Most mailing lists I am on seem to get by fine without overt moderation - including this one.
you have your facts wrong. the operators of this mailing list are perfectly capable of sending private mail to people like me who keep posting off-topic drivel like the message i am now typing.
Most moderated lists I am on seem to get by with thread killing - an argument is allowed to run for a few posts, then the moderator posts that he is officially killing the thread, and further posts on that will be rejected (and should be taken to email).
sure. namedroppers@ops.ietf.org works that way, as an example of one such.
Prefiltering to suit *any* one individuals opinion of what is or isn't on topic seems highly suspect for any list, and unacceptable on a list supposedly to define policy.
so in order for a policy-defining forum to be considered representative, it must be open to all posts on all topics from all parties at all times? that does not match not my intuition on the matter.
Note I have never read the list in question, so am arguing on general principles here, not this specific instance..... perhaps a parallel list setup (with $listname and $listname-filtered) could be set up with posts making it to the second list only with moderator approval?
i'm sure that if one were set up it would be used by many people. (not me.)