----- Original Message ----- From: "Erik Reuter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, November 10, 2002 12:45 PM Subject: Re: From Mark on rec.arts.books.tolkien
> On Sun, Nov 10, 2002 at 10:48:25AM -0500, Gary Nunn wrote: > > > > Julia wrote.... > > > > > I'm sorry that people are so bent out of shape about it now. Maybe if > > > people hadn't been getting so bent out of shape about what the > > > listowners should and should not do before then, it wouldn't have been > > > an issue that the listowners felt ought not be publicized. > > > > > > Julia is absolutely right. > > No, she is not, at least not if that is a statement of policy. It > sounded more like an excuse to me, or perhaps an apology with an > excuse. But whatever it is, it is NOT good policy. Come on now, if since > when is it good policy to keep something secret because you are afraid > that others might criticize you if the truth were known? That is a > policy of tyrants, not of a free and transparent list like Brin-L. No, it is the policy of a very sick and tired volunteer who is establishing sane boundaries. I've volunteered a number of times, both as a leader and follower, and I've noticed a pattern. There are times when the lead volunteer job is work, listening to kvetching, and no reward. An example of this for me was when I took the TD job for chess clubs. The first time I did this, I had to estimate initial ratings for folks. But, the ratings are self adjusting, so after 40 or so games, a 200 point error in the initial estimate fades to 50 points. One of the folks insisted that I rated him far too low, and was rather upset by it. When I pointed out that his play over the last 40 games was consistant with that rating, he countered that the low rating lead to the poor play. That wasn't too bad, but when I started doing weekly tournaments with kids, and yelling parents, I gave up because the load, both in terms of time and emotions. So, even thought I criticized Eileen in the JDG fiasco, I was still aware that we were very dependant on her goodwill. Now, after hearing how Sonja got many nasty emails, I'm guessing that Eileen did too. Frankly, she was well within her rights to say it was just not worth the trouble. She had no obligation to not pull the plug. Since she participated very little, brin-l was mostly work for her. Given that, I don't think her actions were that out of line. You know, you knew that Cornell was going away, and could have provided a new adress for brin-l yourself. Then, you could have told everyone that it would be an open forum, and we'd have the choice of looking for other volunteers, or taking what you offered. > No one should be above constructive criticism. That is one of Brin's > memes, and it is applicable here. If the listowners are afraid of > constructive criticism, then perhaps they should re-consider being > listowners? They should NOT hide things from the list. So, your suggestion was that she should have pulled the plug? Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
