Of Harsh Rules: Now I Understand

Thomas Holbrook II | *NIXEDBLOG 2.0

I recently read the article about Manoj Srivastava quitting as secretary of the Debian project.  I can only imagine the insults that flew back and forth concerning the entire mess.  This is a gathering of people who are supposed to have an open and democratic system.  However, it appears that it’s also very bureaucratic.  I used to disagree with how the PCLinuxOS forum was run, but because of this recent mess, I understand why the strict rules are in place.

I”m not saying I completely agree with being so strict.  I tried posting a link to a business that was selling machines with their distribution pre-installed.  It was deleted very quickly.  As other people say: “Great distro, horrible forums.”  Then again, the whole Debian mess shows the other extreme as well, where people choose not to take responsibility for what is said, especially those who overreact (hint: gender warfare is a false paradigm, and everybody needs to understand that right now).  That is why I propose a solution that is in between.  A 100% pure democracy is the worst idea ever for a large group, especially if the voting options are limited and there is a crowd of angry and upset individuals.  On the other hand, by being too strict on the rules of a forum or a mailing list, the entire thing can be ruined rather quickly.

I prefer Free Talk Live’s organization of their online forums.  There’s a place in which they warn visitors about offensive material so that it can be avoided.  They don’t simply censor or delete.  They simply imply that if the visitor has a problem with it, they don’t have to read it.  Now concerning moderators and such, there should only be a few of them, and if any of them show signs of power tripping, they need to have mod status removed immediately, and be replaced by somebody else.  Oh, and have a rotating schedule for moderators, so that a fresh set comes in every so often.  That is a great way of avoiding corruption as well.  Rules are understandable, and they should be solid, but not so ridiculous that people won’t want to run the distro anymore, let alone visit the forum/mailing list.

Anybody have any ideas?  Please let me know by commenting here.  😉