Is It Just Me? (Cont.)

[Grey Wolf]

Hi, everyone.

Some of you know me. For those that have managed to forget me, I'm the 
one who wrote most of the OoP FAQ that is being blatantly ignored. I'll 
be two years in October, and I for one consider myself oldie. And as 
many others, I've been avoiding the main list (after the FAQ I needed a 
break, and then a project and a girlfriend have cut into my time 
somewhat).

Kristini:
> *I'd* finally get to find out the MAGIC DISHWASHER response to OotP 
> (waves significantly at Melody).

Mel just asked me to tell you that the MDDT *has* read your post, and 
that we will post our revised MD - post OoP  post when the three of us 
re-read it properly and get together. This might take a while, though, 
but rest assured we will get back to you.

> linlou:
> >     Perhaps a thought for a possible spin off board could be that 
> >any dicussion but in some way must be OOP related?

Of all the suggestions of a seperate list, this one makes most sense, 
and yet I still feel it is not the answer. Many posts - particularly 
mine, MD-related - make reference to all the books, because canon is 
canon and you pick and match from several places to be able to draw a 
full picture of a scene or character.

My own take on this problem would be to create a newbie list. It is 
essentially moderated status taken one step forward. Let me explain: 
moderated status meant checking the quality of the posts, but right now 
there are so many pendings list elves are swamped, so bad posts get 
through. Moderated status is, clearly, not working anymore. My take on 
this is to create two lists. One, open to anyone, with suggestions of 
rules and a clear goal: those that follow them are invited to join the 
other, closed but with open archives (so everyone can see what to aim 
at, and what they are missing). In that list, anyone breaking the rules 
too much would get demoted back to the other, which would keep us on 
our toes. If there is anyone that enjoys the kind of chaos of the main 
list today, he can simply stay there.

I for one would suggest to allow anyone pre-one month before OoP 
directly to the second list. The elves could then watch the other list 
for proper posts, and the chance of advancing should regulate that 
list. I hope. The problem with this (apart from sounding elitist which 
I don't want to, but is warranted by the fact that I *do* snip and *do* 
avoid one-liners, etc.) is that if the number of posters in the newbie 
list is too big, discovering the new talents would take too long and 
some of them might be discouraged.

That said, I'm not sure this idea would work. Opinions?
 
Przemyslaw Plaskowicki (I love that name, man, but I need more vowels 
to even try and pronounce it, I'm afraid) wrote: 
> I joined this list after finding Fantastic Posts on the Web, and 
> wanting to read more like them. 

In pure OT manner: hey, so did I!

> I think there is easy way to fix (although not 100% nice): now 
> moderators accepts any letter based on it's formal value -- proper 
> quoting and is it on topic. I think that they should block e-mails 
> based on it's merit. I mean, they should stop all those -- "Why Harry 
> didn't saw thestrals in GOF".
> My plea to admin team, please, oh please, moderate more aggresively. 

I agree this could be a solution, but the elves are just moderators, 
not judges. This poses a big problem - what if the poster believes 
something the elf doesn't agree with? That's an unconfortable position 
to be in, and I don't wish it for anyone. I do agree that 
single-liners, FAQs and other obvious rule breaking should be sent back 
directly with a short "read the FAQ/list rules", though.

> I would even suggests moderating *everything* (even though I am still > pretty happy with my newly acquired mod-free status), and imposing a > 1 month _without_exception_ no posting status for everyone new. 

Poor elves! They're swamped enough as it is. Many of the problems are 
caused by overloaded elves, Prz (you don't mind if I shorten your name, 
do you? It reduces the chances of horribly misspelling it. I know the 
case - my name is far longer, that's why I have an easy alias). The 
idea of not allowing people to post for a month is intriguing, but it 
would scare too many people. And many others would sign, ignore the 
list for a month, and then start from cero.

> BTW, do you Admins read this topic? Or should we cross-post to 
> HFPGUADMINS@?

They do read OT. At least the ones I know better, I've seen them post, 
so they do read. 

Our dearest Catlady: 
> Therefore, I am not anyone's favorite poster. QED. *sniffle* 
> (Actually, I didn't expect that I was.)

Ouch, but that hurts! Cat, let me tell you that you're one of my 
favourite posters, and the first one to actually identify by name and 
eagerly read when I joined. If you hadn't been the one in Chat to 
welcome me, I would've never stuck there, either.

After all, I've taken your "multiple campus" theory right into my arms, 
haven't I?

Hope that helps,

Grey Wolf