Posted by Dr. Bob on November 29, 2010, at 3:06:37
In reply to Re: This place is dying., posted by SLS on November 25, 2010, at 23:33:39
> I get the feeling that too great a proportion of the activity on Psycho-Babble has become focused on the definition and enforcement of civility rather than on its presumed focus on mental illness.
> I think the control of speech here is rigid and too mechanical. Sanctions are triggered at a threshold of incivility that is too low. The evaluation of speech is compartmentalized and reduced to exercises in the strict application of grammar and diction. The length of blocks escalates too rapidly. Advisories are ubiquitous. The learning curve for the prescribed rules of civility is too steep. Some people are here for a week and then blocked from posting. The verbiage of the FAQ is too burdensome to read for new people to digest in order to post without being blocked. The posting system here is alien to most people who participate in forums elsewhere on the Internet. I believe that some people can feel completely stifled in their efforts to communicate. I have not encountered any other websites for which linguistics are scrutinized so closely that sentence structure takes priority over the intended conveyance of the message.
>
> I feel like I am being treated like a child.> it was predictable that the methodology chosen by the moderator to apply behavioral modification so mechanistically would lead to the death of a website.
>
> Somewhere, the experiment of establishing a highly-structured governance of speech using a model of civility developed by the moderator has failed miserably. For administration to acknowledge this does not constitute capitulation. It is a path towards enlightenment.
>
> - ScottA lot of the activity here does get focused on my use of power. Maybe it makes some of you feel the way you did when you were a child.
There's anxiety about Babble dying. And maybe a wish for it to die. As if that would prove I've misused my power?
> I wonder if it some larger issue related to how the internet has changed over the years??
> it is my impression that many who are blocked, are blocked because they want to be and/or they should be
But it's been over a decade, and Babble hasn't died yet. It's a survivor. Even though it has self-destructive parts and the Internet around it has changed.
> too much energy is spent on discussing the plight of blocked posters
>
> obsidianHow can so much energy be spent on discussing their plight when the control of speech is so rigid, sanctions are triggered at a threshold that is so low, the evaluation of speech is so strict, the length of blocks escalates so rapidly, the learning curve is so steep, the verbiage of the FAQ is so burdensome, the posting system is so alien, people feel so stifled, and linguistics are so scrutinized?
> When god closes a door, s/he always opens a window.
>
> floatingbridgeA door may be closed here. Is a window opened?
Bob
a brilliant and reticent Web mastermind -- The New York Times
backpedals well -- PartlyCloudy
poster:Dr. Bob
thread:971091
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20101014/msgs/971715.html