Posted by greywolf on April 28, 2007, at 16:35:11
I recommend that folks take a few moments to scan the administration board threads over the past few months. Take note of the dozens of posts seeking a written debate with Dr. Bob and/or the deputies about rule after rule. Think for a second about how long it would take YOU, personally, to make written responses to each of those posts that are sufficiently comprehensive to answer the multiple questions raised in many of them.
In fact, ask yourself whether you even understand the point of many of those administration threads/posts. Follow some of the threads to their original sources, which are sometimes weeks earlier. Imagine what it must be like to have to spend so much time just deciphering what some people write (hint: the most sophisticated writers are often the most straightforward).
Consider what you would think if others felt it was entirely appropriate to browbeat you about delays in responding to questions, or insisted on beating the horse into oblivion while ten other people were asking for your help on arguably more serious issues.
I'm sure my point is obvious. Dr. Bob is likely a very busy professional with his own life, and regardless of anyone's personal feelings about how he should administer this site or how much of his own time he should be spending on it, the bottom line is that it's his site, and we're voluntarily benefiting from it.
The deputies are like the rest of us--they have their own lives, families, jobs, pets, personal problems, etc. They volunteered to help keep the site running, not for a full-time job.
Wouldn't it be better (and sometimes more respectful) to simply recognize that no human rules system is infallible, and to accept those imperfections in Babble as the small price to be paid for the value of a site like this? Sure, every one of us can complain about every single thing we don't like, but is that really the right thing to do? We all have the ability to pick and pick and pick at others, but how often is that really a constructive approach?
Perhaps we can help reduce the administrative burdens by letting go of the expectation that every issue will be resolved perfectly or, for that matter, even resolved at all.
Greywolf
poster:greywolf
thread:754209
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20070423/msgs/754209.html