As we know this has gotten out of hand on active sites like dKos, where discussions get swept into limbo even before many people know of their existence. Things are better on this site only because the number of original diaries is limited in time.

If I had my way I would prefer to see the use of forum type of software. There are several versions floating around, but they all have the benefit that discussions get sorted into broad bins and that the FIFO operates only within each bin. There is also more screen real estate available within a section so that more stories are visible at once.

FIFO blogs seem aimed at those sites which depend upon currency, such as news sites or individual personal diaries. What you had for breakfast three days ago no longer needs to be prominent.

Policy discussions should persist longer since they require continued discussion for ideas to be developed. Indeed one person frequently returns to the topic as new thoughts arise from reading prior remarks.

I already commented on my general dislike of meta diaries elsewhere, so I won't repeat myself. I think the "rules" listed by Jerome should be put into the FAQ (if they are not already there), and perhaps should be part of the registration process so that new members understand how things are run.

Policies not Politics
---- Daily Landscape

Authority: a good suggestion. In many chats (as opposed to blogs) when an administrator adopts an official role in a chat, a star is self-attached to their nick. They then become a 'sheriff', and can 'ice' chatters for fixed periods of time to deal with flooding and repeated bad ettiquette, remove inactive chatters who are preventing other entering the chat etc. It is a useful convention for moderators.

General rules: The recent bust-ups are probably to do with the season. My guess is they will fade into the New Year.

You can't be me, I'm taken

As I said earlier, I haven't seen that much groupthink here. That said, clarification of the role of front-pagers whether they intervene as a moderator or as a participant in the debate might help (although I think it is usually clear).

I am regularly amazed by the quality of the debates and by the respect and the openness showed by ET users in the exchanges. I think it is one of our great achievements. We will not avoid further heated debates and I think it's a healthy thing. However, as the community is growing, we have to be more careful about the various sensitivities and the way our words can be understood.

"Ne te courbe que pour aimer..." René Char

Yes.  There are beliefs (NSDAP, for one) that no civilized human should tolerate.

should we prevent members from deleting their diaries if we can

Yes.  Diaries once posted become the property of the community.  

Note: I think it is possible for a diarist to delete all of the text from a diary posting without deleting the Comment Section.  I cannot check that without posting a diary and then trying it.

if we can do something about this in the future ET software, what would be your preferred option

I can see some advantages to having the ability to remove the diarist's name from the diary upon request of the diarist.  this would disassociate the user with the writing and under some circumstances would be a Good Thing.

Front Pagers

Don't consider them Authority Figures.

To that end, I suggest the weekly meetings where we all face Paris and chant, "Hail Jerome!  Prophet of Peak Oil!  We invoke Thee and Thy works with gratitude" cease.  ;-)

Seriously, (tho' the first sentence is serious) the ET FP-ers do an excellent job of maintaining the blog in the face of the opinionated, verbose, mob of PeckleSniffers who infest ET -- and I include myself in the mob.  Non-FP-ers need to realize the gnomes have special powers, yes, but also gnomes are members of the community and their day-to-day comments, diaries, opinions, arguments, & etc have no more weight than any other member of the communities'.

bannings / deletions / account restrictions

To be boring:  Posting on ET is a Privilege not a Right.

To keep ET ET we should expect some jerks are going to have to be banned.  When someone comes along and puts their little self above the norms of the community -- fuck 'em.  Adios, auf wiedersehen, dos vidonya dude/dude-ette, take a hike.

There is a creative tension between the norms (yes - restrictions!) necessary for a community to continue and the psychological neuroses needs of an individual.  It would be nice if we could create an Objective List of Rules to govern that tension but we can't.  So each case is going to have to be handled individually on its own merits.  AND the decision of the FP/StakeHolders MUST be final.  

That doesn't mean members shouldn't criticize, bitch, moan, complain, and, in short, be ET-ers, either.

Each of us can limit the fights (by not responding, or not participating), but we all need to work jointly to avoid tension and bitterness, by avoiding needlessly provocative or accusatory words, AND by avoiding to feel personally attacked when one's arguments are criticized or dismissed.

The only reason you wrote that, Jerome, is because it's true.

Have epistemological model of Complex Information environments. Will Travel.

by avoiding to feel personally attacked when one's arguments are criticized or dismissed

To put this in a way you wouldn't be willing to: people need to learn that their views and beliefs are not sacred or special in any manner whatsoever.

you are the media you consume.

1.  Don't delete your own diaries for emotional reasons.  That's my advice.  

2.  Don't delete diaries (yours or others') unless they break some major rule like outing someone, are offensive to the point that they might be illegal in some western countries, or contain otherwise sensitive information that could cause someone harm.

3.  If ET thinks it "owns" diaries once they are published on your site, you should be much more explicit about that.  Otherwise, I feel people have every right to assume they have control over the content they have submitted: to edit, to alter or to delete it.  However, I don't think that anyone who is not an administrator should be allowed to delete the posts of others, diaries or comments.

4.  So either find a way to make it possible to delete a diary but not the comments, or inform everyone that once they hit "submit," they've handed future control of their submission over to ET.  Since the latter option might be legally questionable, I say:  find a way to make comments survive if a diary is deleted.  

Erasures and deletions. Don't remember any.

Agree with Poemless's comments about 11:30 (be nice to see someone tweak the fucking software so that comments
are numbered; the  advantage being that one might know with certainty who was addressing whom, and the number would be an easy reference to the poster).

Would add that I read ET for the Energy, Economic, Geopolitical diaries, and occasionally, write something in an open thread.

Seems like you need to post a comment about diaries, Big Letters Over the Door, if you believe you own the content of the diaries, rights to modify, comments, etc.(American Business Law 101).

For those who feel their comments are so earth-shattering that they would be crushed if their comments were erased: get a life, hire a stenographer, or write an autobiography in the first person plural.

Haven't seen that many such comments here, BTW.

"When the abyss stares at me, it wets its pants." Brian Hopkins

Obviously, nobody comes here to break the rules, or to upset anyone, but we are human, we break them and try to do better.  Cut and dry rules do not apply in extreme conditions because members and FPs are not scientific samples and we are always adapting.  

A very valuable point for a progressive blog is a non-banning rule.  It would make ET proud to be respectful, gentle and flexible enough to let members find their own space, let them be and let them go on their own.  The idea is to ´direct´ the excessive comment or diary, when absolutely necessary, not the member.

To  be truly transparent, there should be a front pagers´ guide that is updated like the NUG, as they find ´best policy´ suggestions.  I appreciate and wouldn´t want the FP´s responsibility of switching hats from commenter to administrator, in a fair way, because that´s asking a lot.

There should be a suggestion for ´new comment´ users that jumping into a thread without reading it all, is running the risk of looking foolish and losing credibility, especially when judging, or ´correcting´ another.   The reading and staying on the appropriate topic mode shouldn´t need to be repeated.

The factual moving-pack effect of up to 10 members down-rating another to make a comment disappear, not because it is offensive, but because they refuse to see a true criticism, should really be discouraged.  

We need ´insurgents´ to stretch our limits, improve ourselves and society by not being rule-driven about it.  The best policy is the most accepting and flexible practice.

_Our knowledge has surpassed our wisdom. --Charu Saxena._