t sulks

Someone else said it first. (And it happens in a lot of threads!)

The problem with backchannel talk in another thread is very different in nature than numberslutting. Numberslutting is annoying, at least to RL (me, I don't mind it). Griping in another thread about a fellow poster is, on the other hand, actually rude. If you are going to backchannel, actually go BEHIND channels to do it.

I'm not certain this is the appropriate thread to be having that conversation

Edit: re-pet peeves, numberslutting, etc.

That said, I am also going to point out that backchannel does not equal griping about other poster. It just means talking off board.

I think there are two issues -- using a thread as faux-backchannel, and referring repeatedly to backchannel while inthread.

I agree with PMM about bringing pet peeves to Bureaucracy. I was going to say something myself, but I didn't like how I had worded it.

I think there are two issues -- using a thread as faux-backchannel, and referring repeatedly to backchannel while inthread.

Oh. My bad, then.

I was a bit baffled by that "backchannel" thing too.

I don't know what Rebecca meant by it, and I almost never look at Bitches.

The definition of "backchannel", for me, is something that happens off-board. In email, in IM clients, on the phone.

I'm not sure if it's backchannel if it happens on someone's blog or LiveJournal.

"Damn that John H is annoying me!" on a blog, especially if it's a blog that's linked from here or talked about here, doesn't seem like backchannel, because it's not a private conversation. [Note: just an example.]

It seems from context that "backchannel" was being used in Bitches to mean "talk elsewhere on Buffistas.org" which is confusing.

No. Two different things.

1. Faux- backchannel. Talking in a thread like it is indeed backchannel, when it's just as public as anywhere else.

2. Meta about backchannel -- exchanges of "insent" "insent" "insent"

Anyway, I might try and drag this back on-topic in a way by saying -- we don't want to legislate on this or add it to FAQs or ettiquette guides, right? Nobody's come here to say "people should get officially told off for numberslutting", right?

So this thread isn't the right place for it.

So is our policy something like:

If some aspect of board culture, in-joke or catchphrase or whatever, makes you annoyed, but not to the point where you want anything officially done about it, we think it's best to bring it up politely in the thread where it's occurring.

?

Meta about backchannel -- exchanges of "insent" "insent" "insent"

Oh yeah, I could see how that could get very distracting. And make people paranoid.

I don't know about policy or not, but that is certainly the most effective way of dealing with it.