ADMIN Re: Here's a very strange thought ...

[Dai Evans]

No: HPFGUIDX 16509

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., andeinmn at a... wrote:
> I am withdrawing from HP4GU. 

I wish you well.

> No, this incident alone is not enough to make 
> me pack my bags, but it's one of several things which are 
disturbing me.
> I have been playing on lists for several years now.  I have made 
what I know 
> will be lifelong friends through lists and have had a lot of fun.  
I don't 
> want to make anyone's job more difficult.  But.

 
> I have a problem with a moderator who uses that status to 
perpetrate a hoax 
> on the entire group. 

It was april fools day. It was funny. Anybody could have perpetrated 
a hoax (in fact Simon did another one and he's not a moderator), it 
was not therefore an abuse of power as he did not do anything that 
non-moderators could not.

 Same day, same moderator barely acknowledges vicious 
> ridiculing of member for her grammar.  Says play nice, but, heh-
heh, she's 
> always like that, now we get a cute little acronym.  To nitpick 
matters of 
> fact from canon is one thing, but to ridicule another member over 
word 
> selection is arrogant and unacceptable.  I lost a lot of respect 
for the 
> moderators that day.

Although I agree Rita went a bit overboard on this occasion, it was a 
fairly isolated occurence. The moderators would be going too far if 
they came down like a ton of bricks every time someone had a bad day. 
I thought over-moderation was what you're complaining about.

> For all your 1100 members, this is a very cliquish, insular little 
group.  
> It's difficult for a new member to get a toehold.  New members who 
do post 
> are rarely acknowledged.

 With 1100 memebers, of course it's going to be difficult for new 
members to get established. Anyone who has ever started a new 
job/high school/whatever will tell you that it is difficult at first 
to be acknowledged when there are so many other people there. What 
would you suggest? Assign special greeting officers for newbies?
 And as for cliquishness, what was it you were saying earlier about 
making lifelong friends on lists? Of course people are going to make 
friends and keep more of an ear out for what they have to say than 
people they don't know.
  
> At least weekly there is one public deep sigh from 
> an older member about how nice things were before "all those Salon 
people" 
> came aboard, "oh, here we go again" when one of them is actually 
brave enough 
> to post something.  These remarks go unchallenged.  

It is said quite clearly in the list introduction that new members 
should read over/search archives to avoid repitition. Of course it's 
tiresome when you read the same descussion for the 10th time with no 
new material raised.

I love 
> the weekly chapter and character discussions but if I am going to 
slog 
> through 100+ messages a day, I don't want to have to be worried 
about 
> minefields.
> 
> Penny, please understand I'm not singling you out.  I know first 
hand how 
> difficult is it manage a group this large.  But I feel if less time 
was spent 
> blowing whistles at intersections and more time spent making HP4GU 
a pleasant 
> place for all to indulge their obsession, many of the problems 
would be 
> minimized, if for no other reason than loyalty to those who work so 
hard to 
> make this a wonderful place to play.

Less time spent blowing whistles? I thought you said that John did 
not do enough when Rita boiled over.
The whole reason for the forthright moderation on this group is to 
cut down on traffic. Which way do you want it?
 
> I wish you well with your new baby.

As do we all.





Dai