I Just Don't Get This. Seriously, I Don't.

[Cindy C.]

You guys know how much I love to kid around.  This post is different,
though.  This time, I'm serious.  So you'll see no smiley faces or Big
Paddles or any of that this time.  I am speaking as a list member (and
former list administrator) with a serious concern I would like to see
addressed.

This weekend, I started a thread called "That Rush!  What A Kidder!" 
The point was to discuss a recent racial controversy in the U.S. –-
something we have done before on this list without incident.  I did
not discuss politics (which isn't a banned subject anyway.)  I was not
rude.  I did not flame.  Simply put, I did nothing wrong, and it was
my hope that my post would lead to a high-quality discussion about the
compelling issues involved.  

In response, one of the list administrators (Message 18535) tried to
censor the thread, incorrectly and unilaterally concluding that my
post discussed politics (it did not) and that the content was
inappropriate (it was not).  When she was advised by someone else
(possibly Joywitch, probably off-list?) that the list rules she was
supposed to be administering did not prohibit my post, she clarified
that point.  She offered no apology, instead signing off with "So.
Duly clarified. Joy, take me off your shit list now." Message 18536. 

Thereafter, another list administrator intervened and confirmed that
my post did not concern a banned subject.  Nevertheless, she quoted a
list rule, implied my post ran afoul of it, and suggested that my post
was somehow incomprehensible to the international community, stating
"if we're going to talk about politics, could we talk about
something where the *entire* list has at least a vague idea what on
earth is being discussed?."  Message 18540.

On Saturday, I contacted the list administrators and advised them
off-list of my displeasure with what happened, explaining precisely
how both administrators had erred.  To sum up, the first list
administrator blatantly tried to shut down a discussion solely because
she didn't like the content; broke the prohibition against using
obscenity on the list; made a very cutting and unnecessary remark to
Joy; and has failed to apologize for any of it either on-list or
off-list, so far as I know.  I cannot help but see her conduct as a
blatant abuse of her position as a list administrator, as her posts
would likely have earned her a howler had she been a regular list member. 

The second administrator also has not admitted error, either on-list
or off-list (although to her credit she did reply off-list to me
personally to defend her actions).  

In my very humble opinion, what happened this weekend was inexcusable
and represents a serious breakdown in the procedures the list
administrators use (or should use) to ensure that they don't abuse
their power.  I know that we all make mistakes.  It happens.  I also
know from personal experience that making the decisions needed to run
this list in a professional, fair and timely manner is not easy.  Had
the list administrators been willing to admit their errors, we could
have just moved on.  For whatever reason, however, the list
administrators have not seen fit to own up to what happened and admit
their mistakes.  

Rather than read along on the Limbaugh thread (the actions of the list
administrators seem to have sapped my interest in doing so), I spent
some time yesterday pondering what on earth could be going on to allow
something like this to happen.  And I think I have an idea about what
it might be:

Power Without Accountability.  

Our list administrators are not elected.  List members have no say
whatever in who serves and for how long.  Those who serve can do so at
their pleasure for as long as they like.  In short, there is no
accountability -– no way to address abuses of power.

I am starting to think this is a problem.  List administrators have
considerable power over everyone and everything on this list.  They
can ban people, put them on moderated status and leave them there
indefinitely, shut down threads, douse flame wars and more.  That's a
lot of largely unrestrained power, and "forever" is a lot of time for
any person or small group of people to have it. 

For the most part, past administrators ran things as unobtrusively and
fairly as they could, and I suspect list members appreciated the fact
that list administrators were mostly "seen and not heard."  List
members seemed willing to give us wide latitude and trust us so long
as we didn't abuse our positions, and I, for one, appreciated that
trust very much.  

In return, past list administrators tried to take care not to abuse
our authority.  For instance, it was expressly and strictly forbidden
to use one's position as a list administrator to gain advantage in a
debate on the list.  Furthermore, list administrators were forbidden
from calling attention to rules violations of members on-list
(problems were always to be dealt with off-list).  They could not
"pull rank" –- in other words, bolstering their position in a canon
discussion by referring to their status as list administrators. 
Unless they were delivering an official administrative notice with the
"ADMIN" prefix, they were supposed to behave as (and be bound by the
same rules as) an ordinary list member who just arrived last week. 
They were to be model posters at all times.

Clearly, something has broken down to allow the events of this weekend
to happen at all.  I wonder whether the HPfGU system of "power without
accountability" can continue to work.  I wonder whether there are any
safeguards at all these days to dissuade list administrators from
abusing their authority.  I wonder what happens to those who do abuse
their authority and refuse to own up to it.

No, I'm not happy.  So let me ask the question publicly:  List
Administrators, why did this happen, and what are you going to do
about it?  

I hope the list administrators will take this on-list message a bit
more seriously than my off-list messages.  I hope we can all figure
out a way to make sure the same thing doesn't happen in the future. 
And I hope the list administrators will not moderate or ban me for
defending my perfectly appropriate post and telling you all how I feel
about their inappropriate response to it.

Cindy