[Foundation-l] Use of moderation

[Delirium]

Erik Moeller wrote:
> Part of traditional professionalization is also to only make a
> commitment when you feel you can uphold it. So where a casual,
> informal organization is more likely to say "Yeah, sure" and then
> never do anything (FlaggedRevisions and SUL being two examples of this
> happening in the past, with no execution over multiple years), a more
> formal, professional organization will only make the commitment if it
> can allocate resources to keep it. So, as an organization matures, it
> will by definition say "no" more frequently, because saying "yes" too
> often is one of the most common signs of immaturity. We've certainly
> not reached the end point of that process yet.
> 
> But for a _volunteer_ driven organization, it's important to make a
> further transition, not from "yes" to "no" in 9 out of 10 cases, but
> from "yes" (and nothing will happen) to "yes, and here's how _you_ can
> make it happen", except for the truly bad ideas. :-) I think this is
> where we're failing right now -- engaging more people to help us solve
> problems. The strategic planning process is the first attempt to scale
> up the small-room conversations of the past into the largest possible
> meaningful consultation. How do we transform those plans and proposals
> into volunteer workgroups and actions?

I think the two are inherently in conflict, though. As organizations 
become professionalized, it becomes less appealing to work for them for 
free, when some people are getting paid to do the same job--- and the 
volunteers migrate to less-professionalized organizations.

It's not absolute, but there's at least some tension. I'll stuff that I 
wouldn't really want to do, if I had the choice, for an organization 
that has absolutely no budget and no paid staff, if I believe in their 
goals and agree it needs to get done. But if an organization has 
full-time staff who are paid to do the unpleasant things, I'm much more 
likely to only work-for-free in doing the things I find enjoyable.

-Mark