End all Negative Threads Now

[jeffrey reynolds]

Lynn,

I am sending you this off list to try and clear some things up first  
and directly with you, that being said...

Is this for real? Sorry i find this much more troubling than any of  
the discussions going on. I spent some time reviewing the posts of  
the last week or so and while there were a few little fires, nothing  
seemed very bad and most were dying out on their own. One thing that  
did strike me is that many of your replies to some of the list folks  
like richard were a bit on the flippant side. While you may have a  
great personal relationship with him that you can talk that way, as a  
list moderator and the most visible representative of rev now on the  
list, its just not very professional and i think may strike some the  
wrong way (example: hey kids) and just feed or start the fires you  
are trying to avoid/stop. you as a moderator and rev representative  
need to be very calm, clear and level headed in your comments. while  
the list is generally fun and folks jibe a lot (and that is great)  
the sad fact is a moderator and company rep just cant do that IMHO.

This list has been very stable and as lists go pretty civil. yes once  
and a while there are little firestorms, but all and all its very  
self moderating (except for a few of the comments that were posted  
that went into illegal areas of software piracy, etc). the fires seem  
to put themselves out after a few days and bad feelings seem to fade  
quickly. Negative things about rev almost always end up generating  
more good comments on rev and focusing of problem areas that need  
work (nothings perfect and software is even harder to move toward  
perfection than other things).

I get very worried when a rev representative steps in with heavy  
handed threats. I hope this is not how the new forums will be  
moderated. while forums are great for the very general stuff, for the  
professional developer they are much harder to try and keep up with.  
the rev list has been great and continues to work well for many of  
us. Most of the folks active in it have been using the product since  
mc days. Compartmentalizing things into pigeon hole forums will be of  
no use to me and by the comments of many on the list neither for them.

I may get banned for creating a negative thread here, but I feel like  
i need to comment on this style of moderation. Moderation is a very  
hard and tricky position that requires a lot more than issuing  
blanket statements like this, it will kill a great community we have  
here, that like all communities and families, have some squabbles  
time to time, but its best to air them out and let them go. Just  
stopping them with threats like this does not make for a happy and  
productive community. If you have a problem child or two on an issue  
its best handled off list with some counseling before expelling them  
from the family. If you want to do hands on moderation then  
generalized (with attempts at being cute) will not work. The issue  
has erupted because a few folks are really hot under the collar. cute  
general comments to the list about the tread just throws gasoline on  
these folks. It really requires some off list emails that are frank  
and understanding to defuse the situation, not just cause it to  
explode or try to just shut it off totally. the pressure will only  
build and erupt more violently later.

Is the Rev list now to become a totally corporate forum where only  
'how do i...' questions are posted and no frank discussions are  
allowed? If so that will totally kill what i have liked about the  
list for years. this group is usually the folks that push the  
envelope some and find the odd permutation that causes some oddities  
to come up so discussions of bugs and such do come up and i think are  
very useful to the rev staff, the list members, and the rev community  
in general. I worry this will really destroy a community that has,  
frankly, probably kept mc and rev afloat since the beginning with  
their use, dedication, and evangelizing of the products.

cheers,

jeff reynolds

On Apr 9, 2006, at 11:27 AM, use-revolution-request at lists.runrev.com  
wrote:

> Good (Sunday) morning,
>
> The amount of biting argument on the list has reached unacceptable  
> levels,
> after the warning yesterday. I am going to direct support to begin  
> deleting
> list subscriptions if I come back from Sunday breakfast and there's  
> still a
> stream of them coming in.
>
> Best regards,
>
>
> Lynn Fredricks
> Worldwide Business Operations
> Runtime Revolution, Ltd