I would say that the fact that both this list and Marxmail have managed to flourish for fifteen years says something. It's rather unusual for a listserv to last anywhere close to that length of time, and even more unusual in the case of leftist listservs, which more often than not, tend to implode over ideological differences in fairly short order. In the case of both LBO-Talk and Marxmail, the fact that both lists have managed to survive for as long as they have has been due to the work of their respective moderators who have striven to keep discussions focused and to the point.
^^^^^ CB; Let us not forget PEN-L, Michael Perelman , moderator