Posted by Sigismund on March 20, 2008, at 14:41:41
In reply to Re: Suggestions and solutions, posted by twinleaf on March 20, 2008, at 9:23:44
One thing that could be useful is that if someone is posting in an angry manner, that someone writes to him/her and asks in a friendly way if there is anything wrong because the posts come across as angry.
That is likely to be of more use than public censure.
> Two things stand out for me:
>
> 1. The question of fairness and equality in giving out PCBs and blocks. For several years, I have noticed a weakness in how this is done. One poster can act in an angry, hostile or sarcastic manner towards another poster without using any trigger words which can be quoted. That poster, who is the instigator, does not get any warning. If another poster objects to this, he or she is the one who gets a warning or a block. I have noticed this happening here for years, and always considered it unfair. It just happened to me for the first time, and it was very irritating.My suggestion is that the deputies look into this problem and try to address the question of what to do. Possible solutions include not giving PCBs immediately, having posters who feel they have been treated badly use the notification capability, and looking more at the overall picture so as to apply any warnings or blocks evenly.
>
> 2. Having the deputies develop some guidelines about their responsibilities that go beyond punitive actions. Specifically, some guidelines could be developed to meet the needs of individual posters during times of high stress. I am thinking of supportive efforts towards posters who begin to feel too anxious or unsafe to post, and calming, reassuring efforts towards posters who are feeling angry, unappreciated or misunderstood here. In Bob's absence, it's vital for the deputies to have a broader sense of their responsibilities than they do now. As things stand, we have had a steady increase in anxiety and anger on the part of a number of posters, and the only measures which are taken are civility warnings. Worse, there is a widespread perception that the warnings are not given out impartially, but are applied preferentially to posters who are not personally close to the deputies. Posters who are close to them are not given warnings for that reason. This is very unfortunate. Deputies have an opportunity to be leaders- to calm worries and fears, and to be role models for others to trust. If they appear to be unduly biased towards their friends, they lose all credibility.
>
> As to the leadership roles of calming fears and easing people' anger, Babble has a number of current posts right now which have so far gone unanswered. A word to these posters would probably help a lot.
poster:Sigismund
thread:818822
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20080313/msgs/819018.html