[Winona Online Democracy] If Spencer's statement is accurate, "our rules may seem unclear and arbitrary, in both expression and enforcement," how do we assess this and what might the remedies be?
>From my end it is hard for me to accept that an assessment that the rules are "arbitrarily enforced" has nothing to do with me personally, since I am the one who makes that call for our forum. I've been reading a lot of messages from folks who are unhappy about my judgement from those who believe that the discussion should be literally moderated (edited before being sent to the members) to those like Spencer or David who seem to conclude that my efforts to facilitate are analagous to the world of Orwell's 1984. My suggestion to "vote" (maybe to engage in a consensus process would be better?) as to whether or not David's statement should be judged as a personal attack was an attempt to share responsibility for making that judgement call given my lack of objectivity as the subject of the message. Spencer seems to have expressed his disagreement with that as a solution. As a group, how can we decide how to address such issues? As the facilitator, I go back to re-read the rules and my archived responses to members in order to gain perspective and act consistently. I am happy to share the facilitator role with another individual in order to assist with these judgement calls, but I don't think it is constructive for me to change my standards each time a member disagrees with my judgement. That would, indeed, be arbitrary enforcement. I am happy to take cues from the membership as to how to address the issue of rule enforcement, but I think it is wise that the membership define the process for establishing the procedures. Isn't that the democratic thing to do? Kathy Seifert ----- Original Message ----- From: "Spencer Madsen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Online Democracy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2004 10:48 AM Subject: Re: [Winona] Re: The Never Ending Rules Debate > [Winona Online Democracy] > > Kathy Seifert wrote: > > >My stance is that we must strive to be able to express a diversity of opinion > >without attacking those with whom we disagree. > > > >David's use of the phrase: "Big Brother is your friend. Big Brother has the > >answers. 1984" seems to be reference to my actions as some sort of thought > >control. I experience it as a personal attack. I can hardly be objective > >in this matter, though. I'm entertaining the idea of putting it to a vote. > >What do others think? > > > >Kathy Seifert > > > > > If one chooses to view David's words as an personal attack, one > obviously may. I'm not certain a vote would accomplish anything. > > I choose to see David's allegory for what I think he intended: The > situation here parallels the world of 1984 in that our rules may seem > unclear and arbitrary, in both expression and enforcement, and we are > encouraged to accept that the leadership knows best based on little more > than leadership's repeated assurances of the same. > > Given that his frustration with the alternate side of the street parking > signs echoed these sentiments, I'm fairly confident this doesn't have > anything to do with Kathy as a person, no matter how many of us vote to > take a vote on it. > > -Spencer Madsen > > > > _______________________________________________ > This message was posted to Winona Online Democracy > All messages must be signed by the senders actual name. > No commercial solicitations are allowed on this list. > To manage your subscription or view the message archives, please visit > http://mapnp.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/winona > Any problems or suggestions can be directed to > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > If you want help on how to contact elected officials, go to the Contact page at > http://www.winonaonlinedemocracy.org > _______________________________________________ This message was posted to Winona Online Democracy All messages must be signed by the senders actual name. No commercial solicitations are allowed on this list. To manage your subscription or view the message archives, please visit http://mapnp.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/winona Any problems or suggestions can be directed to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] If you want help on how to contact elected officials, go to the Contact page at http://www.winonaonlinedemocracy.org
