Jimmy Wales wrote:
While I understand and sympathize to a degree with what
you're saying,
but I must point out that we are under an obligation -- strategically,
if for no other reason -- to extend every courtesy to the bitter end.
One of the things that's really helpful to me in making and defending
these banning decisions is a _clean paper trail_. When a good person
has an outburst like yours -- no matter how warranted by the
circumstance -- I can rest assured that it will be quoted back to me
as evidence of my inconsistency because I didn't ban or reprimand
you, when I did ban or reprimand someone else.
Sure, cause and effect and "who started it" matters. But those things
also get lost to history, to a maze of counter-allegations.
It's better when we are all courteous and kind, even in the face of
extreme provocation.
Everyone who was named as an "example" of rude behavior by "Joe
Canuck" should examine their own actions. Are we consistent, if we
insist on good behavior from others, but don't insist upon it for
ourselves? We almost all fail in this regard from time to time --
such is the human condition, I guess -- but we should strive for the
best within us.
I very much support an approach based on kindness and courtesy, and
even when some of us get carried away with our anger we can soon gain
control of our emotions and go back into some kind of "normal"
behaviour, Unfortunately, a few of our regulars to hold onto their
perceptions of wrongdoings like bulldogs without leaving much latitude
for escaping from the grind that accompanies some of these issues.
The number of our persistent problem people is surprisingly small when
you discount all the multiple personalities that some bring into the
subject. Reading through the unending e-mails about this handful is
perhaps one of the least pleasant tasks on the mailing list. I gave up
trying to read Joe Canuck's purported defence after the first few
paragraphs.
There is much to be said about having a due process policy for dealing
with these people, and a page set aside for each of them where anyone
can see what they did, and their sins are properly documented and dated.
Details of their banning, and the conditions for their return can also
be there. When a newbie asks what they did that was so wrong we can
always simply refer them to that page without needing to keep going over
the same material again and again.
Ec