Thank you.
Teal
On 17/09/2014 6:30 PM, Simon Hackett wrote:
Gentlepersons,
The body images posted today on the list in an apparent (but in my view,
misguided) attempt at humour were totally unacceptable, in my personal view.
Yes, the Internet *is* full of this s**t, but no, this list is *not* a place to
post it. Ever. This list is called 'aus-soaring', not 'misogynist humour'
One of the disadvantages of mailing lists (like this one) is that because they
are email, things posted cannot be 'un-posted'. It is one instance where more
'modern' mechanisms like web forums allow for retrospective removal of
offensive crap - but alas that is not a technical option here. Email can't
really be un-sent.
What I do have as an option available to me, however, is to change the rules
(or to be more specific, to define them - as this list has gotten along very
very well for many years without any)
I much prefer not having to have rules of conduct, on the general basis that
civilised people should be able to act in in a civilised manner without them.
A distinct disadvantage of setting up participation rules is that (some) people
will then decide to figure out ways to stress-test, skirt, ignore, or otherwise
circumvent them.
However, I can't let today just pass without doing -something-; and as I'm the
one who paid for this list to exist, there is at least some moral imperative
(and, I would argue, moral right) for me to decide to modify the environment if
it has to be modified.
So here goes:
** There will be, forthwith, zero tolerance of people who send material via the
list that causes offence to reasonable people. Such people will be removed from
the list permanently without further discussion or debate **
That isn't merely limited to rude images. Calling names *can* also hurt people.
Don't do that either. Don't offend. Just... don't.
To be blunt:
If you want to be a boorish asshole, do it somewhere else.
The definition of 'offence to reasonable people' is entirely up to the personal
discretion of those who volunteer their personal time to be list 'owners'
('owners' here is meant in the technical sense of receiving administrative
messages and having to perform administrative functions related to the list, to
make it function).
Note: No warnings, no second chances, and no arguments about the definition of
what the list owners decide to be something that 'causes offence to reasonable
people'.
If you want to have an argument about a decision taken by a volunteer list
owner on this basis, on this list, don't do it here.
Instead, please, start your own list and have that debate there (likely with
yourself and nobody else, if today's exercise is any guide).
To those offended by the posts today (as I was) - I apologise on behalf of
those apparently too cowardly to do so themselves, for the offence that those
people clearly caused to others.
I will note that the definition of being offended is ultimately up to the
person who *is* offended, not to the instigator of the offence, to decide
The role of the instigator in this circumstance is not to say 'toughen up' (or
to say nothing), but rather it is for them to learn from what happened, to
apologise, and then to modify their future behaviour to become more urbane
about their interactions in shared interaction environments... or else to just
leave, if they are incapable of, or disinterested in, being that caring about
the welfare and mental state of others around them.
It is, sadly, not possible to stamp out boorish behaviour in societies. Some
people are just built that way. I get that. Really, I do. I've been a
participant in social media for decades - for far longer than the term has
existed.
I have been the direct target of some pretty rugged personal attacks over that
time. In some circumstances I have had to recuse myself from some discussion
spaces for the preservation of my own calm as a result.
But I do not want aus-soaring to be a place where anyone has to feel the way
that I have been made to feel in the past, in that regard, as the subject of
either personal attacks or as the unwilling recipients of offensive material
via this list.
Hence the new list participation rule, as noted above.
Thanks for listening - and I hope that this (somehow) helps more than it
hinders.
Regards,
Simon Hackett
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_______________________________________________
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To check or change subscription details, visit:
http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
