Mal: Does she understand that? River: She understands. She doesn't comprehend.

'Objects In Space'


Bureaucracy 1: Like Kafka, Only Funnier  

A thread to discuss naming threads, board policy, new thread suggestions, and anything else that has to do with board administration and maintenance. Guaranteed to include lively debate and polls. Natter discouraged, but not deleted.

Current Stompy Feet: ita, Jon B, DXMachina, P.M. Marcontell, Liese S., amych


Lyra Jane - Apr 13, 2003 1:15:48 pm PDT #9549 of 10001
Up with the sun

Agreed with Allyson (and everyone else). Press feels like a public spanking.


Trudy Booth - Apr 13, 2003 1:26:10 pm PDT #9550 of 10001
Greece's financial crisis threatens to take down all of Western civilization - a civilization they themselves founded. A rather tragic irony - which is something they also invented. - Jon Stewart

And maybe a few of us who simply procrastinated on the voting because it always seemed to be getting modified and we missed the final final trulio final this is really it final voting.

I'm just saying voter turnout does not necessarily translate into dedication or frequency of posts.

yep


§ ita § - Apr 13, 2003 2:17:52 pm PDT #9551 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

I don't think the not-on-permanent-record message that I sent warrants Press notification, though.

Press guarantees nothing, e-mail guarantees nothing, in the thread where the poster posts guarantees nothing.

Unfortunately.

Personally, on this level, I'm most comfortable with e-mail and Kafka. If you come into Kafka to request something and don't stick around to see how it plays out? Oh, well.


Monique - Apr 13, 2003 4:44:34 pm PDT #9552 of 10001

Can I ask a question?

Not to be contrary, but just because, frankly, ya'll fascinate me: Isn't a 300+ conversation in Bureaucracy about just how much Buffistina Mcpaininthearse needs a warning because of x,y, and z instances of annoyance also akin to a public flogging?


Daisy Jane - Apr 13, 2003 4:56:02 pm PDT #9553 of 10001
"This bar smells like kerosene and stripper tears."

I think it would be if no one were arguing that B McP didn't and we were just going on about it with no arguments to the contrary. It also might seem like less of one if the person being discussed would discuss the behavior with us.

I can see that us talking about it with out them here to defend themselves can seem like a flogging, but that's not really our fault.


Fay - Apr 13, 2003 5:03:02 pm PDT #9554 of 10001
"Fuck Western ideologically-motivated gender identification!" Sulu gasped, and came.

Not to be contrary, but just because, frankly, ya'll fascinate me: Isn't a 300+ conversation in Bureaucracy about just how much Buffistina Mcpaininthearse needs a warning because of x,y, and z instances of annoyance also akin to a public flogging?

Yes, I kind of think it is.

Which isn't to say that it shouldn't happen, because I do recognise that people are frustrated by this instance & by previous instances with other posters. We do need a way to deal with posters who aren't adhering to community standards/are consistently upsetting other people, but I'm not sure this thread is the way to deal with them. I mean, yeah, this is the place to talk about policy, but once we have a firm policy, I'm not sure that spending hundreds of posts discussing the iniquities of any given Buffistina Monkeypants is the way forward. It's like making this into a courtroom. And I don't think that's what Kafka's for.

thinks

t gogogadget asspull

I wonder, would it be feasible to have a policy whereby, rather than publicly coming over here and invoking a stompy, one simply emailed a stompy officially oneself via backchannel when one was offended/distressed and considered another poster's behaviour to be beyond the pale? Without all this discussing, but just by way of expressing one's own feeling of 'this person needs an intervention/stomping/whatever'? And after, say, three (or five, or whatever) such independent expressions of unhappiness from community members (this is assuming that all stompies were kept in the loop) via backchannel, then the stompy would quietly email the person with a request that they modify their behaviour, and copy the objecters in on the matter? And if problems persisted, and members complained again, then a more serious warning - with reminder of consequences - could be sent. And if problems persisted, then maybe either banning or else some more public pre-banning form of intervention?

Are there loads of flaws in this? Probably. Um. But I'm uncomfortable with the sense of public flogging, both in the specific and in the general.

Is this a dumb idea?


Elena - Apr 13, 2003 5:03:25 pm PDT #9555 of 10001
Thanks for all the fish.

I'm just saying voter turnout does not necessarily translate into dedication or frequency of posts.

Of course not. I was just using that as shorthand to explain why Kafka can get a hundred or three posts in a short period of time. I did not mean to imply anything about dedication or frequency.


Elena - Apr 13, 2003 5:06:08 pm PDT #9556 of 10001
Thanks for all the fish.

Are there loads of flaws in this?

The biggest flaw I can think of is the whole backchannel aspect. Wouldn't it really seem out of the blue for a poster to be warned/suspended/banned without any public discussion? Wouldn't that be more upsetting?


Burrell - Apr 13, 2003 5:11:28 pm PDT #9557 of 10001
Why did Darth Vader cross the road? To get to the Dark Side!

FayJay, I haven't given it much thought, so I may be wrong, but my initial reaction is that decisions to warn/etc should NOT be made backchannel. Because then it really will be a situation where those who feel less comfortable here (and who would therefore be less likely to go backchannel) are disempowered by the procedure. Plus the stompies will be forced to make decisions backchannel, which they have already stated they don't want to do, and based on less information about how the board as a whole feels.

Another problem is that, if the whole accusation/fustration registration process takes place behind the scenes, there will be no way for someone to defend herself--or to come to the defense of another--until a decision has already been made.


Daisy Jane - Apr 13, 2003 5:12:54 pm PDT #9558 of 10001
"This bar smells like kerosene and stripper tears."

I think so Elena. I think Kat's actions were completely right. She said in the thread where people got bothered that people were bothered and that she was coming over here.

It gave everyone, bothered and botherer, a chance to discuss it in the open.

Backchanneling, without everyones opinions with their names on them for the botherer to see, and then an official warning seems, can't think of a good word, but cliquey comes to mind.

Edit- Burrell explained that last part way better than I did.