I like John Kulig's comment about scapegoating. I've long thought TIPS was manifesting problematic social behavior and felt that we have collectively engaged in less-than-ideal behavior. John may have put his finger on the problem.
So for the social psychologists out there, we have an interesting applied social problem. How does a diffuse virtual community effectively regulate the quality of its community interactions? One solution, used by other lists, is to have designated parents who enforce the adult rules (others have other names for moderated lists). Other lists manage to individually regulate submissions and maintain civil and (mostly) on-topic threads. I regularly monitor conversations on 4 fairly active lists. Only one is moderated (and discussions are well-regulated indeed, even if answers are a bit slower in arriving). Only one list is having this particular discussion. Something has gone awry with the dynamics of the TIPS list. I believe we are all responsible for the quality of discourse on the list. (collectively - which is part of the danger, but one that many want to preserve) What strategies are available to wise, educated adults to effectively recreate the kind of virtual community we aspire to create? Claudia Stanny -----Original Message----- From: William Scott [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2009 12:37 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] Reclaiming TIPS quote"I appreciate your Zen wisdom, and can appreciate the next-year-it-may-be-someone-else concept, but since 1993 (my first year on TIPS), no one on TIPS has ever made the suggestion that someone be removed. I think that's a pretty good record of tolerance."unquote. And so we should end it now? The day after the action we can change the sign in the parking lot to read "One day without an expulsion". Bill Scott --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
