From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@aeiveos.com)
Date: Mon Aug 18 2003 - 09:22:04 MDT
On Mon, 18 Aug 2003, John K Clark wrote:
> It would be nice if the list administer would admit to being wrong and
> concede that recent actions have not improved the overall quality of posts,
> but I don't really expect that to happen.
I don't think there is a "wrong" in this situation. As Greg's recent
post points out there is a balance one has to strike to maintain the
tone and usefullness of a list. I would not be on the list if Damien
or Eliezer were "assaulting" my opinions every day. (Fortunately I
only stick my neck out far enough for them to (reasonably?) do that
somewhat less frequently.) Damien was kind enough to point out to me
several posts in which Mike was rather abrasive. I dealt with Mike
offlist to resolve the sources of what may have been misunderstandings
on his part -- but Mike is ultimately responsible for any such
misunderstandings. (You can blame Enron for misrepresenting the
state of the company but it *still* comes down to a question of
whether or not one "did ones homework". The exchanges over the last few
months suggest that Mike did not do that. Net result: misunderstandings,
aggressive and/or rude behavior, people taking offense, lost list members.)
I do not believe that John is correct regarding "improved the overall
quality of posts". The general quality of the posts on this list is
very high. So it would be difficult to "improve" on them. The question
one is dealing with is when some people get into what are effectively
"flame wars". I've been reading lists for 20 years or more. I've seen
wars come and go. Usually the wars on the ExI list are reasonably
logical -- highly unusual as "flame wars" go (which is why I think it
was unfortunate that Harvey chose to leave). The question ultimately
is how to manage such outbursts.
I believe that the forthcoming changes may help with that. The
development of a chat list will be a big step forward for people
who want to deal with a large volume list where discussions may
sometimes go on and on and on. The addition of a multiple moderator
functionality (still in the process of being defined) will allow
for some checks and balances at that level. I think it is better
to realize that it is difficult to get this "right" and that one
needs to be prepared to evolve and adapt. The Extropy Institute
is trying to do that.
Robert
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