[governance] Trying to "fix" the list

[Rui Correia]

Dear All

I am on a list on which they imposed a quota of daily posting by members -
that will at least address the issue of having some members commenting on
every single posting that others submit on a given issue. Anyone exceeding
the quota gets a warning and after that suspension for x amount of time.

Obviously there should be exceptions for list admin/ event up-date
announcements etc by list administrators.

And implement something like this is no more censorship than setting a time
limit during question time/ not allowing same person to make more than one
question during question time/ not accepting submission of more than x
hundred words. Time is valuable, we are all very busy and so it is only fair
that we allow as many people a voice in as short time as possible, taking
into account that we have to set aside time to read others' contributions.

And unless we are voting, could we perhaps cut down on "yes, I agree"/ "good
point, Joe Soap" - unless Joe Soap's point actually makes you change your
mind, in which case you might want to retract/ amend your earlier position
making it clear that that is what you are doing.

Best regards,

Rui




2009/8/14 Jeanette Hofmann <jeanette at wzb.eu>

> Hi all,
>
> I think it is a mistake to conflate the issue of discourse pollution with
> the issue of decision making capacity.
>
>
> The strength of this list relies on its openness, which facilitates
> contributions from IG participants and observers regardless of their
> membership status. If we moved advocacy related discussions to more specific
> lists, the general discussion list would most likely become irrelevant
> within a few months. So, like Avri, I am very much against creating or
> moving the discussion to new lists as a means of dealing with abuse.
>
> The creation of troll filters is a good interim solution but not sufficient
> to protect the open space of this list. For example, filters don't prevent
> ad hominem attacks.
>
> After having skimmed through the "unsubscribe" discussion of the last 10
> days, I get the feeling that the lack of decision making capacity, which is
> so typical for this list, applies also to the issue of trolls.
>
> My suggestion would be to ask the coordinators to come up with a few
> options for action.
> One option, supported by Ginger and Parminder, is to move this discussion
> elsewhere.
> Another option would be to adjust our charter by adding a section on abuse.
>
> The following para of our charter, for example, could be expanded a bit to
> take into account other forms of of discourse pollution:
>
> "Some of the specific guidelines that will be enforced include those
> relating to:
> *No personal insults
> *No spam"
>
> The members of this list would have to agree on a general definition of
> abuse and appropriate means of action against it.
>
>
> There might be other options. In any case, I would like to ask out
> coordinators to apply some form of leadership to overcome the present
> impasse and help restoring this discussion space.
>
> jeanette
>
>
>
>

Rui Correia
Advocacy, Human Rights, Media and Language Consultant
2 Cutten St
Horison
Roodepoort-Johannesburg,
South Africa
Tel/ Fax (+27-11) 766-4336
Mobile (+27) (0) 84-498-6838
_______________
áâãçéêíóôõúç
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.igcaucus.org/pipermail/governance/attachments/20090814/653ebd48/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
____________________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
     governance at lists.cpsr.org
To be removed from the list, send any message to:
     governance-unsubscribe at lists.cpsr.org

For all list information and functions, see:
     http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/info/governance