Tuesday, March 08, 2005
Noise to Signal: High
As a moderator of two lists, I find that the best way to keep lists healthy is the chuck the troublemakers. Moderating a list is like forming a band. If your bass player doesn't show up to practice, it hurts the band. If he shows up, but he's not into the music, it hurts the band. If he shows up and plays great but no one can stand his premadonna attitude, it hurts the band. Perhaps the bass player should find another band.Who is 'poisonous' is defined 100% by the moderator. It may be interpreted as a case of playing favorites, but the beautiful thing about the Internet is that the cost of starting your own list is so low, there's really no loss for being a jerk. "Go be a jerk on your own time, on your own list." As it were.
Or, as Radiohead put it, "anyone can play guitar." They never said anything about playing well though . . .
As for me? I've developed a pretty sphisticated method for adjusting to the jerks who I cannot boot from a list because I do not own the list: I delete the message.
Shirky on flame wars:
Flaming is not just personal expression, it is a kind of performance, brought on in a social context.
TAG: flame wars
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