Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2011 13:20:02 -0700
Reply-To: Ben T <syncro@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Ben T <syncro@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Friday moderation discussion - Starting point
In-Reply-To: <328A66ED-9958-4551-94A7-76D33D12C1E9@yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Hello Everyone,
Sorry for weighing into this so late. Rest assured I was reading everyone's comments. I am going to express two opinions. One as co-Mod and the other as a Listmember. I was so ill night I saw Jim's suggestion, that I mistook it to mean just extend the "moderation" policy discussion into the weekend and not make Friday Follies for the entire weekend.
As a co-moderator, it would make our job easier if Friday type postings were extended over the weekend. The mods have agreed to permit OT urgent requests during the week with pmail responses without making a formal announcement. That policy should remain.
As a listmember, I feel we should consider that we would be agreeing to extend the Friday policy to half the week by doing this. OT will still come in early on Thursday and late on Monday. Then there's the time zones to consider. I will disagree with some peoples suggestion that this fosters "community". The converse has been happening. Listmembers have been jumping ship and going to other forums because of the volume of OT posts here. How do I know? I've been on the other forums asking why people I know are no longer on The List. If your idea of community is a bunch of aging Vanagon pilots gathered around an increasingly shrinking campfire, then by all means, proceed with this proposed policy.
In a recent example, I posted a Mod comment to defer an OT discussion to Friday. People continued to respond anyway. It was not a matter of any sort of urgency. The poster is someone I consider a friend and actually have visited briefly with me. It's nothing personal but we have Fridays for those sort of comments.
As for moderator rotation and elections, this opinion reflects both my points of view as co-mod. It is my belief that the moderators job would be compromised and his/her judgment be colored by the specter of a coming election. The concept of a benevolent dictatorship, for the lack of a better term, has work well on many forums I have been involved with. Successors have always been voluntary and selection typically by the outgoing moderator with consideration given to membership comments.
Side issue: Profanities. I've never been a sailor but swear more than most depending on the company. My position is neutral both as mod and Listmember. For that reason, I have deferred to David B's preference on the matter. And yes, I did notice someone's recent use of the S-word for scat (yes, you Mr. C).
Regards to KillerJuniper's comment, I believe he was saying this while discussion is a waste of something and not that the rules about Friday are written somewhere as DMc thought.
Lastly..... speaking of rules, I have been advocating putting them in writing since joining the Mod Squad. I could not get the other half to agree to that yet. (yes, you).
The weather is improving here in San Francisco and we hope to finally see sunshine after a week of rain. Here's wishing the same happens to this thread.
Regards,
BenT
On Sat, Mar 26, 2011 at 11:40 AM, John Reynolds <transporterjr@yahoo.com> wrote:
Since we have put this through Sat, since BenT is sick (so am I)
I'll pipe in on a couple of things. When I arrived on this list from the type 2 list, I found the amount of non-technical discussions startling. I am used of it now, but still find that questions about computers, etc, even on a Friday irrelevant. Just about anything dealing with VW, autos, camping, tools, national parks I do find relevant.
I think extending Friday through sat or entire weekend is worth a try. Then get some feedback from the list whether to continue.
Lately, I saw a couple of posts, not "directly" related to Vanagons that the moderators asked to save until Friday and the original posters were upset. Come'on people, wasn't a big request, now was it?
Finally, thanks to the moderators. The language and attitudes on other forums can be a real drag- so I truly appreciate your efforts to keep this a civilized place
John
--
BenT
| 
