FW: Requesting membership

[Cindy C.]

Good morning!

Sheryll:

> I honestly fail to see how your dealing with former
> HPFGU Mods is relevant to anyone's ability to function
> as part of the FAQ team. And I really resent the
> frequency with which you bring up "Modgate".

Oh, that's easy.

Modgate happened.  Everyone on MEG and FAQ knows about it.  Some
people are still consumed by anger and bitterness over it, and some
people are not.  Rather than have anyone wring their hands wondering
if Kelley's arrival will result in daily smackdowns, I thought I'd
make clear that it will not. 

As far as bringing up Modgate here, well . . .  I wish Modgate hadn't
happened.  It did.  That's just a fact.  So when I think Modgate is
relevant to something that comes up, I'll discuss it.  Anyone who is
troubled by this can respond or ignore or whatever.

> I suspect the "unfortunate tension" on this group is
> increased more by your constant referral to past MEG
> happenings than it would be by the arrival of Kelley.

I respect your point of view, although I can't agree with it, I'm afraid.

> I highly object to the scrubbing of archives. 

OK.  Heidi objects as well, I see.

I'll just control what little I can control, then.  I will delete my
own messages offering comment on candidates to this group.  Others can
do the same and delete their own messages, if they choose.  In the
future, I won't comment on this list at all on new members; I will
instead send a 39-way e-mail off-list.

I know that some FAQers have written posts that have quoted my
comments about Kelley and Michelle and others.  I would appreciate it
if those posts were deleted as well, but I'll leave that decision to
the authors of those posts.

Sheryll:

>I tried
> to search and find where there was any discussion of
> this by the list members and came up empty. Is this an
> agreed upon procedure? If so, agreed upon by whom and
> can the issue be revisited as I know I'm not the only
> FAQ member who objects to scrubbing the archives.

The decision to scrub the archives here has its root in MEG policy of
the time.  I scrubbed the archives when I ran the group.  Perhaps I
should have been more open about my practices (I certainly could have
posted a "Hey, I'll be deleting from the archives any embarrassing
mentions of the batch of new members!"), but it just never came up. 
Fortunately, few of our membership decisions in the past were
controversial.

On the merits, the purpose of scrubbing the archives is simply to
avoid having newcomers read comments about *themselves.*  It is a
matter of protecting their feelings.  (The MEGs here will recall that
a particular MEG arrived there to find concern about her elf candidacy
because of her poor grammar and spelling, which the Mods inadvertently
failed to delete before she arrived.  This caused her considerable
embarrassment, and she said so later on MEG in support of the idea of
scrubbing the archives).

Recently, Amanda indicated that MEG has reversed this policy and no
longer scrubs its archives before new members arrived.  I won't
comment on the wisdom of that decision, but I think their issues are
considerably different than ours.  There is merit in the idea that all
of the Modgate discussion and conflict on MEG should remain for new
members to read so they know what their colleagues know about those
hideous events.  

That isn't the situation here, so I think our policy should be to
delete anything in the archives that might embarass a new member.  We
needn't delete things that might embarrass an *existing* FAQ member
(or someone like Darrin who was not invited), IMHO.  That's why I
didn't delete my own message announcing my ouster as a Mod (despite
receiving a sweet off-list from Eloise nudging me to do so).  That
message only has the potential to embarrass *me* (although it
doesn't), so there's no reason why newcomers shouldn't read it, IMHO.

That said, if you guys aren't troubled by the idea of have
enthusiastic and wide-eyed newcomers here stumble across frank
discussion about them, well . . . just let me know before you hit the
"invite" button so I can govern myself accordingly.

Cindy