I Think We Need To Talk

[Cindy C.]

Hey, guys?

It is time for some serious talk, folks.  Serious talk about where
HPfGU is headed and why.  I really hate that it has come to this, and
I've done every single thing I can think of to fix things off-list
short of speaking up publicly.  But I've rather run out of options at
this point.  It was either continue to bite my tongue and wring my
hands, or face up to the fact that things have reached a point where I
simply have to say something.  I will tell you what I know and what I
have experienced, I'll try to stick to the facts as best I can, and
then you all can decide what kind of community you want HPfGU to be. 

For now, I am begging the indulgence of our list elves to allow us to
talk about things because, as of right now, there is no other place
where we can have this discussion.  Please elves, hold your fire, or
better yet, join in and let's make things better.

Some of you may know that I used to be a member of list
administration, first as an elf, then as a moderator until I left list
administration in May 2003.  I also headed the "Fantastic Posts And
Where To Find Them" team with Elkins during Fall 2002 when they were
revamped to their snappy new format, and I am still a member of that
team.  I wrote "HPfGU:  A History" and I collaborated on a revision to
the "Mysteries FP."  I had the pleasure of drafting "Hypothetic Alley"
with Dicey, Tabouli and Elkins, and I drafted a number of the updates
to it.  I have poured countless hours into HPfGU because I dearly love
this internet community and I was willing to work hard to make it even
better than it was when I arrived.  What we have here at HPfGU is
something unique and special, and I'd really like to see it stay that way.

Unfortunately, what I have seen from our current list administrators
lately jeopardizes our community.  What I have seen is not pretty.  Or
healthy.  Or even fundamentally fair, at times.  Much of what is going
on doesn't even make sense to me.  I think we're on the wrong track
here, but I think there is a simple and equitable solution to get
these problems fixed that ought to make everyone happy.

In short, I am worried that the list administrators (the elves),
despite being personal friends, hard workers, and valued members of
our community, have lost touch with their mission here.  HPfGU is run
by a group with no mandate from the list membership to run the lists
-– a group not accountable to the HPfGU membership in any way
whatsoever.  They are not elected or term limited, and the list gets
no say whatever in who joins list administration or in who ought to
step down.   

This is not a problem in and of itself.  The lists worked just fine
for a long time with a structure of moderators and elves at the helm.
 It only becomes a problem if list administration at HPfGU becomes an
in-group, a clique, a ruling class that will not tolerate dissent and
has lost touch with what list members want and need.  And that, I'm
afraid, is where we are headed if something is not done.

Where I come from those are fightin' words, huh?  Ya gotta have some
facts to back up that sort of statement, right?  Well, let's delve
further.

Here are a few highlights –- things that have occurred that suggest to
me that administration of HPfGU has suffered due to the elves' total
lack of accountability to list members.

THE FANTASTIC POSTS TEAM.  The most serious problems right now are on
the "Fantastic Posts" team.  The FP team (where non-elf volunteers
like myself are a small minority) has always been self-governing.  The
FP team has its own Yahoo list, it picks its members, it decides which
essays to write, etc., and it was a happy, collegial group.  Last
week, the list elves (who occupy a separate Yahoo list) declared that
the FP team is subordinate to the list elves and is no longer
self-governing.  As you might imagine, this bombshell has caused
morale to plummet on the FP team; there has been one resignation
letter already, from a hard-working, enthusiastic FP team member.  In
response to objections from the FP team members, the elves pointed
them toward the door:  "[W]e invite you to withdraw your support by
the same means that you offered it, by unsubbing from our sites."  I
do not think this sudden domination over the FP team by the list elves
is in the best interests of list members, who by and large *do* like
the FPs and want to see new ones sooner rather than later.

INDIFFERENCE TO LIST MEMBER OPINION.  As you all know, *no* FPs or
Hypothetic Alley updates have been written since OoP.  Some elves are
taking the position that this is not a problem, as there is no real
rush to produce anything new.  No elves have supported the idea of
polling the list members to determine which FPs *they* wish to see
written, and one elf denounced a poll as "counter productive."  My own
view is that soliciting the opinions of list members is essential to
inform the decisionmaking of the group.  For instance, I recall that
one of the most important administrative decisions surrounding the OoP
release was whether to close the list.  The previous list
administrators polled the list, and we wound up doing what the
majority of list members wanted.  I think responsive leadership at
HPfGU requires soliciting list member opinion rather than dismissing
it as beside the point.

"THE OLD CROWD."  You all may recall the surge in list volume and
decline in post quality at HPfGU surrounding the OoP release.  What
you may not know is that many of the elves joined an exclusive Yahoo
Harry Potter discussion list called "The Old Crowd" days before the
OoP release.  TOC was started by six of the former Moderators (one of
whom is still an elf) who stepped down this Spring.  On TOC, HPfGU
list elves were able to chat about OoP with select list members in a
small group setting -- "an oasis of calm," they called it -- while the
regular list members were left to drown in record message volume.  To
their credit, a couple of elves refused to join "The Old Crowd" on
principle, but the elves who did join disagreed that their duty to
HPfGU meant they owed list members their full participation and
attention during the OoP release. 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/The_Old_Crowd/

PERSONNEL SHORTAGE FOR OOP RELEASE.  Many of you know that the elves
were *very* shorthanded for the OoP release.  There were two reasons
for this.  First, the elves decided that they would not bring in and
train new elves before the OoP release, preferring instead to focus
their energies on tweaking their own internal system of governance.  
 Second, offers of help were refused or ignored, from me just a few
days before the OoP release, and from some OT-Chatter members in
August.  With OoP looming, I would have expected the elves to accept
all the help they could get and make OoP release preparation their
highest priority.

