Lovely, Hec.
Mal: Gotta say, doctor, your talent for alienatin' folk is near miraculous. Simon: Yes, I'm very proud.
'Safe'
Bureaucracy 2: Like Sartre, Only Longer
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
Scrappy - Mar 31, 2004 7:51:19 am PST #8555 of 10005
Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
Dana - Mar 31, 2004 7:52:19 am PST #8556 of 10005
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.
Okay. So, to add to site ettiquette:
- Maybe you've started posting, and you feel like you don't fit in. Maybe you think your posts are being ignored. The good news? Most of us feel like that at one time or another. Honestly. The bad news? There's probably no easy way to fix it. Some suggestions: remember that threads like Natter move very fast, and it's impossible for everyone to keep up with everything that's said there. Also remember that there are a boatload of threads, most of which have their own subcommunities. No one person belongs to every section of the board, and no one person speaks for the board as a whole. If you still have an issue, bring it to Bureaucracy, and we'll talk about it.
- We're a very independent group here. Because of this, we react badly to anything that comes across as preaching. We also react badly when told we need to modify our behavior to accommodate someone or something. But there's more good news: it's entirely possible to have a disagreement with people on the board and still remain a member of the community. No one will kick you off the board for having a different opinion. Just think before you post.
It's probably too wordy and might not get everything across. Feel free to tear it apart, modify it, reject it, whatever.
Jesse - Mar 31, 2004 7:53:11 am PST #8557 of 10005
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
Erk. Didn't mean for it to be snotty, really really. It had just occurred to me all of a sudden, and as is my wont, I posted without thinking how it sounded.
I think I'll stop posting here.
No, no! That's the whole point -- don't stop posting, just clarify. See how it works? Now we all know.
lori - Mar 31, 2004 7:54:50 am PST #8558 of 10005
Nice work, Dana. I'm always happy to leave writing chores to others more capable than I. I are an engineer, afterall.
Sean K - Mar 31, 2004 7:54:56 am PST #8559 of 10005
You can't leave me to my own devices; my devices are Nap and Eat. -Zenkitty
Sean, Steph - y'all are getting all riled up and bringing the hot rhetoric. That's your prerogative, but I'm getting more heat than light at the moment.
Yeah. I know. Sorry. Sorry, everyone. I've taken up whacking my fingers really hard with a hammer when they reach for the key board to post in this thread.
I'm not sure how I made this post, though. Probably with my nose.
Aims - Mar 31, 2004 7:56:35 am PST #8560 of 10005
Shit's all sorts of different now.
QUESTION THAT HAS NOTHING WHATSOEVER TO DO WITH THE LAST ELEVENTY BAJILLION POSTS
If I have a problem with something in a thread, and it does not involve me directly, would it be better to say something in-thread, risking a giant kerfuffle, or should I go about it backchannel?
edited to spell eleventy right because misspelling fake words is wrong.
billytea - Mar 31, 2004 7:56:51 am PST #8561 of 10005
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.
I'm not sure how I made this post, though. Probably with my nose.
That could explain the snotty tone...
Kidding! Seriously. Except about your nose. Dude, it's called a handkerchief. Broken fingers are no excuse.
Michele T. - Mar 31, 2004 7:57:37 am PST #8562 of 10005
with a gleam in my eye, and an almost airtight alibi
These people left for a variety of reasons, not solely and specifically because of a more aggressive posting style.
Hell, *I* left for a while in part because of John H.'s aggressive and combatative posting style.
Consuela - Mar 31, 2004 8:03:15 am PST #8563 of 10005
We are Buffistas. This isn't our first apocalypse. -- Pix
Aimee, you're entitled to say something in thread. For one thing, if handled properly, it keeps the enforcement of social norms public, which I think is a good thing, particularly in light of the current discussion. You can choose to take it backchannel, of course.
Fred Pete - Mar 31, 2004 8:03:16 am PST #8564 of 10005
Ann, that's a ferret.
What Hec's points said to me:
Matt's history of the Bronze
Suggests that some form of policing is necessary. I can't say I'm in love with our current informal style, but anything more formal would likely be worse. Power is too easy to misuse, and giving anyone formal policing power creates risks to the board that I'd rather not have. (I vaguely remember having suggested something at one point that contradicts the above. My opinions evolve.)
Shawn's Good Citizenship
There's a corollary, and that is that newbies, pretty much by definition, don't have social capital. I tend not to dismiss newbies out of hand -- outsiderness can have a valuable perspective that insiders are too wrapped up in the situation to have. But newbies haven't built up the credibility that longtime posters have. If longtime posters X, Y, or Z say something, I have a context to place their comments into. Unlike with newbies A, B, or C.
there's nothing at all wrong with aspiring to some level of graciousness
Even something as simple as posting, "Hi, Newbie!"