Well, I for one am absolutely
not done discussing this idea; in fact, I've been thinking about it all damn day. So I'm ignoring the
DRAMA and going back to the discusiion. I invite all sensible folk to join me in doing so.
Not that I'm calling anyone in particular non-sensible, mind you. I'm just sayin' that this is what I personally think is the sensible course of action.
Jny,
Have I ever told you just how completely utterly and totally cool you are? If not, let me do so now. You once again managed to say exactly what I was thinking. Except you made it like... make sense and stuff.
It is sad but true that people take more seriously services for which they have paid. Whether this is true for such a small amount, I don't know. But I've seen it happen in a number of different settings.
Could it be that charging even a nominal membership fee will make the board more likely to attract the posters who really want to be here and less likely to attract trolls and troublemakers?
Yes it could be! My wife has a degree in Organizational Psychology, and I ran this idea past her. Truns out that studies back up this idea.
When you set a price on something, you have just assigned it a value. If you pay a price for something, you have just accepted that it has a value. That's all pretty obvious. Less obvious (but just as true) is that when you give something away for free, you are sending the unspoken message that it has
no value. Even a price that is so small as to be of no practical significance has a significant
psychological impact. Practically speaking, the difference between free and 25 cents is nothing, and a dollar is four times 25 cents. But psychologically, the distance between free and
anything, even a measly little quarter, is frickin' HUGE.
You know those ads for puppies "free to a good home"? You're much more likely to find them a good home if you charge $5. Compared to the cost of their time and gas money to go get the dog, $5 ain't squat. But any amount at all is enough to weed out the people who might not have thought this whole puppy thing through. And those who do get the dog will actually value a $5 dog more than a free one. It's just the way our minds work.
So requiring
something in return for voting rights (even if it's not money) will not only weed out the frivolous and malicious, it will also make those who do participate more likely to take things more seriously - to
value those rights more than if they had just been given them.
Having said all that...
I really
really really hated the way PM's work on TORC. The big red visible status symbol of the PM's just got all over my nerves. I know that it was intended as a small token of appreciation for those who contributed, but to me it
felt like those who hadn't were being made to look like second-class citizens. On that note, I am very much against any and every visible symbol of distinction that could divide the board into diferent social classes.
However, the more I consider giving the immediate ability to determine the long-term fate of this board to any and every chucklehead with an email address, the dumber the idea sounds. Requiring
something, some kind of contribution, from members before they're allowed to participate in the democratic process is, IMAO, just good common sense.
But what? What do we value from our members? What do we expect from our members? What, over and above all else, makes one a true
member of the B77 family?
Participation. This board is a social exercise. To truly be a part of the board requires you to engage yourself in the social intercourse of the board. (Quit snickering - I said "
social intercourse"
) SO I would like to see voting restricted to those with at least 100 posts...
**looks at own postcount**
...uh, ...
fifty posts I mean.
Here's my proposal: the aforementioned chucklehead with an email account? He's a member immediately. He can join in discussions in the Business Room, he can post and read anywhere except the Voting Booth, which is read-only to anyone not a voting member. So if you want to gage the opinion of everyone including non-voters, post a non-binding poll in the Business Room. Votes that affect and/ or create policy, serving on a jury or serving as an Admin would be reserved for voting members.
Just my thoughts.