[governance] Formal public warning to Suresh

[Norbert Bollow]

[with IGC coordinator hat on]

Milton L Mueller <mueller at syr.edu> wrote:

> Norbert:
> As an IGC member I disagree with this decision to issue a formal
> public warning to Suresh.

Those who disagree of course have the option of making a formal
appeal to have the decision reviewed.

There is also the option of proposing a charter amendment that would
lower the standards to which the IGC Charter [1] currently *requires*
the coordinators to hold the participants in IGC list discussions.
(Specifically, it is stated under "Duties of Coordinators" that "The
first and most important duty of the coordinator(s) is to facilitate
the discussions..." and later under "Posting Rules for the IGC" it is
specified what these discussions are supposed to be like.)
[1] http://igcaucus.org/charter

> It seems you are singling out one person
> when a group of people was engaged in an argument, and all of them
> contributed messages that were similar in tenor to his.

That is not what it seems to me at all. I have for a long time been
hoping that this kind of step would not be necessary. However, motivated
by recent events in which some attempts at discussion were rather rudely
foiled, I have recently, using the archives, reviewed quite a few of the
exchanges that have taken place in February and March. There's a clear
pattern there, and it's not a pretty one. I have also carefully
reviewed what the IGC Charter says on this matter. I've come away from
this exercise firmly convinced that
1) the situation is very very asymmetric, with a consistent pattern
of one side in the conflict seeking discussion of legitimate concerns
and the other side attacking such attempts of discussion, and
2) we (the IGC coordinators) should in fact have taken clear and
effective action already long ago.

It is true that when situations heat up, matters tend to get personal
and to some extent emotional on all sides. That is a general fact of
being human.

The standard of conduct that the IGC Charter demands is to avoid the
kind of postings that create any kind of hostile environment. And the
Charter outlines how to proceed when someone does not want to refrain
from posting such messages.

This action of the coordinators is not about supporting one side in any
of the various conflicts over another.

It is about upholding the principles of conduct which the IGC Charter
requires all participants to adhere to.

For a long time, these principles have not been effectively enforced.

We (the IGC coordinators) have been reluctant to go beyond the stage of
private warnings and public general admonitions. However these measures
alone clearly have not been effective at solving the problem.

I assure you that we intend to endeavor, to the utmost of our ability,
to hold *all* participants to the standard of professional conduct that
the IGC Charter describes.

Even if these steps are not popular among many of the currently vocal
participants on this list (probably many of those among whom these steps
would have been popular have already long ago left us, having given up
any hope that the IGC would live up to what it purports to be), I am
firmly convinced that upholding these principles of conduct, which
are written in the IGC charter, is necessary for the IGC to be able to
fulfill its mission.

I would propose that it would be more appropriate for those who
disagree with this view to propose to change the Charter than to
criticize the coordinators for acting according to what the IGC Charter
says.

Greetings,
Norbert

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