Thanks for replying, Salyavin. You make excellent points, plus the fact that
you have replied to my post makes it more difficult for someone to suddenly
make it disappear if he turns out *not* to appreciate the fact that we're both
*trying to help him*. :-)
The simple guideline I suggest would do wonders to "clean up the vibe" of
Fairfield Life, if for no other reason because it would force people to try to
deal with IDEAS instead of PERSONALITIES. Over the years, for many reasons,
people have become lazy, and tend to reply to *ideas* they don't like by trying
to discredit the person who wrote those ideas. Shouting "You're a poopy pants!"
is NOT dealing with ideas like an adult. Hopefully if people pay attention to
what we're suggesting they'll do this less...
From: salyavin808 <[email protected]>
---In [email protected], <turquoiseb@...> wrote :
In four words (with no brackets or ellipses to pretend I'm not cursing when I
am), given the events of the last few days what I believe a moderator of
Fairfield Life would do if they were truly sane is:
SHUT THE FUCK UP
Y'know...sorta like what Alex is doing, and has been doing all along.
Progress HAS been made. I think that all of us have become more aware of what
the actual Yahoo-Groups Guidelines are. Just as important, we have become more
aware of what they ARE NOT.
They are NOT about censoring content, as someone attempted to do last night. As
Curtis pointed out, they are also NOT about censoring language, because that's
a non-issue -- Yahoo has never in its history had any problem with someone
saying Fuck or Fuckin' on any of its forums. The real guidelines do NOT have
anything to do with not being able to legitimately criticize public figures.
And they do NOT say that people have to submit to what some self-appointed Nazi
tells them to do or not do, just because he calls himself a "moderator."
The most important of the *real* Yahoo-Groups Guidelines -- in my opinion as a
long-term member of this forum -- is the one that a sane moderator has the best
chance of actually enforcing: "Avoid personalized invective."
That's IT.
SHUT THE FUCK UP about everything else.
If you have the shitty karma to have been named as a moderator of Fairfield
Life, suck it up and put on your big boy pants and try to actually accomplish
something useful instead of just bitching and moaning all the time.
Enforce the "personalized invective" guideline by quietly deleting any post
that REALLY crosses that line. Avoid trying to police the use of "invective,
period," because that's a lost cause -- EVERYONE here goes on a rant from time
to time and hurls invective at the people they don't like. You can't stop it
because it's human nature. Instead, focus on the "personalized" part -- if
posters get their panties in a bunch, they should try not to lash out at *other
posters on Fairfield Life* by aiming invective at them.
THIS is enforceable. If you're a moderator, get the fuck over your own ego and
stick with THIS guideline. Quietly delete any post you feel hurls invective at
or attempts to harass a current poster on Fairfield Life, and then just as
quietly write the person whose post you've deleted an email saying that you did
it, and why you did it. That's it -- end of intervention.
I would have NO PROBLEM with this approach to "moderation" on FFL. I will aid
any moderator in helping to enforce this general guideline by trying to indulge
in as little "personalized invective" as possible.
On the other hand, I have MANY PROBLEMS with censorship of either ideas or
language, and will fight anyone attempting to impose them tooth and nail.
Your call.
If you ARE actually sane, you'll take the increased recognition of actual Yahoo
guidelines here and run with it, and stop trying to preach to people. Do your
job in this one actually enforceable area, and SHUT THE FUCK UP about
everything else, and the forum will actually become the "better place" you
*claim* you want it to be.
Keep up the nonsense you've been attempting so far, and it won't.
Simple as that.
And it is that simple. No one really wants FFL to have it's teeth pulled to the
extent they can't express honest opinion or the occasional rant without getting
paranoid.
Similarly no one really wants the place to disappear because Rick gets fed up
with the burden of owning it, but imposing the Yahoo guidelines like they are
carved in stone is a silly idea, especially when they seem so flexible we could
probably delete even Cardemeister if we had a mind to.
The FFL homepage tells you all you really need to know about it. And hopefully,
I've stuck to it enough not to be considered a pain in the arse - except by the
ludicrously over-sensitive. But like everyone, this week has made me aware of
the reaction hitting "send" can have. I shall try and heed the guidelines
without diluting myself. But moderation has to be carried out equitably, using
it as a censorship tool is just wrong.
Hopefully the dust will quickly settle and we can all get down to the serious
business of talking about dinosaurs again.
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