[Foundation-l] Foundation-l open for business, with changes

[John Vandenberg]

On Sat, Nov 14, 2009 at 2:20 PM, Ryan Lomonaco <wiki.ral315 at gmail.com> wrote:
> After reviewing the comments of foundation-l participants over the last few
> days, we've come up with a few changes that we hope will ultimately improve
> the tenor and scope of discussions.
>
> To start, we're placing two participants on temporary moderation:  Thomas
> Dalton and WJhonson.  The conversations that have been most problematic
> recently were those that involved one or both users.  We do not intend to
> place them or any other users on permanent moderation at this time, however.
>
> When appropriate, we will be using moderation more often, for short periods
> of time when we feel doing so will allow cooler heads to prevail.  The idea
> behind moderation has never been punitive, but it's often been treated as
> such by many, and as a result, we have not used it as often as we could
> have.  Going forward, our intent is that being placed on moderation should
> not be viewed as a slight, or as a punishment, but as a way to retain
> civility within a discussion.
>
> Second, we're adding a "soft post limit" that, for the time being, will kick
> in at 30 posts per month.  At that point, we will, at our discretion, place
> members on moderation for the remainder of the month, and will approve posts
> only where we feel they are useful and add significantly to the discussion.
>
> With these changes, our goal is not to stifle anyone, but to avoid the
> situation where a few voices dominate the conversation, and the arguments,
> often off-topic, that have inhibited important discussions recently.  We do
> not feel, for example, that specific users need to be permanently moderated;
> however, all users, including prolific posters, should bear in mind that
> should their posts become off-topic, overly argumentative, or uncivil, they
> may be moderated temporarily.
>
> We leave open the possibility that other changes may be useful in the
> future, so ideas for improvement going forward are always welcome, either at
> the Meta page <http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Improving_Foundation-l> or via
> e-mail, at foundation-l-owner at lists.wikimedia.org.
>
> As of this post, the list is now unmoderated.  We welcome your thoughts on
> this issue.

Thank you for taking these steps to promote a more balanced
participation here on foundation-l.

--
John Vandenberg