Hi,
I see two issues here, that of a Charter and that of a set of guidelines for
interaction with GNHLUG. The first is usually fairly complex and costs lots
of time and energy to create. It speaks of formalism and guidance in the
direction that the group wants to go. It says what the group is, and (sometimes
more important) what it is not. Some may feel that GNHLUG needs a charter,
and that it is impeded by not having one. While I generally do not believe
that a charter would necessarily improve what we have (particularly as long as
we do not collect dues or membership fees), I will not argue that case tonight.
The second issue is that of rules of Netiquette, and I will try to address
that in my own inimitable way:
There are two types of people who violate Netiquette:
o the ignorant
o the stupid
The ignorant are the people who find out about the list, have no idea where
our web site is, and probably would not have read a charter or set of rules
posted there, because they do not know the rules (or the web site) exists.
For these people, a warm and gentle nurturing is best. Shoving a list of rules
in front of them and saying that they violated rule number #### does not really
seem to me to be the right way of doing it, however efficient it is. You may
lose them, and as long as ignorance is their only crime, I do not want to pay
that price.
The stupid know about such rules, but chose to ignore them for the reason of...
...well, they are stupid. No amount of subtlety will help them.
I think that a list of "Netiquette Suggestions" is a reasonable thing to have
sent around every so often, or even posted on a web site. But I hope that we
are never so busy in our lives not to take an honestly ignorant newbie aside
and treat them with the warmth and dignity that they deserve. This means
QUIETLY sending a GENTLE message to them that says:
Pardon me, but you did THIS, which is generally thought of as being
rude or inconsiderate for this reason.
and not blast an email message out to the list that says:
Hey ignorant one....read URL XXXXX.
I know that some people took their time with one really ignorant guy at many
points in my life....and I was always grateful to them for that kindness.
As they say in Dunkin Donuts these days:
"Let he who is without sin cast the first scone."
md
--
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Jon "maddog" Hall
Executive Director Linux International(SM)
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 80 Amherst St.
Voice: +1.603.672.4557 Amherst, N.H. 03031-3032 U.S.A.
WWW: http://www.li.org
Board Member: Uniforum Association, USENIX Association
(R)Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in several countries.
(SM)Linux International is a service mark of Linux International, Inc.
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