board77

I've seen a cartoon about something like that, "democratisation of nuclear deterrence", everybody was carrying warheads and bombs around ... but otoh, not everyone is invited here. I would trust any of you with an H-Bomb.

I had a very small mb for friends where everyone had admin powers. True, we were all friends, but aren't we all, so far, here?

In any case, with the rotating system, everyone will have a chance to be a mod/admin/troll patrol, so that shouldn't be a problem.

Mumpzz: I would trust any of you with an H-Bomb.



I probably can't be trusted with an H-bomb ... in retrospect, you know ... thinking back over my life ...

Troll patroll duty = jury duty? Can you get out of it if you're sick? We'd be shortstaffed then...

I like Nin's idea about making registration a bit of a hurdle to keep out trolls and spammers, and the idea of the mentor.

I like Alandriel's time-concept for the change of status more than Ethel's, but think it's still too long, like Imp said.

(Btw, wow, Imp, if that's what you compose while you're watching the printer to spew out flyers... - great post! )

So, in general I think there are some good ideas, but while reading this I've constantly been putting myself in the position of someone interested in registering and remembering my own early days on TORC.

So, from the view of the truehobbit wanting to register: if after having taken the trouble to register I got a notice or mail saying I'd have to send in a statement next I'd be totally pissed off!
This, IMO, would need to be made very clear before the future member fills in the first box in the registration form! Something like: "This board is meant for free conversation among the members - as much as possible we want to guarantee a friendly atmosphere where members can post without fear of abuse or betrayal. In order to help the whole board to stick with this ideal, upon registering you will be asked to send a short statement concerning your views of this board. When we have received this, your posting rights will be enabled."
Or something like that (I'm also worried that people registering will think that if they say something "wrong" or "not good enough", they won't be accepted, so we'd need something to rest them easy on that account, too.)

Something about the mentor: great idea, but make sure the new member knows they can have a different mentor if they don't get along with the one they are assigned. Let them know where to go to get a different mentor and that there are no repercussions for them if they want to change their mentor.
The reason for this is that for the truehobbit wanting to register, the idea of being stuck with a "mentor" she doesn't like gives her the creeps!

And about waiting for full membership: I'm with Imp on the dangers of making it too long.
When you start out on TORC you are a "petitioner" for the first ten or twenty posts. I've always thought that during petitioner-status you could be chucked out more easily - I don't even know if that's true or not, but that's what I thought, and I have to tell you that when I was a n00b myself, I was mighty relieved when I had passed the petitioner-status without being kicked out! And that was only for ten or twenty posts! I don't remember how long it took me to get those posts, but facing a period like that for three months would be intolerable for me.
A month, I think, would be ok.

Alandriel, the schedule for admin rotation sounds really good, I think.

Some more things to address, I guess, but at them moment all I remember is Ax's idea, which I find quite interesting.
It does sound odd at first, but this is not only like trusting everybody with an H-bomb (though I agree with Mummpizz that with the people here this sounds quite safe ) - it's a bit the idea that you can't very well grudge anybody else their "powers", or pout about why "that person" got elected in no time and you didn't or something like that (and I think these feelings are only human) - if everybody has the same powers (which in turn are controlled by the community). And with the absence of such jealousies and presence of control mechanism, temptation to abuse the power would be very small.
(I do however think that this might be more difficult than a rotation system, I just wanted to say that I don't find the idea as crazy as it might seem - it's worth thinking about, I think.)

Edit to respond to previous post: yes, that's something that's been bothering me too - some people have made it seem that membership here would require you to take over whatever sort of duty at some point in time. I think this should be voluntary.
What I'm thinking of is making it a negative choice - everybody can be asked to be mentor/jury/troll patrol, but if someone doesn't want any of that, all they have to do is say so.
(Because the other way round - like with adoptions on TORC - the shyer ones would maybe never put themselves forward for such a task even if they'd like it.)

To the several people who posted that they liked the idea of tiered responsibility/empowerment, but thought the timelines I suggested were too long: I agree with you! When I put that proposal together I was trying to be super-sensitive to some feelings of concern I have seen expressed here. So I deliberately overstated what I thought would be reasonable timelines.

It was never meant to be a 'final' proposal - only to draw something up in fairly concrete terms so we'd have ideas to bounce around - to which counter-suggestions could be made. That process often helps people formulate their thoughts.

For the record, I'd like to see us open the doors a bit before 1/1/2006 - perhaps somewhere in the area of November of this year. But that's just me. If January is acceptable to all, I can certainly live with it.

