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| Jan 19, 2010 6:54 pm |
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The Reality of Climate Change - Discipline in this network |
John Stephen Veitch
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Thanks Kenneth,
So now we need to open another thread. About governance.
I agree Kenneth that creating "rules" can be counter productive. In an online group ONE person can very easily destroy the function of the group. As moderator my role to protect the group is to intervene in some way if that seems to be happening.
With the "35 Inconvenient Truths" non-debate, the network was flooded with posts. Those posts were filled with propaganda that needed replying too or correction.
I put over 40 hours into trying to get on top of the topic. Thomas was the only one of the deniers to actually make any sort of personal statement of his own belief. All the rest was reposting of page after page of misleading and erroneous propaganda from various web sites. That was an abuse of this network, and disrespectful of the members and their time.
I did try to encourage other people to get involved, to bring in the bystanders. However, the environment wasn't "safe" mostly because Thomas was quite prepared to be totally scathing and dismissive of anyone who tried to stand up for the truth about, climate change. There was one post I deleted. That post, by Thomas, ripped into someone who was a "bystander" who had the courage to enter the discussion, in a manner that was completely inappropriate and was entirely destructive of what we are trying to achieve here.
Thomas, you came very close to losing your posting rights here. But I guess you know that.
However, Ron Sam, was on reflection, probably the one who did the most damage. Ron posted post after post. When I tried to re-read those posts to find out what Ron himself said, the answer was, "nothing at all".
So, Kenneth, the idea that we can all get along without rules or moderation or government, isn't valid. Human groups need to establish norms of behaviour which people obey. Online, in groups, those norms are seldom fully stated, but it's assumed that everyone understands what the norms are. The sort of abusive flaming that was a characteristic of Usenet, is seldom seen on any of the networks I'm a member of today. Generally, people know the limits and keep within them. These "limits" are socially set. That's why it's correct to call these groups "social networks".
With a minimal set of rules I hope this network will continue to be a safe place for open discussions. Sadly, towards the end of last year that wasn't the case.
John Stephen Veitch; The Network Ambassador
Open Future Limited - http://www.openfuture.co.nz/
Innovation Network - http://veech-network.ryze.com/
Building an Open Future - http://openfuture-network.ryze.com/Private Reply to John Stephen Veitch (new win) |
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