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Re: [O] posting guide?


From: Ista Zahn
Subject: Re: [O] posting guide?
Date: Wed, 13 Mar 2013 15:21:40 -0400

+1

On Wed, Mar 13, 2013 at 3:13 PM, Jay Kerns <address@hidden> wrote:
> The past few days have reminded me of something somebody famous
> once said [1]. I can already see work being done to protect the
> community for the future, yet I believe there is more we might do
> to be even stronger.
>
> I understand and appreciate Bastien's stated position regarding
> moderator controls [2], and in that particular case I think he
> did the right thing. At the same time, I do not possess his
> seemingly superhuman level of patience, temperance, and couth.
>
> Yes, I can add people to my SPAM filter (which I did, BTW), but
> that action protects only *me*.  It does not protect the
> community. Further, my later blissful ignorance means I am
> unavailable to respond to future threats, so malicious
> individuals are left to run rampant and destroy everybody else
> still hanging around.  Of course, if *everybody* agrees to divert
> to SPAM then we're all set.
>
> That's my point: I propose that we, as a community, come to some
> sort of consensus as to what un/acceptable behavior is and an
> accepted mechanism of response.  One way to accomplish this is
> with a posting guide. I have some thoughts about this:
>
> 1. It should be written and maintained by the community. On
> Worg, for instance.
>
> 2. It should be minimal. Posting guides sometimes go overboard,
> to the extent that they can be (and sometimes are) used as a
> weapon.  I do *not* propose that.  If we insist on 1) then I
> trust the community to handle it with care.
>
> 3. It should contain things which help new users draft messages
> that are informative and targeted to whatever problem they're
> having, things they might not have known otherwise (things like
> M-x org-version, M-x toggle-debug-on-error, etc.).
>
> 4. I think we can all agree that messages like this [3] should
> not be tolerated, ever, under any circumstances.  If a person
> resorts to ad hominem attacks of this sort (or similar)
> then (s)he should promptly be shown the door.  Period.  As far as
> I am concerned, that's pretty much the only thing I can't
> stomach, but maybe the larger community considers other subjects
> to be off-topic or unwelcome on the list.  That would be for the
> community to decide.
>
>
> All the above is a long-winded way to say that every community
> has some /minimum/ standards and expectations of conduct,
> otherwise we're just a bunch of people standing around in the
> same (virtual) place.  To date, these expectations have lived
> unspoken or scattered around in emails here or there.  I propose
> that we come together in a community-driven way to define when
> it's time to say "Welcome!" and when it's time to say, "Get
> lost."
>
> I understand that there are valid arguments against posting
> guides, not the least of which including what I said above in 2).
> Maybe this community doesn't want a posting guide.  OK.  But even
> in that case we've at least agreed that we don't want a posting
> guide and can get back to work.
>
> If we *do* decide that a minimal posting guide makes sense, then
> it wouldn't be of much use unless there are those among us willing
> to enforce it when individuals maliciously disregard the
> agreement of the community.  I would probably have been one of
> those people had I known there was some consensus about what is
> OK and what isn't.  Now is the time to decide.
>
>
> I have a mental "first draft" of things that could go in one, but
> there's no point moving forward if there isn't a general feeling
> that this would be something good to do.  And, I'd like the Org
> old-timers to feel free to take the reins and run with it if they
> so choose.
>
> Cheers,
>
> --
> Jay
>
> [1] http://www.quotes.net/quote/2101
> [2] http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-orgmode/2013-03/msg00449.html
> [3] http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-orgmode/2013-03/msg00747.html
>
> --
> G. Jay Kerns, Ph.D.
> Youngstown State University
> http://people.ysu.edu/~gkerns/
>



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