Posted by Dr. Bob on September 15, 2002, at 15:15:43
In reply to Re: Safety and Civility, posted by shar on September 15, 2002, at 14:01:56
> I wonder how long a moderator will be able to have the same friendships that existed prior to their new duties of handing out PBC's and blocks, or warnings. It is sort of like when a friend becomes your supervisor at work. For a while, things are the same, but there is a very real power differential that exists...they can fire you or write you up.
This is a real concern of mine. Deputy administrators do have the option of *not* intervening. But there's no getting around it, there's still a power differential...
> I wonder if instead of being encouraged only to ignore threads and avoid unpleasantness, if a 'resolve it' approach was added in and encouraged, what would happen.
Did you have a particular procedure in mind?
> Or, maybe there needs to be a "go to your rooms" (GTYR) category that doesn't single out one poster who may only be responding to something that was nasty to begin with, but would apply equally to everyone in the thread who is involved in the uproar. 8-)
>
> So, no one individual will receive the punishment for a 6-post argument. The GTYR would apply to the *thread* becoming too rambunctious and heated, and anyone who chose to post "uncivilly" after a GTYR would be given an individualized PBC or block.Are you saying there should be a "room" here to which I should tell people to go when they get too rambunctious? :-) Hmm...
I do already try to deal with everyone involved in an uproar, including someone who starts things by being "nasty". I'm not sure it would work to do something equally to everyone, since everyone's not involved equally...
> At the very least, it would give folks a chance to back off when they knew the thread was being seen as getting too hot. I do believe the vast majority of posters here are well-intentioned, even if they do get 'het up' occasionally. They might appreciate a warning. Or, we could have a threadomometer, based on the 'defense condition' (DEFCON) ratings, like DEFCON 1 is normal, DEFCON 4 is 'yellow alert.' Just some sort of early warning system, when things are heated up. Notice, I did not say before things are heated up...this wouldn't be another attempt to avoid conflict, this would be after a thread got heated but before it is out of hand.
Treadomometer, I love it! :-) But how would you operationalize "heated up"? After there's already been a post that I'd consider uncivil?
Dinah did try something like that, and I thought it got mixed reviews. Some people appreciate a warning, but IMO others resent the intrusion.
> I may have wayyy to much time on my mind these days, to be thinking these things up.
Well, if so, I hope you don't get too busy with other things, since it would be great to come up with a better way to deal with problems here. :-)
Bob
poster:Dr. Bob
thread:7094
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20020725/msgs/7455.html