Posted by mair on April 30, 2002, at 17:58:58
Hi Everyone
I signed off about 3 weeks ago and have resisted coming back on except for some ocassional lurking. I miss posting both for the support I get and for the positives I derive from responding to others, but like KK, I'm weary (and wary) of firestorms so now doesn't really seem like a good time to jump back in. I have deliberately read very few of the PBA posts about multiple boards - there are too many and I just don't feel up to it, but I do have some thoughts about this, that I can't seem to keep to myself. Forgive me if they don't seem responsive to specific posts that I haven't read or if I'm repeating things that have been said too many times already.
My context here is that I registered in 2000 under a different moniker, ksvt, and reregistered in 2001 as Mair. During most of that time, I've never strayed away for all that long so unlike some 2000 babblers who never really gave PSB much of a try, I think I've been a somewhat more continuous presence there. I guess I'm eligible for all of the Boards although I wish they didn't exist.
In my opinion , in spite of the bickering, PSB, as it existed before the recent split was every bit as friendly and accepting as PB was in 2000 before the creation of PSB. (actually probably more) While there are now overall many more posters if you consider all of the boards, PSB, anyway, sees certainly no more and possibly fewer posters than did PB before that first split. When I came on in 2000, I was very intimidated by what I felt was the "club" atmosphere of the Board. It took me a long time (months not weeks) to feel like anyone was even remotely aware of my presence. I think new posters now are identified and enveloped into the fold much more easily and quickly.
I have always spoken against an old timers board although I can rather grudgingly see that it makes sense to some. I didn't like it because anything that excludes or appears to exclude rankles. I think it's as simple as that. No one likes to be the kid on the outside looking in. I think what's happened could and should have been anticipated.
If there is some function to the 2000 Board, there is absolutely no function to the 2001 Board except perhaps to make some people feel better about being excluded by giving them the opportunity to exclude someone else. While some people may have identified themselves as pre-the-creation of PSB and post-the-creation of PSB, none of us identify ourselves on a calendar year basis. If there was any logic to another board, the cut off for the old timers board would have been when the Board first split. To cut it off at the end of 2000 seems highly arbitrary and has given some foundation, shaky at best, to the notion of creating new boards every calendar year.
The more Boards the less connecting there will be. For those of us who've been pretty active over enough of a span to want to connect with alot of different people, it's incredibly confusing now just to figure out where to go. Afficianados of the 2000 Board can say now that they intend to spend plenty of time on PSB but how are they going to decide what goes where, and at what point will that become just too much of a hassle? Some of those same people who have advocated for an old timers board, opposed the original creation of PSB because people would untimately choose one board or the other. That really did happen with alot of regular participants. We're all time limited and we have to make choices about how to allocate that time.
Maybe most importantly, when these boards are functioning as they really should, there should be almost no activity on PBA other than the ocassional technical concerns. Controversy, by its very nature, breeds controversy and tends to polarize. I know some controversy is inevitable. As long as I've been around there have always been the ocassional very disruptive poster, the proseletizers, and the overactive-posters who seem to take over the Board for a time and squeeze others out. Functioning on this Board means learning whom and what to avoid and how to ration your participation. However, those disputes generally don't draw as many people into them as the current dispute has. The fact that most of the "social" activity now is on PBA tells me that the Board is probably producing more upset than it is support for alot of people. This imbalance will drive people away, as it has KK, particularly now that there are less controversial and disruptive alternatives like Chat and private email. With such an imbalance, there are fewer positive reasons for people who really need support to be here. The risk is that the Board will become more perpetually attractive to people, like scared, who just like stirring things up.
I think there continues to be a function for PSB that is different and more positive than Chat or private email. But I don't think the current feelings of polarization will just dissipate easily and I think that as much splintering as has occurred will make it more difficult for people to make those connections that seem so important and to get beyond the current feelings of hurt and anger that appear to exist.
I have no magic solutions, particularly knowing Bob's reluctance to back off anything once he's set it up. I do think things would be better if he at least got rid of the 2001 Board. It's not being used alot anyway, and maybe people will feel a little less threatened is they don't have to think that we're always going to be split up in this arbitrary a manner. As a symbolic gesture, maybe it would help put to rest some of the controversy and let people get back to the real work of the Board.
Mair
poster:mair
thread:4844
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20020420/msgs/4844.html