request for moderation

[John Reimer]

Anonymous,

I don't agree with Kris' approach either and have told him so plainly; I 
believe his hypocracy-crushing crusade is spewing shrapnel at many 
innocent bystanders and thus is creating a net-loss in the community 
atmosphere.  Further, it comes across as a person who is holding a 
grudge, whether he intends that to be so or not. I believe his actions 
will do more to blight the Tango name than to cleanse the newsgroup.  I 
say this directly because I believe Kris is the kind of person that can 
take this directly.  I believe that says a lot of good about the type of 
person he is.

Yet, it also gets tiresome hearing (and seeing) examples of 
sock-puppetry, accusations of sock-puppetry, and (finally) anonymous 
complaints.  Kris has been right to some degree.  He's just carried it 
way too far.

/But/ I'm entirely surprised that you (anonymous) are asking for 
moderation based on Kris' posts alone considering the recent atmosphere 
created by another much more serious problem (partially described in the 
previous paragraph). This is such an astounding gaff on your part, that 
I'm perplexed at your purpose for posting: you seem to have your 
priorities confused, or perhaps you have completely overlooked something.

Perhaps, like I have, you have written to Walter to ask about how he can 
fix the problem here? If not, perhaps you should do so now, so that he 
can better understand the seriousness of the situation?  I agree that 
some sort of moderation is necessary for this group.... more so than 
what currently is happening: semi-moderation already exists in the form 
of "post-deleting" episodes. Unfortunately that does little to stop the 
original poster from posting more or to stop equally malicious posts 
from annoyed responders.

Further, several community members here (in good standing!) are directly 
responsible for feeding the problem by adopting a philosophy of 
"universal acceptance", aka "wishful thinking": that is, they accept the 
offender no matter what by (apparently) hoping that if they ignore the 
existence of the bad, then the good will flow through.  Honestly, this 
is not how real life works; would we accept a murderer, a rapist or a 
pedophile "just the way he is"?  Would we assume that if we ignore his 
"bad habits" and speak nicely to him, that we will all just get along?

I apologize for the extreme example, but realistically... those that are 
intent on being disreputable must be shown that what they do is 
unacceptable to the operation of this community.  There is no need to 
continually scream or rant at such personalities.  We must /first/ 
simply refuse to communicate with them so they "get the message". 
Second, a good moderating board would eject persistent cases to keep the 
seed from destroying or fracturing the group. The "lets just get along" 
mentality only works when individuals are willing to moderate themselves 
and exercise self-control and courtesy, even when they are wronged. 
That said, members who have responded tit for tat are guilty of feeding 
the problem in this newsgroup.

Next case: this community has been hit with sock-puppetry, aka "get 
even" with the "bad guy" mentality. Please.. may I ask: what in the 
world does this achieve?  Can we fix one evil by using another?  Such 
actions will only further destroy this group's morale by engendering 
distrust and doubt among members.  Apparently it isn't just the 
new-comers who are corrupt.  The corruption is right here inside. At 
least, that's what these recent episodes are showing based on the 
responses.  This test appears to be here to shake our cup to see what's 
inside it.

I'm afraid letting things go as they are will only encourage the 
downward spiral of this whole community, especially since each member 
handles the situation as they see fit.  Please, the solution is to avoid 
back-biting, refuse response to war-mongers, and be relentlessly 
peaceful.  Even so, while I whole-heartedly endorse mercy and compassion 
as important qualities, please understand that they are little use to 
those that refuse the offering; obviously, these qualities only work on 
those that accept them.  Those that respond with rudeness and hatred 
should just be persistently ignored, until such a time that Walter (the 
only moderator here that I know of) decides to act on the issue.  Those 
that counter-post with the same manner are responsible for continuing 
the problem.

-JJR