by Aaron » Thu 19 Apr 2007, 10:28:12
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SevenTen', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Aaron', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', 'I') think the purpose of this GREAT Peak Oil site is already very nicely set out by the folks who set it up. In their "About us" link at the left, they write:
"Greetings,
PO.com is a privately funded website, and has no affiliation with any group, business or other interest group.
Publishing at this domain has two primary benefits:
1. The preferred Domain Name for what we feel will become the most important debate of humanity.
2. Building on online community to enrich this debate.
The supporting staff are 100% volunteers from around the globe, and receive no compensation of any kind.
Our agenda is as simple as our slogan:
"Exploring the Issue of Hydrocarbon Depletion"
I could not possibly agree more.
Yes you could, if you changed the typographical/grammatical error in item #2 above. Either "on" should be "an", or insert the words "the existing" after "on". The sentence as written is sloppy.
Also, while I applaud your efforts to maintain this site and certainly the considerable work involved in creating order from chaos, sometimes the sense of "community" you engender is overly harsh. The mods are more like enforcers instead of assistants or referees, and enforcers don't engender community.
It's situations like when Monte was the over-stressed mod and taking it out harshly on, let's say, belligerent or obtuse members. Or like when you publicly threatened to "ban Raphael's ass" for one more sexist remark to your mods. Threats don't engender respect. Sure, whatever Raphael said was probably way inappropriate and disrespectful.
But due to the nature of
your position and power, Aaron, I'd think a sense of "community" would be better served by not bringing that smackdown out in public.
Besides, you're a better man than that.
Then again, I'm just another ignorant user, what do I know.
Hope your End of Suburbia presentation went well. Hope to see you back in
A Little Advice Please, posting the results of your discussion.
That's a fair critisizm I think.
And not something I do on a regular basis. It's actually an act of mercy on my part, since most of the staff want his head for a particular comment which I can't discuss here. Instead of banning him outright, I decided to reinforce the cautions already given with a more obvious & forceful public admonishment, hoping to forestall further conflict.
And we have had our share of Moderator difficulties this year.
The pay sucks, the hours are brutal & the job's tuff.
What you guys don't see are the extensive staff discussions in the "staff only" forums where all this stuff is hashed out.
Rarely does a Moderator take any drastic action without first consulting the Staff All Thing Group mind" so to speak.
It's a balancing act... between quality & creativity.
Sometimes we lean too far one way or the other.
Thanks for the useful critique in any event.
The problem is, of course, that not only is economics bankrupt, but it has always been nothing more than politics in disguise... economics is a form of brain damage.
Hazel Henderson