually lively, sometimes edgy,
occasionally mean-spirited, often informative, and frequently zany [flow of]
messages on this list.  I have a feeling that the mere presence of such a
"pointsman" would, for example, deprive us of the deliciously funny comment
by the Robot Vegetable:

> Hadn't heard of "sfacimento," though.  

    Capitol of California.

This would be achieved not by any filtering act of the moderator but by the
chill of self-censorship that would suddenly lodge itself in many a heart on
this list.  

Maybe I'm wrong.

Vaska