Cheryl's ? about posts to the list

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

 

Last week, Cheryl wrote " i'm wondering if you can just state for the record

what you think, as one of two moderators of this wonderful list, constitutes

inappropriate email? " (/message/2220)

 

There is no quick answer that I can give... So, for those of you who are

interested, here's my thoughts on the topic. Note: The majority of this

message is written for people who won't think it applies to them, so I'm not

sure if this is really that effective. But since Cheryl has asked, I'll try

to explain my basic approach as one of the List Admins of SFBAVeg.

 

When the list first started last Fall, Chris and I realized that having

guidelines at the start would be beneficial. So we wrote what we call a

" Charter of Operation " for SFBAVeg. http://www.generationv.org/charter.htm

The Charter gives guidelines for what is appropriate for posts. If you

haven't read it, please take a few moments to do it now. As most of you

know, a reminder goes out every month about it.

 

To be frank, the Charter is just a set of guidelines, and does not cover

every situation. Basically, it is everyone's individual responsibility to

be familiar with the Charter and use their best judgment about what is

appropriate for the list. As List Admins, we are sometimes put in the

position of having to decide, using our best judgment, whether posts/topics

are, or have become, appropriate or inappropriate for the list. What can

influence our interpretation is what we hear from other members of the

community as well as patterns of behavior from the person writing the post.

 

When I think a topic or a specific post was inappropriate, I will try to

talk to people privately (offlist) about this. Or, if I think a post has

the potential to create a discussion that is off-topic for the list, I might

post a message to the list. I would rather keep discussion on the list

focused on what SFBAVeg is all about: veggie and AR discussion, not

administrative issues, so that's why I usually try to reply privately.

Note: I sign these types of administrative messages as " SFBAVeg List Admin "

so folks know I'm writing as the " List Admin " .

 

I don't really have a list of what's inappropriate. It's not that simple.

But here's a few reoccuring problem areas that I've noticed:

 

1) Spammers -- I classify these as people who have no interest in our

community but merely see us (our large membership number) as a vehicle to

promote their commercial products or services or other agendas outside the

scope of SFBAVeg. I won't bore you with the details but attempts happen on

a regular basis.

2) Anonymous posters -- I am more suspicious of intentions when a post that

is very opinionated or somewhat controversial is sent to the list, but is

unsigned. In my books, anonymous posters need to be held to a higher

standard of accountability.

3) Non-contributing complainers -- People who complainto the list, in a

non-constructive manner, that we are too much this or that, or not enough

of this or that, and do nothing to contribute themselves. We are each part

of SFBAVeg. SFBAVeg is a sum of all its parts: us!

4) Controversial lurkers -- Lurkers who only post when there is something

" controversial " happening, they seem to be more interested in " stirring "

things than contributing to the community.

 

Cheryl also commented " i'm probably not the only one here who has received

inappropriate email after posting an opinion from someone who wanted to make

me *just like them*. "

 

I'm not sure what " inappropriate " means. But as long as it's politely

worded, I don't see anything wrong with expressing disagreement with a

viewpoint. This ties back in with an earlier message I wrote to the list:

/message/1892

 

Anyways, I regard SFBAVeg as a discussion forum for a real veggie/AR

community, not just some online mailing list. We can and do meet

face-to-face. For that reason, I think it's important that although we feel

as if we are anonymous as we sit behind our computer screens, we're usually

not, so decorum should be a de facto standard. I think how we say something

is just as important as what we say. And, of course, sometimes no matter

how careful we are, there will be misinterpretations. But that's just part

of communicating. One of the benefits of being able to interact

face-to-face and well as via email is that we have an additional channel of

communication and that will give us better understanding/insight into each

other, more familiarity, and those types of misinterpretations will

hopefully become less frequent.

 

I hope my attempt at explaining this helped. If you're still awake, thanks

for reading this far... As always, please feel free to write me if you have

comments or suggestions. We always appreciate your thoughts/suggestions as

to how we can help continue to make the SFBAVeg discussion forum a better

one.

 

Cheers,

Tammy

SFBAVeg List Admin

 

Be a Veg with SFBAVeg! http://www.generationv.org/.htm

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