Also... I don't feel like we're quite ready to get down to the nitty gritty of formulating policies. Just my sense of where we are in the process. But when we do get to that point, I wanted to offer myself as a facilitator for the discussion. I am actually a trained facilitator - Intel was very big on facilitation as a skill and I took several classes in it. It was a big part of my job for years.

Just an offer - take it or leave it as seems good!

Ethel, sure you can be a facilitator - though I'd be curious to know what that is! :mrgreen:

(I know, literally, someone who makes something easy - but it seems to be a real job-description the way you use it.)

I remembered that I had wanted to say something on lidless idea of hurrying up with the invitations - I don't think that's such a good idea (and not only because I wouldn't know three people who'd be interested in joining - I mean I could easily think of three people I'd like to have here, but not of anyone who's interested in joining a messageboard) - mainly because of what someone (Ax?) said, namely that we are going through a formative process right now that is best done with lots of discussion and getting input from everybody. This is only possible while the size is limited.
Not meaning to sound exclusive or undemocratic, but it's easier to collect the ideas of 50 people and mould them into something new, than those of 150, IMO.

I'd also like for this board to grow before we run out of ideas and variety, but I see no danger of this yet, and new people are added almost daily. I think that's a nice speed for now, no need to hurry.

truehobbit wrote:

Ethel, sure you can be a facilitator - though I'd be curious to know what that is! :mrgreen:

It wasn't so much a job description as an occasional required role when I worked at Intel. The idea was to help a pretty disparate group of people reach consensus on a difficult issue. There are some very specific techniques that can help make that possible.

Vodka.

Expensive, but guaranteed.

Okay - so I sounded like an ass there. Sorreh.

Ethel wrote:

Okay - so I sounded like an ass there. Sorreh.

I don't see that; neither an ass (though I find donkeys most endearing) nor an arse (I'm never sure which meaning is intended by Americans).

Those skills don't come easily to everyone; the fact that you've had training in them surely shone through in the complex and painful discussions that went on at TORC.

Quote:

Okay - so I sounded like an ass there. Sorreh.

You never sound like an ass, and stop calling me Sorreh :mrgreen:

I think thats actually a really good offer from Ethel, and would be useful indeed if folks are happy with it. Less of the ... that we may fall into.

How would we make this work though?

IM? Can't see how it could be processed via MB posts.

Don't know.

Ethel wrote:

For the record, I'd like to see us open the doors a bit before 1/1/2006 - perhaps somewhere in the area of November of this year. But that's just me. If January is acceptable to all, I can certainly live with it.

Me too, Ethel - and I thought of this this night, when I could not sleep - the board has opened on octobre 27th - why not open it to the public for the first anniversary. It would still give us plenty of time to find an identity.

Seconded!

I also thought that a year was a nice, rounded date. However, bear in mind that a year in internet terms is AGES. We might have changed our minds in six months. So I'd say, let's aim for opening up the boards on October 2005 at the latest.

We need to set up a vote on this I guess, an do one now so we know what we are aiming for and when. Just for an idea of what we want.

Personally I think October is too soon for general opening, but I could be wrong. So any other sugestions for dates?

Dindraug wrote:

So any other sugestions for dates?

That depends on whom you'd want to date.

I am reluctant about a complete opening of the board - after all, as long as it's a private party, one can say "shit" and "fuck" and "balls" without angry puritan moms hanging on the phone. We'll also have to look for a bigger server and sources of money to keep it running. I'm not much into internet law and legislation, but I'm pretty sure it can be difficult.

I don't think that "letter of intent" thing will work as well. One would have to know the thing desired very good to meet the point - and the board being shut away, it'll be impossible for newbies to guess it. I wouldn't want to join a messageboard like this (though I must admit it's a brilliant thought).

Hm. I am pessimistic today, disregard my opinions.

Hmmm... how about letting a vote thread run and put forward

- October (the one year thing is kinda cool ) - making it 27/10 (which would be almost the same as beginning November anyway)

- January meaning 1/1/06 (December is a very busy month anyway )

- earlier / later (for folks then to voice their preferred date)

eat some chocs Mummpizz

_______________
Resident witch

I think January '06 is too late. I would think that opening up the board in 6 months would be good, but opening it on it's 1st anniversary wouldn't be bad.

Quote:

We'll also have to look for a bigger server and sources of money to keep it running.

We should research into this and find out the answer to this before opening up the board most definately.

I'm sorry, I haven't had the brain cell availablity to give this thread the thought it deserves, but I will get in here.....

Just briefly, on the current subject of when we open up. If we're looking at a date a way off anyway, we don't need to decide now. We're still finding our feet and our context and settling down. Give it maybe 6 months and we'll be in a better position to know whether November looks like it will work for us?