If only FPers do moderation actively when a conflict happens, isn't it inevitable that they will be seen as a party to the conflict, and accused of bias?

Echoes one of the main argument against humanitarian intervention: it cannot be helped that the intervener takes a side, contrary to the principle of state sovereignty and the equality of state sovereignty which is a fundamental tenet of the international system.

So I suppose, it takes a skilled diplomat to moderate well, and that one of the goals of the diplomatic community is to maintain the health and diversity of the system.

Interesting parallel, I just thought I'd share it.

"It Can't Be Just About Us"
--Frank Schnittger, ETian Extraordinaire

perhaps one way forward would be if one's a front pager and moving into a moderator mode, that other FPers don't cluster and intercede (negatively) in concert. it's not perfect, because it imposes more self-restraint on FPers than the rest of us, but it would be more conducive ot egalitarianism i think.

if the cluster is positive, it has extra clout from being liked by FPers, so the opposite is also true.

one FPer in disagreement can never be perceived as bullying or groupthink, whereas when the cluster happens, it rapidly seems like overkill.

after all, if the post being reacted to really is drifting way out of line, and a FPer is as sure of his/her ground as befits the role, it shouldn't take more than one. two should be the equivalent of the guys in white coats 'coming to take me away', three should be banning level.

that way it's sparing, but truly effective, and would sidestep any risk of seeming like elite pressure, aka scrambling lieutenants.

it also seems counterproductive to keep linking to threads that are symbolic of supposed tragic import. if they really are that traumatic, let's learn from them and move on, rather than inviting folks to revisit them and reopen old wounds. why should new readers be led by the hand to the skeletons in the closet, if indeed they are? there's something a bit contradictory there perhaps?

i actually don't see it as a problem, because ET will always be a microcosm of the rest of reality, and we don't have perfect eternal harmony there, so why expect it here? whereas what harmony we create here can be also exported into meatworld...

what's wonderful is the high signal to noise ratio, and i hated slipping into becoming the latter.

so sorry folks...

still it's a very small storm in a huge teacup of ever-renewing, delicious brew, and making such a fuss about it seems a tad overdone. yes words can hurt, and some are hastier than others to let fly. mea culpa.

ET is great because of its variety, and even more for its balance, between heart attack permanent serious and goofy transitory pleasure.

perhaps some feel ET would be a more effective political tool if it were pruned back of its playful, personal side, and just focussed on entirely serious subjects, and perhaps they're right, and my intuition that the opposite is true, (ie that variety and unpredictability attract more readers/members, which will /could morph into something that achieved serious ends, by many means, some of which may appear lightweight and with less obvious socially transformative heft)....is Wrong.

in which case, i'd happily accept that as an invitation to move on, an 'uninvite', if that would help you get closer to the real agenda here, to positively change european society, and you think that disagreements that become flamewars distract and sap that. i'd understand and might do the same in your shoes. streamline da buggah! go furrrrther!

i don't like polemic,  but i've been here since the beginning and i'm very fond of the place. going to british 'public' school in england has left me doubtless hypersensitive to bullying, and if i'm going to come hang out and learn and play here, then to remain silent when i see it (or think i see it) makes me feel complicit. it has after all been the worst thing about being european these last 100 years, feeling that evil of horrific proportions has dwelled here slyly, unconsciously woven into the camouflage of banal. still hypersensitivity to anything is unproductive...

sven doesn't need help defending himself, in retrospective, i should have kept my mouth shut, it was pretty minor, what tweaked me, and my spontaneous interjection just made things worse. duh...

but so many others have emailed me or told me in person over the years that they too felt the things i called out, it probably helped push my buttons to become spokesperson for them too, who'd given up and left, or had planed down their contributions to a minimum to avoid feeling trammeled and diminished by certain folks here.

stupid, i should let them be to fight for their own right not to allow others to do that, it's not my job to change ET, or even to criticise it. it certainly seems petty do do so, when it has been such a wonderful fountain of wisdom, fun and good energy for me these last years.

as all of you know whom i've 4'd to death!

thanks again, J, for birthing this multicoloured beast, and having the courage to keep reaching for  goals for us that are always inspiring and relevant. thanks to all for the brilliant effort building this body of information and ongoing experiment in real-time communication. it has the vitality and potential for a wonderful future.

email me and i'll self ban, if i'm too incorrigibly counter-revolutionary. nary a bubble where he sank...

back to the sulphurous mud whence he emerged...

:)

 

~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~