[MF] the way forward for MoQ discussion lists

[ian glendinning]

My pragmatist view ... in response to Sam's suggestions ...

I was pushing the lines in the sand idea - knowing where people stood,
and having rules of engagement, etc.

I don't believe it will work by literally having different areas with
different explicit rules. People will gravitate to the more
interesting area, where the feathers fly. Areas with narrow
restrictive rules will wither. (I've seen so many forums go this way.)

Although I'm personally not finished with Mr Maxwell yet, as far as
offensive comments are concerned (I'm going to respond to David
Harding's mail) - I think the key thing is being honest about
declaring your stance, and declaring where you see others stand.

I believe there should be few if any other rules. I'm an advocate of
permitting ad-hominem points as part of argument - they are often
relevant when you are debating belief, intentions, morals and values -
we need the subjective element. We do need to draw the line at
gratuitous insults and undermining of valid arguments by spurious or
dishonest attacks. But those rules should arise and be applied
democratically. Any more objectively defined rules will fail.

Moderation should be a "committee" and the committee should be
appointed by the membership. The committee must include anti as well
as pro-MoQ voices. This must all be transparent and visible to all
members (and non-members).

(One minor point - The moderation sanctions need some gradation
between being active and being excluded. We need some other
"privelidges" of membership.)

Ian

On 11/4/05, Horse <horse at darkstar.uk.net> wrote:
> Hi Folks
>
> Just needed to do a quick check on some tweaks I made to the list
> config, but while I'm on.....
>
> Some interesting ideas have been floated and one of the things I'd
> really like to look at is what do the members expect when they sign up
> to one of the discussion lists.
> I suppose this would produce as many answers as there are members but we
> should be able to boil it down to some basics.
> Personally, when I join a mailing list I prefer it to deal with what's
> specified in the description and aims of the list and that members
> (generally) keep to this. This is why the suggestions Sam put forward
> were fairly specific. I also prefer that lists are uncensored,
> unmoderated and free flowing.
> The problem we have at the moment, as I see it, is that there are too
> many agenda's to be accommodated on just 2 lists. Everyone has there own
> interpretation of the MoQ and how it generally applies to the world,
> which is great, but instead of everyone discussing on one list for a
> political, religious, metaphysical etc. interpretation it would be great
> to try and seperate them out and see if there's some common ground in
> there somewhere.
> Sure, there's going to be some crossover but this can be reduced by the
> list administrator and members. If it's felt that a line is being
> crossed, with regard to subject matter, behaviour etc. then a
> suggestion that the argument is taken to the appropriate list (or off
> list) can be made. The list admin can enforce this if they feel it's
> reasonable. This way there is also little need of censorship.
>
> For instance, if there's a list for people who've just read ZMM or Lila
> and want to ask a few questions for clarification, answers given should
> be according to what Pirsig has written not what others wish he'd
> written. Suddenly being leapt on by certain members and told that Pirsig
> has it wrong or that they're political view is all mixed up doesn't help
> and is the fastest way for newbies to get out fast.
>
> Another suggestion could be that new members start off on a single
> introductory list before being let loose in other lists. Just a thought.
>
> Finally, the most frequent comments I get are that there is too much
> traffic and that what there is is often of no interest. Splitting the
> lists up should go a long way to sorting this out.
>
> Any comments?
>
>
> Horse
>
> PS if anyone's having any problems with the new list then please let me
> know so that I can fix it.
>
>
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