Text 22803, 161 rader
Skriven 2011-11-14 16:43:04 av Lee Lofaso (2:203/2)
  Kommentar till text 22791 av Janis Kracht (1:261/38)
Ärende: FidoNews Vol. 28 No. 46 Sustaining FidoNews
===================================================
Hello Janis and to ALL,

 JK>                     A R T I C L E S

 JK> Sustaining FidoNews
 JK> By Janis Kracht, 1:261/38, janis@filegate.net

 JK> Well Richard has decided that he will wait until the future
 JK> of Fidonews is resolved until continuing his Sustainability
 JK> series here...  that's a shame, but I suppose I understand.

The future of Fidonews is in the hands of the editor/moderator.
He has a name.  His name is Björn Felten.

The future of Fidonet is in the hands of the Fidonet community.
It's too bad you are no longer a member of the Fidonet community,
having been automatically excommunicated as per P4.

 JK> It's hard to know what's up these days given the on again/
 JK> off again negotiations between the zones and editors of
 JK> Fidonews.

WE, THE MEMBERS OF THE FIDONET COMMUNITY, DO NOT NEGOTIATE
WITH TERRORISTS.

 JK> Let it be said though that even though joe sysop
 JK> isn't aware of the background proceedings, things are
 JK> moving along to a fair and good resolution, I believe.

NO SECRET DEALS WILL EVER BE ACCEPTED BY THE FIDONET COMMUNITY.

 JK> Trust me, when I tell you that we've been working on it for
 JK> several days/weeks with give and take on both sides of the
 JK> fence.

THERE HAS BEEN NO NEGOTIATION BETWEEN THE FIDONET COMMUNITY
AND THE TROIKA (JANIS KRACHT, ROSS CASSELL, BOB SEABORN).

NOR WILL THERE EVER BE ANY NEGOTIATION BETWEEN US.

I DO NOT RECOGNOGNIZE ANY MEMBER OF THE TROIKA AS BEING A MEMBER
OF THE FIDONET COMMUNITY.

AS FOR AS I AND THE REST OF THE FIDONET COMMUNITY ARE CONCERNED,
ALL THREE MEMBERS OF THE TROIKA ARE PERSONA NON GRATA.

 JK> It is quite fitting with the idea of Richard's
 JK> sustainability series as well..  here we have the
 JK> life-blood of Fidonet in the balance, Fidonews, and at
 JK> least for a while, it seemed no "safe" way to put the
 JK> anti-USA comments and anti-Zone1 comments to rest without
 JK> finding someone to edit Fidonews who will be ultimately
 JK> fair in publishing the news, and ultimately decisive in
 JK> moderating the echo to remove those troublemakers's
 JK> comments who would continue the age old insults that got us
 JK> into this mess.

"I am the voice of dissent!" - Noam Chomsky

While you and some others might view Noam Chomsky as having
expressed "anti-USA" comments or sentiments, those who are familiar
with his writings and speeches know better.  The man is an academic,
a noted professional linguist.  His worldview is libertarian, more
precisely left-wing libertarian.  One can say the same thing about
Ron Paul, his worldview also being libertarian, although from a
right-wing angle rather than a left-wing angle.

What I consider as being "anti-USA" is the attempt to censor
this echo, as well as the attempt to censor certain individuals
from participating.  And that action has not been limited to
this echo.

 JK> But what's necessary here anyway in terms of moderation you
 JK> may wonder?  Well, in this day and age of the Internet,
 JK> it's not as easy as it may have been in "the good old
 JK> days"..

A moderator's job is to help facilitate discussion, not hinder it.
Obviously, feed cuts hinder discussion.  So that is clearly not the
answer.  When a moderator flames participants and others, that is
also hindering discussion.  Except if the moderator is Don Rickles,
in which case he gets a pass.  :)

 JK> In the old days, feed cuts were issued to an offending
 JK> system and essentially that cut only affected say that
 JK> system or perhaps, sadly a group of systems..  Now though,
 JK> with the introduction of the Internet, where anyone can
 JK> link to anyone else, a moderator knows that cutting a feed
 JK> means that the person who's access you deny can probably
 JK> just get a feed from his buddy ...  No one seems to worry
 JK> about such things are "dupe loops" (though perhaps they
 JK> should -  How often do you see in the echos, "where DID
 JK> that missing message that was quoted here go??), and no one
 JK> seems to care about, oh yeah, Moderator rules <grin>..

Feed cuts are stupid.  All feed cuts do, and have ever done,
is give sysops and moderators who are on an ego trip a means
to jerk off.  Better to allow all participants to use an
alias/handle in every echo of their choice.  And limit bans
to six months, max.  Except for illegal activity (and spam),
the only instance where permanent bans are legitimate.

If a moderator who is using an alias/handle has made a rule
for all participants to use real names, then that moderator is
not a legitimate moderator.  Also, if a sysop is using an alias/
handle then that sysop is not a legitimate Fidonet sysop.  You
know that.  So do we all.  Especially the entity known as Jeff
Snyder, who also went by the entity known as Bill Kochman.

 JK> So if cutting access isn't the answer, how does a moderator
 JK> keep the peace?  At the very least how to keep the Fidonews
 JK> echo from returning to the sad offtopic pile of messages it
 JK> had become in recent years :( Well there are some ways he
 JK> can take care of that, for sure.

Send 'em all to the FLAMES echo, a no holds barred echo where
everybody can play - the only rule being no illegal activity.
Don't want to use your real name?  Use an alias/handle.  Want
to change your alias/handle?  Feel free.  Want to use somebody
else's alias/handle?  Whatever floats your boat is fine by me.
So go ahead.  Put it on the backbone.  I'm da moderator.  :)

 JK> We need moderators who can think outside the box..
 JK> literally..

We have a place in Jackson, Louisiana for folks like that.
A place where all the residents are given free white jackets.
Along with free room and board, as well.  It is what we call
our tax dollars at work.  Don't you love it?

 JK> We need moderators in echos like Fidonews who,
 JK> when they see the beginnings of garbage starting off in
 JK> someone's posts, can quickly deflect that post right from
 JK> the start..

Wha'?  You are leaving?  That is GREAT NEWS!

 JK> Tell the poster and anyone who replies that
 JK> thanks, but no thanks your comments are not necessary
 JK> because "I can take care of it, after all".

Better for you to go ahead and leave, as you said you would.
But we all know that will not happen.  You are hooked.  Kind of
like a druggie who cannot get enough.

 JK> It doesn't take all that much to change the direction of the discourse..
and
 JK> that's what's important here I think.

All you have to do is deselect this echo.
And all will be well.  But you won't.  Because
you can't.  Like a gorilla, you grabbed that
banana at the bottom of a hole and cannot let
go.

But then, neither could GWB (re: Iraq).

--Lee

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 * Origin: news://felten.yi.org (2:203/2)