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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Toward the mantenance of that magisterium mentioned in tsuwm's recent post , two thoughts/suggestions:
In general, the substance of those dialogues arising in response to ill-meaning posts as well as to the feaux pas of new comers, form in rough, the elaboration of an informal, unwritten constitution or charter governing speech in a community of speech. (Leaving aside the anomoly of Wordapalooza). Since these elaborations tend to produce a lot of bad blood, it seems to me it might be useful to us to draw up a very brief charter to which members might refer or be referred when things seem to be getting out of hand. I do not suggest limiting discourse strictly; it is the nature of this group to be social and to wander off the topic of words. But efforts to so disrupt the group as to threaten its dissolution could be more easily thwarted if reference could be made to a clear and simple charter. (Given the style of this post, I would suggest someone else write it).
Second
Disruptive posts do more damage in the exchanges they engender than in the mere fact of their presence on the board. Understandably, persons angered by such posts will wish to say so. However, any elaboration AT ALL gives place for rebuttal and leads the way to the abyss. In a face to face community, one can make a show of ignoring a statement. That very often says enough, and if the purpose is to silence, it gives little room for continued provocation.
Therefore
I suggest the creation of a humorous emoticon signaling that the poster is ignoring the previous post. Placed beside the subject heading on the menu, or at the start of body of the message, it would say the essential and leave off the rest. And it might even say the essential playfully. If the offending party persists, they'd just get a lot of ignoricons from other contributors.
From New York, without spell checker,
IP
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Disruptive posts do more damage in the exchanges they engender than in the mere fact of their presence on the board. Understandably, persons angered by such posts will wish to say so. However, any elaboration AT ALL gives place for rebuttal and leads the way to the abyss.
Amen and amen, inselpeter. When the disruption is ongoing and deliberate, I mean.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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The company I work for, which happens to be American although I am based in UK, has put together a list of what it calls "covenants". I am not too happy with the word, but FWIW here they are, offered without comment and just as food for thought. Every now and then, when things are getting out of hand in a meeting or discussion, someone calls "covenants!" - a bit as you might say "Time out!" I guess. Not all have direct relevance to us, but could be adapted if people thought it a good idea. I don't know whether it is or not, and I shan't mind if it is ignored:
1. Treat colleagues with mutual respect, trust, and dignity, and believe they are acting in the best interest of the company.
2. Help each other; ask for and give help and welcome it freely (it is not a sign of weakness). Go out of the way to provide extra support to fellow employees. Share experiences and lessons learned, both successes and failures.
3. Communicate early, honestly, and completely with all who have a direct interest in the subject. Listen to others' points of view.
4. Earn trust by accepting and honoring agreements, keeping promises, and discussing needed changes before acting.
5. Work to understand company goals and strategies and proactively support them through discussions, communications, and actions (for example, sharing resources).
6. Never undermine colleagues directly or indirectly.
7. Work jointly to resolve disagreements in good faith. If necessary, go to a higher authority together, then accept and support the solution.
8. Contribute constructively by exercising the highest level of professional and ethical behavior.
9. Promote continuous use of the covenants.
dxb.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Re: dxb's list of covenant's
Something along these lines in terms of fostering mutual respect. More specifically, however, embodying the principles tsuwm set forth in "mageterium." In fact, his post itself, drawn up simply as a charter. The idea is the creation of a simple mechanism for ending immaterial and destructive controversies by employing principles to which the majority of us can agree. We are lucky to have a Jackie who can function fairly and positively in her role as administrator; in general, though, I think the principled anarchy (if I may be forgiven the oxymoron) that governs the board in its happier moments is best.
However, if lack of response be the sign of the ignoricon, I am content to let the matter rest.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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ignoricon
[timeout]not ignoring, thinking...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I had a post just disappear off my screen again. I'll write it again. Excuse me if this is the second one you see on your side.
Insel, I'm uncomfortable with the idea of an ignoricon. This seems like a much more agressive response that really ignoring the offending post and not responding at all.
If you ignore the post entirely the person who wrote it can't argue with himself, but by adding an ignoricon you are egging him on. It is like raspberrying him.
As net etiquette site say that the offender should simply be ignored. ANY response whatsoever is a form of attention. And any attention will only drag on the agressive posts.
Do you see what I mean?
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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<<do you see what I mean?>>
Yes. And I'm not at all married to the idea. It is probably not a very good one. It is not my intention to institutionalize rudeness on the board (and in saying that, I am making no inference from what you've written). I am looking for a simple mechanism to end discordant exchanges. The reason I suggested an emoticon is I though it *might* make a point without leaving much room to further strife. The problem I meant to address was that absent any clear-cut method for addressing offending posts, simply ignoring them has not seemed to function well to stem negative dialogue. On the contrary. I think this is because it builds no consensus concerning the impropriety of a given contribution. Absent a simple way to establish such consensus, responses to what may generally be deemed to a greater or lesser degree inappropriate tends to become too personal, too heated, and too drawn out. It seems to me -- and I may be wrong -- that people feel compelled to respond vehemently to what they deem offensive posts in order simply to establish a consensus. But that vehemence itself contributes, inadvertantly, to the creation and perpetuation of contention. And it is this dynamic which becomes truly destructive.
Whatever may be decided, the object of public statements, anyway, should be to diffuse rather than exacerbate *personal* tension. Not deference, perhaps, but cool heads and good judgment. We can fight instead about the greatest subject on earth -- who was it said being is language?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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>net ettiquette why reinvent the wheel? here are the ten core rules of net ettiquette; I hesitate to list them here because they all require a bit of elaboration, particularly Rule 3 in light of some of these ongoing discussions. Rule 1: Remember the Human Rule 2: Adhere to the same standards of behavior online that you follow in real life Rule 3: Know where you are in cyberspace Rule 4: Respect other people's time and bandwidth Rule 5: Make yourself look good online Rule 6: Share expert knowledge Rule 7: Help keep flame wars under control Rule 8: Respect other people's privacy Rule 9: Don't abuse your power Rule 10: Be forgiving of other people's mistakes for elaborations: http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html()
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Carpal Tunnel
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Those standards are palatable to me.
Well, except, of course, the one about knowing where you are in cyberspace. I rarely know where I am in 3D space. Some allowance would have to be made for those of us who are spatially challenged.
W.W.M.M.
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veteran
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veteran
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I agree with ewein and WW -- they sound very useful. How about elaborating?
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