While we were creating majordomo groups, I had Hugh create a new mailing list for our use, cypherpunks-ratings. The ratings list is meant for the implementation of distributed moderation similar to what I outlined for Usenet a week or two ago. This experiment is slightly different, since we're going to leave the main list as it is. The ratings list currently doesn't go anywhere. You can join the ratings list, but that doesn't get you anything. We'll turn on distribution of the list later. Here's the deal. The ratings posted to the ratings list have to be some fixed standard form. This form has yet to be decided upon, and should be debated on this list. I will implement a filter which only passes syntactically correct ratings, once the syntax is decided upon. At this point we'll turn on the list. Other motivated cypherpunks participants will have to come up with a system to merge the two lists into a coherent whole, as well as provide an interface for creating and sending ratings. Ratings are intended to be broader than voting. Ratings should be manifold, in order to support various areas of interest. Ratings can support voting, but not vice versa. Please use the RATINGS: tag in the subject line for discussion. Eric