Posted by Dinah on March 11, 2008, at 8:40:40
In reply to Our situation here....., posted by twinleaf on March 10, 2008, at 22:20:54
I don't know that it will help, since it's Dr. Bob people want. But he's given his permission to explain what happened.
http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080221/msgs/815885.html
Dr. Bob wants to encourage posters to take more responsibility for the administration of Babble, and to encourage them to use the notify Administration button.
I don't think anyone has any problems with that, since neither Dr. Bob nor deputies read every post, and this would provide for more uniform administrating as well as a safer and more civil environment. As well as giving nondeputy posters a greater feel of ownership and responsibility with regard to Babble.
I do have some issues with implementation, and the possible repercussions. But ordinarily I'd be willing to try to influence those while still being a deputy.
What I wasn't ok with, at least in part for issues that I own as my mine, is that in order to encourage more posters to report and to give them time to do this, Dr. Bob wanted us not act on reports from deputies until a non-deputy poster had reported something. With the possible exception of incivility directed at ourselves. And he said that if I quit, I'd still be considered a deputy in this respect.
When it didn't seem a negotiable point, I felt I needed to protect myself, because of my own issues, by leaving. It was not in an attempt to influence Dr. Bob's plans. I'd already tried and failed to do that.
But Dr. Bob was more willing to be flexible than I had believed, and he was able to give me assurances that allowed me to stay without feeling unsafe.
I tried to make it clear during all of this that many posters would actually like Dr. Bob's stance. And at least that there would be both positives and negatives involved. And that the reason I couldn't stay had more to do with my experiences and history than it did per se with the policy. Since whatever I thought of the policy, I'd have greater chances to influence it if I stayed.
I realize everyone would have preferred to hear it from Dr. Bob. I'd prefer that he explained himself since I'm sure I may have missed something important, or allowed my own beliefs to color the impression I'm giving. But my understanding is that he'll be here as soon as he's available.
There have been in the past, and hopefully won't be very often in the future, times when he just isn't available. I guess that's why the deputies now play more of a role than they did when first conceived, and when I first agreed to do it.
poster:Dinah
thread:817208
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20080204/msgs/817320.html