My argument is that the onus is not on us to join a minority chat group but that the Obs Improvement District needs to account to us for its actions, its plans and its use of our money. The newsletter is promotional rather than accounting to us. The answer is not to increase the number of subscribers to this site but to ensure that the entity using public money seeks to engage with everybody in the area, not only those who have the time and inclination to participate in this forum. This may be one means at their disposal but Clearly doesn't reach more than a few score people.
On Dec 18, 3:11 am, Jonathan Endersby <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi H > > Thanks for your email. > > I'm sure I speak for all the directors when I say that we welcome > public participation and accountability. I'm not quite sure what > exactly is "confirming your suspicion". I explained in my reply to > Jason why the moderation is in place and clearly explained that the > moderation is not censorship in any shape or form. If you have > something to say about Obsid, positive or negative, your post will be > let through. > > You are right in saying that the current discussions involve a small > number of people (110 members in the Obsid chat group), which is why > we're actively trying to get more people to sign up and join in the > discussion. I note that you're not subscribed. The Obsid.org.za > website and the latest issue of Obs Life explain how to subscribe. > (The short version is go tohttp://groups.google.com/group/obsid-chat > and subscribe) > > I look forward to your input on Obsid-chat. > > Regards > Jonathan Endersby. > > 2009/12/18 H Schultz <[email protected]>: > > > > > > > This confirms my concern about the Obs Improvement District - It needs > > to involve greater numbers of people in discussion. At present the > > web based discussions involve very few people. This is acceptable in > > a voluntary group but not in an entity which uses our money. > > > Communication needs to be informative to promote accountability to > > those of us who are subject to the charges, whether we are part of the > > organisation or not. > > > On Dec 17, 2:54 pm, Jonathan Endersby <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Hi All > > >> (I'm posting this here as a response to the public message, but will > >> post it to the Obsid group too) > > >> As the person who set up the group and manages the security settings, > >> I can safely tell you that the reason for setting the group to > >> "moderate all" is twofold. > > >> As Trevor says, the first priority is to make sure that posts are > >> on-topic. It is of utmost importance that we don't irritate our > >> subscribers with off topic posts as this will completely undermine the > >> value of the group as people unsubscribe. > > >> Secondly, although one would think that a less draconian approach, > >> like setting it to only moderate new members, would work, the > >> unfortunate reality is that this approach failed a few weeks ago with > >> a rather, err, "colourful" email getting through from a member who had > >> just joined that morning. > > >> I can assure you that the moderators will not censor anything > >> critical, or bar anyone from posting as long as their post is about > >> the Obsid. > > >> Ultimately this approach has been taken to improve the quality of the > >> communications for all users. > > >> Regards > >> Jonathan Endersby. > > >> 2009/12/17 Trevor Hughes <[email protected]>: > > >> > On Thu, Dec 17, 2009 at 2:09 PM, Jason <[email protected]> wrote: > >> >> I've just joined the above group & have seen that any posts have first > >> >> to be approved by the moderators before being posted. I find this > >> >> disquieting, & am wondering what the criteria are for a post's being > >> >> approved on rejected? > > >> > Pretty much topic basically. If you post to this group looking for a > >> > lost dog your post will not be approved > > >> >> Considering we are all paying for the ID, it seems logical we have > >> >> ownership of it, & so should be able to discuss freely in an open > >> >> forum. This whole initiative is supposed to be democratic, right? Why > >> >> then can we not post freely according to our own conscience, as rate- > >> >> paying residents? > > >> > You may and you may criticize and discuss to your hearts content as > >> > long as it is relevant to the cid. So if you post an email asking a > >> > question that does not relate to the CID your post most likely will be > >> > denied. We do not have any hard and fast rules, I am not sure . > > >> > There are 3 or 4 moderators and who ever gets to the message waiting > >> > in moderation first deals with it. I guess if it were some very > >> > sensitive decision to be made colloboration between moderators could > >> > happen > > >> > This also stops spam from arriving in the group. > > >> > I hope this helps > > >> > I see there is another message from you in the moderation queue asking > >> > the same question. I will leave it there as I don't think this thread > >> > is covering it. Perhaps one of the other mods will think differently - > >> > note I have not deleted it just left it in the queue! > > >> > I just checked the settings and even all the moderators are set for > >> > moderation! Including myself. > > >> > And for the other mods - perhaps moderation should only be set for new > >> > members or members can be moderated if they post off topic too often > > >> > Trev > > >> > -- > >> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > >> > Groups "The Observatory Neighbourhood watch" group. > > >> > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > >> > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > >> > [email protected] > >> > For more options, visit this group > >> > athttp://groups.google.com/group/obsnw?hl=en > > >> -- > >> Jonathan Endersby > >> +27 82 4143129www.arbitraryuser.com-Hide quoted text - > > >> - Show quoted text - > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > > "The Observatory Neighbourhood watch" group. > > > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > [email protected] > > For more options, visit this group > > athttp://groups.google.com/group/obsnw?hl=en > > -- > Jonathan Endersby > +27 82 4143129www.arbitraryuser.com- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Observatory Neighbourhood watch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/obsnw?hl=en
