Right on! Julia.  And a wonderful New Year to everyone. Gill

On Jan 2, 1:02 pm, "Julia Teale" <[email protected]> wrote:
> Dear H Schultz
>
> the internet has proved to be a quick, cheap and environmentally friendly
> way to distribute information, gather opinion and form groups.  The reason
> the group on the net is a minority is because people like you seem to want a
> more labour intensive and expensive method applied to our communications.  I
> seldom contribute to the discussions on the forum unless I feel I can make a
> valid contribution to the particular discussion taking place.  However, I
> feel informed through browsing through the discussions and I do feel free to
> contribute to them, should I need to.  I have never felt discouraged by
> others using the forum.What inclination do you have, if it is not to
> participate in the forum?  Do you want representatives to visit your home?
> Would you like a personal letter delivered to the door?  Would you have time
> to read these letters and fill in the relevant questionaires and post them
> at the post office or drop them at the library if you do not have the time
> to do it on the internet?  I seems you have also have not had time to attend
> the public meetings advertised.  If you are not happy with this forum, it is
> beholden upon you to provide alternative suggestions, rather than merely
> griping.
>
> While I agree that all Observatory residents deserve to be appraised of how
> their money is spent by the Cid, I also feel it is equally beholden upon
> them to provide positive input to those who have worked so hard to achieve
> this status.  All of those who are involved are ready and willing to engage
> as it is they who really care about this community and its success. Please H
> Schultz, lend us a hand.
>
> Warm regards and Happy New Year.
>
> Julia Teale----- Original Message -----
> From: "H Schultz" <[email protected]>
> To: "The Observatory Neighbourhood watch" <[email protected]>
> Sent: Wednesday, December 30, 2009 12:51 PM
> Subject: [obsnw] Re: Moderation at the Obs ID newsgroup = censorship??
>
> 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
>
> > >> > --
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>
> > >> --
> > >> Jonathan Endersby
> > >> +27 82 4143129www.arbitraryuser.com-Hidequoted text -
>
> > >> - Show quoted text -
>
> > > --
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> > --
> > Jonathan Endersby
> > +27 82 4143129www.arbitraryuser.com-Hide quoted text -
>
> > - Show quoted text -
>
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