[WikiEN-l] Arbcom

[George Herbert]

On 10/14/07, Marc Riddell <michaeldavid86 at comcast.net> wrote:
>
> > Marc Riddell wrote:
> >> On 10/14/07, David Gerard <dgerard at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>>> Anyone can draft proposals - that's what the workshop page is for (and
> >>>> to keep idiots occupied somewhere relatively harmless, of course).
> >>>>
> >>
> >> This is the kind of language that is destructive to the culture of this
> >> project.
> >>
> > on 10/14/07 6:57 PM, William Pietri at william at scissor.com wrote:
>
> > Perhaps generally, but in this case it's probably not so bad. It would
> > be hard to deny that some of the people who show up are idiots. But
> > David's unlikely to cause offense here, as all concerned will be sure
> > that the idiots are those *other* guys.
> >
> > Don't get me wrong; I'm a big advocate of treating any vaguely serious
> > contributor with respect. But in trying to build open communities on the
> > Internet, you have to be prepared for people who are looking to vent,
> > who come with an agenda, or who are just so lacking in clue that they
> > are unable to make any useful contribution. If you don't give them an
> > outlet, they'll just cram their opinions into any input field or email
> > inbox they can find, disrupting normal business. And heck, some of them
> > will get a clue eventually, so it's best to involve them in ways that
> > help with that.
> >
> > But definitely be careful applying your off-line intuitions here. As
> > many have observed, the Internet is, sadly, different. [1]
> >
> William,
>
> My "off-line intuitions"?
>
> The quality of a culture is greatly reflected in the quality of its language
> - "on-line" or off.
>
> Marc

This is common behavior online, often used in a harmless or joking manner.

However, I can see that it might not seem so to an outsider, including
potentially to the people being referred to.  And it is sometimes used
in a not joking manner.

I think that this is one of the things that maybe we should listen to
Marc about, and I think I'm going to try to remember to stop using
jokingly.


-- 
-george william herbert
george.herbert at gmail.com