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

[Samuel Klein]

You have my thanks as well.  I have found the topics and 'signal' on
f-l recently quite good reading; less noise will make the whole
experience a pleasure again (and hopefully will bring back voices that
have temporarily left).

SJ

On 11/14/09, John Vandenberg <jayvdb at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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
>
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