I Just Don't Get This. Seriously, I Don't/Admin.'s Apology

[msbeadsley]

What's this soapbox doing here? And I forgot my mediation notes. To 
heck with it, anyway...

To the person who started the "Rush" thread: your original post was 
an attempt to inspire community discussion. The quashing of that 
effort must have come as an unpleasant shock. It was unfair. (And 
over there in Moody's office, dark detectors began going off like, 
er, mad.) When the person who'd quashed your post came back and 
essentially printed a retraction, you won that skirmish. (I didn't 
perceive the second, "let's talk about something we all understand" 
post as anything other than a plea: "can't we just play nice and not 
fight?" and not an official request even at that.) I wonder that you 
didn't realize that, gloat a little, even publicly, and go on. But, 
since the retraction wasn't couched in a conciliatory tone or 
apologetic language, it wasn't good enough. (Personally, sometimes I 
*prefer* a Snape-ish demeanor on the part of someone who's had to 
give me my way; it's sooo satisfying to know that my adversary is 
doing a slow, helpless burn. If they apologize too readily or too 
cheerfully, I'm like Aunt Marge thinking that St. Brutus must not 
beat Harry hard or long enough.) So you went on the offensive, 
determined to seek justice and to prevail.

You were right. You were absolutely, completely, and punctiliously* 
right. You had your ducks in row, not a feather out of place, 
militarily straight in formation. And you got an apology from the 
administration team. Quite an accomplishment, and quite right, since 
you were the injured party.

Now, since I am not and never have been a member of the 
administration team (and have a tendency to vivisect the human 
condition with brio and little regard for the squeamish), I feel 
altogether unencumbered about telling you that, while I see several 
likely instances of human error involved in this (well, no, that term 
won't do, it's quite obscene) tableau, yours is the one I find most 
deplorable. It is very hard sometimes to admit that one was wrong; 
but can't one at least be *right* graciously? (How many of you 
thought of Percy at least once throughout this event? I will forego 
requesting a list poll and simply ask for a show of hands. Yes, 
that's about what I'd guessed. Thank you, you may put your hands down 
now.) Being right will probably not win you any friends in and of 
itself (d'ya think?); graciousness, on the other hand, is almost 
never misplaced.

It's too severely ironic to be wholly funny *or* serious: just a few 
days ago, on a list not at all affiliated with this one but which has 
some of the same members, I suggested fomenting revolution on HPfGU. 
It was an antic and outrageous aside; I would have expected an 
immediate pie in the face from anyone who'd thought I was serious. 
(Luckily, no one appeared to.) And now here we have you demanding 
justice, and you plus someone else wanting Roberts' Rules of Order or 
Parliamentary Procedure or something. I don't know whether to sit in 
appalled silence or bray with laughter.

To that someone else: if I had any say, which thank the entire 
pantheon I do not, you would just have earned yourself a substantial 
delay in any timeline around giving you any hint of power. I 
perceived your post and its timing as reflective as an acute lack of 
judgment and timing. (It isn't just that it was an addition of angst 
the team surely did NOT need at that moment; you also, in my view, 
shot yourself rather dramatically and publicly in the foot just then. 
You perceived a weakness in the beastie you purported to want to be 
part of, and chose that moment to twist its tail! (If you can't keep 
your temper as a list *member*, dear heart, what are you likely to do 
as a list elf? (I'd be having to iron my *tongue* every day, 
personally; yeah, I know, at least it would shut me up. Maybe. 
Temporarily.)) Do you think authority makes it *easier* to keep a 
cool head? Guess what: there's a reason they say that "power 
corrupts." What did you really expect the result of your effort at 
coup d'etat to be? Well, I think you probably didn't. Everyone? This 
time I will forego asking for a show of hands; you know who you are.)

Someone "owns" each of these lists, but the labor is all volunteer. 
The Admin. team is not a committee of public servants whose salaries 
are paid by the membership; nor are they accountable as they would be 
in a democracy. While I have never been this sort of volunteer, I 
have worked similar RL organizations. They are held together by will, 
mostly good will. Authority here cannot be suborned; it can, however, 
be damaged, even past the point of no recovery. While I agree that 
list members have the "right" to have grievances addressed, there's a 
catch: if the way you approach exercising your "rights" equates 
to "divide and conquer," you destroy. If what you truly value is what 
existed here before you arrived, you'll try to leave it at least as 
functional as you found it.

Sandy, wondering if her soapbox apparated here from its home over on 
the main list

*Thanks to whoever used this word the other day on the main list; it 
had been so long since I'd seen it used that I had to look it up, and 
then look how handy it came in just now.