Jonathan Zittrain wrote:
>My question: what do you see as the best online architecture
>for open discussion on contentious issues that doesn't have a
>small minority of the stakeholders de facto dominating the discussion?
I question the assumption that people who really want to participate in
an online dialogue are turned off (and away) by the tone of the debate.
Certainly no one likes to be attacked, but the real turn off is not the
occasionally shrill tone but the constant volume. 300+ e-mails a day --
half of which are cross-postings -- is nonsense. Yes, the more
sophisticated users can sort their mail, delete the cross-posts, and
automate the deletion of mail from the most offensive participants, but
it's unrealistic to expect that a broad base of users will be able to do
this with their current e-mail clients.
If you're looking for a better architecture, abandon the mailing list.
It's a poor delivery device for debate. IMHO, a threaded usenet newsgroup
(moderated only to remove the spam) is much better.
You'll still have the problem of a small minority of users dominating the
discussion, but at least they won't be forcing their way into our
mailboxes.
Also, as the membership grows, the percentage of users who are as vocal
as those we've come to know and love here will diminish. I've subscribed
to a number of mailing lists and newsgroups over the years, and it seems
that the groups with the larger subscription bases function better. The
loonies tend to get marginalized when there is a large number of
participants.
-- Bret
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Bret A. Fausett
Fausett, Gaeta & Lund, LLP
e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.fausett.com
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
__________________________________________________
To receive the digest version instead, send a
blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To SUBSCRIBE forward this message to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNSUBSCRIBE, forward this message to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Problems/suggestions regarding this list? Email [EMAIL PROTECTED]
___END____________________________________________
