Posted by Racer on June 11, 2005, at 14:51:55
OK, I admit: I have this thing about Dr Swift...
Here's a more serious suggestion that might help minimize strife on these boards, and maybe help avoid some of the sort of hurt feelings that have been reported after someone's posts were brought here for a determination of civility.
And let me say that again: I am posting this suggestion because people have posted here that their feelings were hurt by having their posts brought up for determination. Maybe this would help avoid some of those hurt feelings.
Instead of posting a link here, asking that a post be reviewed for civility, how about a function to allow posts to be sent via email to the Deputy On Call, or the Civility Monitor? A new form that allows the post in question to be sent, along with a very brief message regarding why someone thinks the post may violate the rules? The form could have a set of checkboxes, so that such things as "Direct Insult Towards Another Poster", or "Unacceptable Language", or "Violating Medication Related Rules", or whatever, could be as simple as ticking a box; but still have a space that could be used for a brief explanation of anything that fell into a grey area.
The Civility Monitor could be a rotating responsibility of the Deputies and Dr Bob, so that no one person would become overwhelmed, and anything that a deputy was unsure of could be relayed to Dr Bob as the final arbiter. Someone, though, would be responsible for all the issues reported during discrete time periods, so that every complaint would be addressed.
One benefit of handling this sort of thing privately is that those who are not comfortable asserting themselves publicly may feel safer doing so privately. This would be a benefit for the board as a whole, since it would help every member of our community know that their voice would be heard.
Another benefit, which I think might be more important, is that there might be fewer hurt feelings. In most cases, I would bet that civility issues could be handled more privately -- maybe by allowing people a certain amount of time in which to edit their questionable posts? Maybe simply by letting someone know that, while their post was within the guidelines, it was a close call and maybe they might think a bit more next time before hitting the "submit" button.
The Civility Monitor could be a title used instead of a posting name, so that none of the deputies would feel constrained about responding to a "friend's" post. For example, if I were the CM, and was sent a post by, say, NikkiT (whom I like and have never seen as uncivil -- this is an example using someone I consider a friend), and actually found that it was uncivil, I would not feel as though our friendship would be affected by my bringing it to her attention in my role as CM.
That's as much as I've got time to write about this. I think this is a purty good idear, and would like to run it up the flagpole, see if anyone else agrees?
poster:Racer
thread:511073
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20050530/msgs/511073.html