Jeff Davis wrote:
>The list supposedly has rules as to what is and is not
>allowed, but enforcement is all but non-existent. It
>seems to me that the ambitions of the Extropy
>Institute--more specifically Max, Greg, Natasha, et
>al, ie, those who have invested huge parts of there
>life to make ExI what it is, and to make its mark in
>the world--are being sacrificed--at least here on the
>list--by a failure on the part of the list "owners" to
>enforce a minimum standard of courtesy/respect (dare I
>say "adult" behavior).
Well, I haven't seen anything lately that I feel is contemptible enough to
deal with in an authoritarian manner. Also, no one has contacted me
directly regarding any extraneous offence that has been dished out. I
would rather not have to "enforce" anything, and as has been the case in
the past (both recent and more distant), a spontaneous order of sorts has
always sorted things out in the long run. Threads about improving the list
pop up a few times each year, but the general consensus has always been
that the current method (hands off except for in extreme circumstances such
as the gun discussion moratorium in '99) is the best.
>The responsibility for the destruction of the
>reputation of ExI, and of the list and all its
>participants does not, however, rest with John Clark,
>but with the list owners and their failure to insist
>on and enforce a standard of respect for the discourse
>in this forum.
In the list rules (which I will send separately after this message), there
is a disclaimer that "...Extropy Institute does not take responsibility for
the use or misuse of posts addressed to the extropians list." While I am
occasionally discouraged by the level of discussion on this list, I beg to
differ that the reputation of ExI is being destroyed by the discourse on
this list. I don't see that as being the case at all; please let me know
how you feel this has been done.
The bottom line is this: am I happy that there have been ad hominem attacks
on this list over the past few days? No, I'm not happy about it at
all. However, I've paid close attention to the threads as they have
progressed and don't feel that they need any administrative force
applied. For the record, the administrative process would be this: I would
find (via forwarded complaint, offensive post etc.) something I felt to be
an issue of concern. I would then forward that to Max More so that he (and
the board of Directors as well as VP Greg Burch) could determine whether or
not action should be taken. Those measures would then be carried out.
If anyone has an issue with the way I have done my job, please let Max and
I know.
________________________________________________________
E. Shaun Russell Operations Officer, Extropy Institute
e_shaun@extropy.org http://www.extropy.org
Director, Kryos Biomedical Inc.
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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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