Posted by stjames on May 25, 2003, at 13:10:09
In reply to Re: selling --Guidelines from St. james, posted by Dr. Bob on May 23, 2003, at 18:42:40
> > > I agree, they're great guidelines.
> >
> > Great, thanks. So why cannot you use them
> > as a guide, also ?
>
> I do use them as a *guide*, but I don't think I feel certain enough about conclusions based on them to block people, I'd rather give them the benefit of the doubt.
>
> Bob
Hmmm.I did not say block. There is a big range between block and doing nothing. At present it seems you
can only react with one or the other. To say " I have no way of telling" reads out here in user space as "I will not protect you, you are on your own". Also it seems that in the past these sales person issues blow up and cause all to get upset as they wait for you to react. We do feel captive as a Bin Laden type flames us. We feel like sheep.
Also I feel it belittles and shows no empathy for the nature of mental illness to say "just don't read it". As you know, many with mental illness lack coping skills to deal with thse kind of things.So, what to do ? On an ADD list I was on these issues were delt with as so:
If someone posts and it seems to fit the reasonable guidelines I set for detecting
a salesperson or fraud, then the moderator,
without saying "You are a salesperson"
posts and mentions the selling stuff here is not OK. As you do speak up when people jump to conclusions and make sweeping generalizations,
why not when they make claims like "A cure". Again
you are not saying "Don't post that" more like "A cure would be wonderful but as we seem far from that at present, would you mind also posting some additional info about your cure so we may all can discuss this cure"I do beleive this mess with bin lauden got worse because you said noting when the other poster first started. While it is true he may not of stopped, a post from you would assure the users
that you were watching this issue. No, I am not asking you to second guess every post. These "salesperson" issues have been few and far between in the 3 years I have been here. We posters seem to be able to quickly ID those who **might** be salespersons, so it does not seem that hard to do.In the over the top cases like bin lauden, why not let the deputies block them ? I do understand
you have the very full duties of a college professor and I know you get to these issues
as quickly as possible. However you now have thousands of users so I think at some point
the needs of the many (to be safe) outweight
the needs of the one (to have control). Note that I mention control because you have indicated this is the issue with letting the deputies have more discretion.
poster:stjames
thread:228097
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20030508/msgs/229031.html