At what point is it appropriate to send a message off-list
to a member or members who have crossed a line? When is the line crossed?
What are the lines?
No single answer. This is one of those "community standards"
problems. (For example, we're talking about this because my nose for the line
is different from the majority nose here :-(.
How might the moderators have done a better
job?
I think the moderators of a list
this size should have some support--the job is hard enough. If I were the
moderation team, I'd consider establishing some guidelines. Propose
guidelines, set them before the community, and then work from there.
Once the guidelines are in place, moderation actions should always
cite the guideline in question--the guidelines that the community itself has
constructed.
The point is that the moderators represent the community
interest. By working from community guidelines, you avoid creating an
arbitrary police state.
On the other hand, developing guidelines is a
lot of work--it appears that in this case, the community doesn't think any
change in moderation is needed. I can live with that too.
Thank you
too for your responses.
JS
