(no subject)

[elizabear]

I have heard many stories of people who leave the sca-east list or never want to join because of flame wars or rudeness or personality clashes. I find this really sad. I created the list all those years ago to be a way to connect people in the kingdom, to help share information relating to our hobby, to be a useful and interesting place to be. Sometimes the list does those things in a positive way and sometimes in a negative way. I propose to you: what can be done to make this list a more positive place to be, a more welcoming place, a place with less conflict and less clashing?

Comments

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

Modeling behavior is great, but it doesn't work on lunkheads.

Or on people who have temporarily lost their sanity due to an online discussion, and have become lunkheads on certain topics.

[artisticphoenix.livejournal.com]

Sure you can. I use it every day. It is part of classroom management.

Yes, it can be painful and a lot of work for the first month or so, until everyone settles down. Rewarding the good behavior and modeling the correct behavior is part of it. But once you establish that certain behavior will not be tolerated, behavior improves. Lunkheads need more than modeling behavior - which is the carrot, they need the mighty sword of teamwork and the hammer of not bickering. A couple of private emails to the lunkheads, even to the temporarily insane lunkheads from a moderator can do the trick. The simple observation - "would you do this in person? If not, take it private" - is enough to stop most.

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

I expect (if the list is much as it was when I left it) that sane folks model good behavior every day, and yet, it doesn't do much good in the absence of an authority figure to moderate.

I agree that moderation of the kind you describe would be effective.