Of course, norms are what enable communities to stay knit together. And norms are best enforced by all the members.
"Moderator" means, technically, a gate-keeper. On moderated Usenet groups, email to the group goes to the moderator, who decides whether to forward it. The kind of facilitator Stephan refers to does indeed do a better job by encouraging responsible participation. I wrote something about that a long time ago http:www.rheingold.com/texts/artonlinehost.html But when it comes to decision-making about instances where informal norms are insufficient (usually, when sanctions, including expulsion, are considered) , it's far easier to delegate that to one person than to embroil the entire group in justice-by-committee. We're not doing well at all on the population-to-participation ratio in this list. A relatively small number have asked to be removed. Maybe the other silent people simply don't read the list, or it is filtered to a folder? Howard Rheingold [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://twitter.com/hrheingold http://www.rheingold.com http://www.smartmobs.com http://vlog.rheingold.com what it is ---> is --->up to us On Sep 15, 2008, at 2:49 PM, Stephan Dohrn wrote: > Probably right that you need someone to be there, but I find that in > many communities it is regular members that jump in and point out > unacceptable behavior (on the list or with direct emails), and the > moderator only acts in the more extreme cases. > > In facilitation, you are taught that you should encourage every > participant to feel responsible for the outcome and thus for the > decision-making process, which (if it works) makes the moderation > job much easier. > > Maybe a sign of health or maturity of a community if everyone feels > ownership? Considering that we only come out of our shells when > Robert (or previously Howard) pokes, we might not be doing that well > on this front? > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CooperationCommons" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/CooperationCommons?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
