From: E. Shaun Russell (e_shaun@extropy.org)
Date: Mon Aug 12 2002 - 20:17:00 MDT
Alex Ramonsky wrote:
>But who reads the abuser's posts? Who replies to them? If nobody does, the
>abuser may as well not exist.
>Another list I'm on has the 'football' system (english soccer, that
>is)...Anyone out of order gets a 'yellow card' from the list owner or
>admin. This is a warning, and the offender can ask why. If they transgress
>again, they are off the list for a few months ('red card'). Appeals are
>allowed in case of misunderstandings. It's harsh, but it works. It's list
>quality censorship by the owners and originators of that list. I don't see
>a problem with this. If people don't like it they can start their own
>lists, can't they?
This is along the lines of what I do for list overpostings, and it has, for
the most part, worked. However, the response from the main abuser(s?) has
been rather vitriolic, to say the least. I don't like the idea of
censorship at all, but I think that most folks who have been on this list
for a number of years (such as myself) have seen that a very minor amount
of list governance is necessary. Obviously, there is always a small
handful of posters on this list whose posting attitudes/style a lot of
other list members don't like, but just who those posters are tends to
fluctuate from month to month.
It's a slippery slope to be giving out "yellow cards" for content
issues. Ad hominem is one thing, and I do my best to address that when it
occurs; but I don't read every single message to the list. Often I only
get the chance to peruse a quarter of what is posted in a single day, while
other times I read most of it. Barring those issues, I'm not sure if
anything else is needed. We have this discussion every half-year or so,
but there is rarely any sustainable or conclusive resolution. As a result,
the list is as it is now.
________________________________________________________
E. Shaun Russell Operations Officer, Extropy Institute
e_shaun@extropy.org http://www.extropy.org
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~K i n e t i c i z e Y o u r P o t e n t i a l~
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