[Foundation-l] Moderation (was: should not web server logs (of requests) be published?)

[Birgitte SB]

----- Original Message ----
> From: Ryan Lomonaco <wiki.ral315 at gmail.com>
> To: Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List <foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org>
> Sent: Tue, November 30, 2010 7:37:17 PM
> Subject: [Foundation-l] Moderation (was: should not web server logs (of 
>requests) be published?)
> 
>
> 
> - Non-moderators should feel free to take a more active role  in cooling down
> discussions.  Moderators can't watch the list 24/7, and  just one post
> imploring a few heated participants to think before they hit  "send" can be
> very helpful.
> 


My last message to Will was not the best I could have sent.  I rushed it off as 
I was finishing a continually interrupted lunch with only two drafts.  I have 
found that nearly every single message that I have sent here which has 
noticeably provoked others or escalated a thread has been one I did not spend 
much time on.  Of course I think they are perfectly good when I send them.  I am 
quite fond of what I come with to say and I *always* initially think everything 
I write is clever and calm. But if give myself enough time for that first blush 
of vanity to fade, I will usually drastically rewrite my draft. Most of the time 
I draft a message four or five times. A particularly long message either sits 
overnight or through a commute.  And for every four times I hit reply and start 
to write I probably only send three emails or else cut out 80% of the early 
draft.  Sometimes it only take three sentences and sometime three drafts before 
I realize there no helpful way for me to respond to something. But generally 
speaking it is hard to hold on to a bad idea for very long without recognizing 
it for what it is. I imagine everyone has different thresholds for this and I 
can't imagine that anyone contributes to this list so that they might have 
platform on which to be a jerk. But if there is anyone who sends on every 
message they begin to write in less than five minutes please consider that 
either you should apply for sainthood or that some percentage of your messages 
are contributing a problem here.  It would be really nice if the percentage of 
provocative messages could be lowered and I intend to try do my part in that.

Birgitte SB