Opinion, and FAQ-Tasks That Need Doing

[Amanda]

Melody:

> At least you are talking to us, Cindy.  At least we get honest
> emotions and thoughts from you and not a well crafted, carefully
> censored post from the "admin".  Guys, I know you mean well, but 
when
> is this going to stop?  This is just a silly site, and it is just a
> silly book.  Is it worth all this?  

You know, it may not be.

Preface: I have not read every word of every post on this. That said.

I am tired of people making assumptions. I'm tired of MEG making 
assumptions about the list; I'm tired of the list making assumptions 
about MEG; I'm tired of being discussed in the abstract as a MEG, and 
I'm tired of emotional reactions being flung about as reasoned 
opinions.

MEG carefully crafts responses to make sure we are clear, and to 
attempt to keep the potential hurt feelings to a minimum, and to make 
sure we are diplomatic. That "careful crafting" is an expanded 
version of what we ask all posters to do--reread, think about how 
your audience will receive it, etc. I refuse to apologize for 
exercising a higher level of care.

Cindy, I find it terribly inappropriate to vent about MEG over here. 
You should be venting to the MEGs. I still consider you a friend and 
I agreed with the decision. In fact, I did a lot of the commenting. 
If you have any questions or want clarification, you should ask the 
ones who made the decision, not post your "take" on what you were 
told as This Is How It Was. You weren't a part of that decision-
making process and cannot comment on the motives or reasons of those 
who were.

Melody, I'm more than happy to talk, but to really explain all of 
what went on in the decision to not allow Cindy back, I'd have to 
forward you MEG posts. Suffice it to say that it was NOT personal. It 
is entirely possible to like someone a lot and not want to work with 
them. MEG is not a social club, casting it as one is inaccurate, 
Cindy is not a pariah in anyone's mind but her own, and if anyone 
wants information about what MEG's doing, all they have to do is ASK.

This is not fun anymore. I am *this* close to unsubbing from 
everything: MEG, FAQ, the main list, Chatter, Movie, *all* of it. 
This was my *escape.* This was my *avocation.* Now the limited time I 
can devote to it, is involved with reading power struggles and the 
Machiavellian intent attributed to me (as a representative member of 
MEG).

Could we just do FAQs? Could we just all accept that Cindy's 
interactions with MEG are a side issue? Could we decide that the many 
other MEGs on this list are sufficient MEG representation to handle 
the FAQ/list administration angle? Could we stop judging without 
knowing the facts?

Thanks.

I don't get much email time, and most of it is from work now, but I 
will check my home email if anyone wants to offlist me.

About FAQ, now:

As I recall, the last substantive suggestions for proceeding were:

Cindy's method for flagging likely posts; I don't know if it was 
implemented but it should be; it was very good. Someone needs to 
write instructions for flagging posts and make sure the setup works. 

My suggestion to make pre-OoP FAQs "volume I" and compile "volume 2" 
FAQs for all the post-OoP theorizing (with the thought that book 6 
would be volume 3, etc.). This was to avoid "losing" all the good 
thought and work already invested in the earlier FAQs. Someone who 
can do tech-things needs to set this up, rename the earlier FAQs as 
[subject]: Volume I, with a note on the page somewhere that Volume I 
covers theorizing from Books 1-4.

And we need people to start going through the likely post-OoP posts 
and begin categorizing and compiling. Cataloguing. I don't know how 
you do that. We need a schedule of people who will do this, and we 
need either blocks of main-list messages or blocks of flagged ones.

We could do with instructions to TechnoSquibs like me, and for new 
people, outlining how we construct a FAQ: catalog the posts (how), 
compile them according to topic (method), construct the FAQ around 
those (options: lists of message-number links with minimal text; 
standalone essay, etc.); posting the FAQ for proofing and link-
checking; uploading; etc. 

And Porphryia and I need to get back in gear on updating Snape.

So. *THOSE* are our responsibilities. Anybody got any others? That's 
more than enough to keep us busy, and NONE of it involved MEG-
carping. Imagine that.

~Amanda