Posted by mair on September 15, 2002, at 21:20:39
In reply to Anonymous feedback on PBC and block decisions, posted by Dr. Bob on September 15, 2002, at 15:37:53
Bob
I went to the poll and was chagrined to discover that none of the choices really fit my desired response to your blocking of beardy. Choices 2 and 3 gave me the option of saying either that I disagreed with your general statement of the rule supposedly violated or that I agreed with the rule but thought it had been misapplied in this instance. This is all well and good except that each choice also contained the clause "and think you should have been more lenient." Maybe my knowledge of vocabulary is just too limited, but I generally think of leniency as being akin to mercy as with the judge who showed "leniency in sentencing." The concept of leniency doesn't break into my thinking about this unless there's been some breach of rules or etiquette. None of your alternatives allowed me to voice my conclusion that there simply was no such breach.
What I saw was that beardy wrote a rather opinionated post (as she frequently does). Judging from the tone of her response, it's obvious that Mash (sorry for the way I've shortened this) took beardy's remarks personally. Beardy's rejoinder, for which she was blocked, read to me like very much of an apology - something on the order of "my remarks were really intended as a criticism of Bob not you and I'm very sorry that you took it this way." The specific statement cited by you as a put-down was a statement that I thought said nothing about any other poster and rather only expressed an opinion of your PBC. Surely this statement probably was a put-down of you and your moderating decisions, but it seems that you've always allowed considerable leeway when criticisms have been directed your way and not to other posters.
This is an unfortunate example of 2 problems which seem to arise with some of your moderating decisions. 1) statements are frequently read out of the context in which they're made, and 2) sanctions sometimes come to quickly. That this blocking should arise out of statements made in the course of a seemingly sincere apology is particularly puzzling. Presumably if beardy had kept her mouth shut and had not attempted to apologize to someone who was obviously upset with her, she would have been fine.
This whole thread and poll sends some strange messages. Don't apologize. Don't reach out to someone you've hurt because anything you say can be construed (by a third party) as being worse than whatever rankled the first time. (Talk about the risks of posting) Then there's the poll, who's message seems to be that even if I thought beardy did nothing no warrant your intervention, I still thought you should be lenient towards her. In my opinion, Beardy doesn't really need your leniency as much as she needs you to more carefully read before you react.
Mair
poster:mair
thread:7456
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20020725/msgs/7469.html