On the-record - another "off-topic" post

Tue May 3 20:19:58 UTC 2005

On Tue, May 03, 2005 at 10:59:37PM +0400, Gadi Evron wrote:
> 
> Okay. Paul is an asshole. You got your point across. Now what? Did you
> prove him wrong? You going to such a personal level on-list makes you a
> **** (chose 4 letter word).
> 
> Why do I write this? Because if you can send such things to the list and
> waste bandwidth, so can I.
> 
> I guess some people find it difficult to respond on a technical level,
> so they rather go BOO.
> 
> Where are our brand new and shiny moderators?

Remember that part of the process of revamping the moderation after 
previous unfairness involves giving everyone a second shot. This means 
that a few legitimately certifi(ed|able) full-time kooks are going to get 
back onto the list along with the rest of the part-time kooks and wrongly 
persecuted.

In order to make certain that the process is as fair and even-handed as 
possible, the moderators have to treat these kooks as though they had a 
clean slate. This means warnings are given, and the kooks are given a 
chance to step back into line. If they choose not to avail themselves of 
this opportunity, the warnings will run out and they will be moderated.

The best thing that we can all collectively do to help de-kook the place 
is to give them the rope then sit back and let them hang themselves (if 
they so choose). This means refraining from making personal attacks of 
your own, or personal retorts even if provoked. You know they are idiots, 
I know they are idiots, clearly they haven't listened before when they 
have told to their face that they are idiots, so there is no need to call 
them idiots with every post. If you are going to correct technical 
misinformation that is fine, but personal attacks only give them grounds 
to argue that so-and-so did something back and that the process is unfair.

If everyone would please make the effort to not respond to the blatant 
personal attacks, no matter how justified the response may be, it will 
help the process along. In the end this is the important part of not 
feeding the trolls.

-- 
Richard A Steenbergen <ras at e-gerbil.net>       http://www.e-gerbil.net/ras
GPG Key ID: 0xF8B12CBC (7535 7F59 8204 ED1F CC1C 53AF 4C41 5ECA F8B1 2CBC)