2009/9/8 Austin Hair <adh...@gmail.com>: > In Buenos Aires I had multiple people ask (even practically beg) me to > do something about foundation-l. One person said "fucking moderate > foundation-l, already!"—to which I explained why I didn't think that > moderating individuals was a solution, but had to admit that I didn't > really have a better one. > > I've created http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Improving_Foundation-l for > brainstorming of how to make this list a little bit less of a > cesspool. Please feel free to ignore the initial thoughts I banged > out as a starting point and refactor as you will. If there's > consensus on a better model, I'll happily implement it; even if there > isn't, at least getting more people's thoughts on the matter is a > start.
Thanks Austin -- I have a lot of sympathy for your task here, and I really appreciate you trying to come up with solutions that will help foundation-l improve. Personally, I use foundation-l because it's our most accessible public channel for information-sharing and dialogue -- but that doesn't mean I like it much; I don't. I'm sure we all know plenty of people who unsubscribed long ago, either because they don't like the generally negative tone here, and/or because they find the signal-to-noise ratio too low to suit them. I assume that becomes (or long ago, became) a self-reinforcing cycle, with an increasing number of constructive/positive people leaving or falling silent, ceding the mailing list to negativity. It may sound like I am being really critical of the people who _are_ active here: I actually don't intend to be. I think tough questions and constructive criticism, done in good faith and with an open heart, are a service to us all. But I also believe we've lost our balance a little, and it would be good to have some more appreciation and warmth amidst the other stuff. So I will do my bit by appreciating Austin. Thanks for making the page :-) -- Sue Gardner Executive Director Wikimedia Foundation 415 839 6885 office 415 816 9967 cell Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality! http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