RUDENESS BY ELVES.  In the past, elves were required to be model
posters, both before and especially after becoming elves.  Obviously,
if an elf doesn't abide by the rules herself or lacks the temperament
and disposition to be kind and patient with list members, that person
should not be an elf.  Lately, there have been instances in which
elves were rude right out on the main list and this list for all to
see.  List members who suffer rudeness at the hands of the elves have
no recourse whatever -– except to write to the elves.  List members
who are rude receive howlers and may be placed on moderated status,
but there seems to be no mechanism in place to address rudeness by the
elves themselves.

LACK OF PARTICIPATION BY ELVES ON THE LISTS.  Ideally, the elves ought
to be accessible and approachable.  Although many of the current elves
are active on some of the public lists, there is considerable room for
improvement.  For instance, only 2 of 30 elves participated in the OTC
Mixer; only after I prodded them off-list about this did 2 more elves
post much later.  The elves also ignored the suggestion to link the
bio form and mixer thread on the OTC home page.  I raised this with
them off-list, and one elf replied in his personal capacity, saying he
just doesn't like mixers.  This, I felt, was not the point.  It seemed
that the mixer was an ideal opportunity for the elves to introduce
themselves to the list members -– especially since elves *do* post
similar bios on their private Yahoo discussion list and could easily
edit those bios for public consumption so the list members would have
a better idea who they are.  

IMPROPER POSTING BY ELVES.  Many of you know that an elf behaved badly
on the recent Rush Limbaugh thread.  This was a very serious matter;
the elf in question violated explicit rules (rules I wrote last fall)
prohibiting elves from pulling rank on list members to interfere with
threads they don't like.  The elves did issue a public apology on
OT-Chatter, but the elf involved wrote to me off-list to retract the
elves' collective OT-Chatter apology, saying she still believed she
did nothing wrong and is unrepentant.  Therefore, an elf broke the
rules and then deliberately undermined the efforts of the other elves
to make things better.  Apparently, there is no mechanism to ensure
that elves follow their own posting rules and internal guidelines, and
no consequences when they don't.

A RADICAL PROPOSAL IGNORED.  Before bringing these issues to you all
as a group, I offered up a radical proposal to the elves.  I believe
that many of the veteran elves have simply been elves too long and
have forgotten what it is like to be a regular list member.  There is
also lingering personal animosity that seems to be getting worse and
leading to counter-productive decisions by the elves.  So this week I
proposed to the elves that all veteran elves and all veteran FP team
members (*myself included*) should resign their posts and turn the
lists over to the newest elves and FP members, thereby sacrificing our
own positions in list administration to benefit the lists as a whole.
 I received no response whatsoever from the elves.  No, it seems that
there is not a single entrenched elf who is willing to step aside
voluntarily, not even for the good of HPfGU.

************************

What's the solution, though?  

As I said earlier, the elves *are* good people; I know most of them
very well and I have met several of them in person.  Part of the
problem is that about half of the 40 moderators and elves have left
since March for one reason or other.  I believe this hemorrhage of
experience and talent has sapped list administration of the diversity
of opinion that once led to appropriate, balanced and fair decisions
in the past.  Past list policy decisions were made by hashing things
out and finding a middle path; now, dissent is Unwelcome.  I think the
root of the problem is the system  -- a system that contains no
incentives for elves to *serve* the lists or to subordinate their own
interests in favor of the interests of the lists and list members.  

I think the solution is that elves for HPfGU should be selected
annually by popular election, beginning on January 1, 2004.  

Elections, I believe, will stop improper behavior dead in its tracks.
 It will provide an incentive for elves to be kind and accessible to
list members.  It will provide an incentive for elves to *serve* the
list members rather than serve themselves.  Elves who are aloof,
burned out, unavailable, uninterested, invisible, arrogant, rude or
simply too busy to do the job properly might not win re-election. 
Those who *are* doing a good job could serve one-year terms until they
bow out or are not re-elected.  

I know.  It sounds radical.  We've never had elf elections here at
HPfGU.  But we've never needed them like we do now.  The elves govern
themselves through democracy.  If democracy is good enough for the
elves, why can't a taste of democracy work for the list members too?

So.  That is what has been troubling me.  These problems are so darn
serious that I find myself sending this message to the list even
though it is likely to cost me my position on the FP team (the elves
told the FP team last night that they are hard at work on a "Code of
Conduct" for the FP team members, and I suspect that this post calling
for elf elections will be frowned upon as insubordination).   

I don't know if I'm the only one who finds any of this disturbing.  I
am troubled, but I am just one list member.  Now, the rest of you 
have a better idea of what is going on and why various things are
happening.  It's up to you, folks -- stay with the current system of
elves serving at their pleasure and for their pleasure if you want, or
do something new.  It's completely out of my hands.

Cindy