On 6/27/05, hggdh wrote: > > Agreed with reservation. I think this can only work if the moderators > > are unbiased in respect to whom they single out as whipping boys. > ... > Depending on one's upbringing, some words will be either rude or > blatantly offensive, while a different culture may consider the same > words nothing special. This makes moderating an international list > extremely complex, and almost impossible to be completely fair. This > is probably where we can plug this un-natural thing called courtesy... > and the knowledge that upbringing does not need to be coherent. > > In other words, fairness in moderation is a lost cause :-) > > Any one doing moderation will eventually find it so, or has already > found it so. All we need is time.
Hggdh, courtesy is fine, but I disagree that it is impossible to be fair. Yes, it is difficult to moderate international lists like tbbeta. I know that for a fact, because I also happen to moderate at least 5 international lists (pardon me, but I lose count). Okay, every situation is different, and tbbeta is indeed quite complex. But that does not diminish my point. I know that mistakes are made. And I know that everyone has different likes and dislikes, including likes and dislikes regarding people. But a good moderator must be like a judge - either s/he sets aside personal likes and dislikes or s/he must recuse herself/himself. And, even then, should a mistake occur (as is eventually somewhat inevitable), then a moderator must realize that s/he is just a human being. At that time s/he must come down off her/his elevated seat and humbly apologize. An apology at such times actually enhances her/his prestige rather than diminishes it. > But, let's move on to bias. Every moderator is biased. This is no big > deal -- we are *all* biased, one way or another --, see above. The > difference is understanding that one is biased, and trying to find out > if the inbred/developed bias is acceptable (to one's ethical being). > > So, yes, Marck is biased. So are you. So am I. Yet I do not find > Marck's bias selective on whom gets the whip. He is doing what he is > tasked to and, as far as I can see, doing it as correctly as possible, > even if I do not completely agree with it. And... the fact that I do > not agree with it does not bring any demerit to his moderation. Hggdh, being biased and acting on the basis of that bias are not necessarily the same thing. In addition, there seems to be some contradiction in your argument. I don't see how you can say that you disagree with what someone is doing and then express the opinion that it is being done "as correctly as possible". Look, Hggdh, there is an old and oft-cited legal maxim that justice must not only be done but also seen to be done. The use of scapegoats might be appropriate in some administrative situations, but it is not an effective way to moderate an international forum. I believe that I have already given a clear example of this, but let me make it clearer. We all know how diligent the moderators are about calling people to task for top-posting and neglecting the use of a sig delimiter. But when it comes to the area of "bad language" or "swearing", a huge amount of it just gets ignored. Okay, I can live with that. But to call me down for "swearing" and use of "bad language" when by no stretch of my imagination at least was that the case (rather, I was objecting to the use of "bad language") - and at the same time ignore much more blatant examples - well, I just refuse to accept that. I think this is not a case of justice being done, and I also do not believe that any fair-minded and informed person would have seen it to be done either. > And, at the end of the day, I find I still can live with you, Marck, > and everybody else here. Well, I could probably live with you and Marck... and definitely Allie and Mary and Natasha... and perhaps even Tony :-)... but there are one or two people here that I definitely tune out and prefer to keep at a distance (and I would not mind if they were to take the same approach with respect to me). :-) -- Avi Yashar Windows XP Pro SP2 and The Bat! Pro (No OTFE) 3.5.31 ________________________________________________________ Current beta is 3.5.31 | 'Using TBBETA' information: http://www.silverstones.com/thebat/TBUDLInfo.html IMPORTANT: To register as a Beta tester, use this link first - http://www.ritlabs.com/en/partners/testers/
