[nabs-l] NABS List Manners
Kaiti Shelton
crazy4clarinet104 at gmail.com
Sat Aug 16 03:41:20 UTC 2014
I like Jedi's idea of having a conference call on internet etiquette,
but my concern is that only those who abide by the rules already will
care to show up. It could be very effective, but my gut just tells me
that it would be like preaching to the choir. Unfortunately, calling
individuals out who have consistently demonstrated some of the
negative or disrespectful behaviors we've mentioned on this thread is
probably not the way to go either, unless done so by list moderators
like Mary and Dave.
I still think policing is the best way to go about this, but it would
be up to the moderators, and could be a huge undertaking. I like the
idea of having the rules set up on a screen after subscribers complete
the initial form, and am a huge fan of using I agree or I don't Agree
buttons to finish the subscription process if it is feasible. I think
that would make it much harder for people to just say they were
ignorant of the rules because they never cared to look for them.
Sure, people will skim through it and not read, but at least we can
say that they broke the rules at their own disgression and had an
equal opportunity to read them. Granted, I'm of the opinion that when
you join a list it's your responsibility to use common etiquette
and/or educate yourself on the rules and therefore we're already all
equal here anyway, but obviously not everyone on the list operates
that way and that's why we're having this problem to begin with.
Arielle gave some great advice about when to just let a thread go and
to not respond, and I echo some of Antonio's sentiments about deleting
a lot of what doesn't interest you. Some of the personal promotion
stuff is annoying, but not harmful, and while I don't necessarily read
what the promos say, I respect what the person making them is doing
and their right to do it on a forum such as NABS. After all, if
you're doing something geared toward blind teens and young adults,
it's logical to use NABS as a sounding board to gather interested
parties.
There's a great quote from Thumper, the bunny in Bambi, which I
believe goes something like, "If you don't got nothing nice to say,
don't say it." I think most of the list members do well and abide by
this, but the people who provide the put-downs, consistently respond
negatively to other's comments, and who send inappropriate emails on
list (and off by getting member emails and emailing to continue the
inappropriate behaviors they start for all to see), are mostly repeat
offenders who have left clear patterns of behavior behind in their
emails. I'm not saying we should jump the gun and kick those people
off, but we definitely know where to start and who to keep an eye on
for these problems based on the past, if only we had a method for
doing so.
On 8/15/14, Sami Osborne via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I agree with everything that's been said so far.
>
> I think that the guidelines should maybe be posted here more
> often, maybe not once every month but more than maybe once every
> 6 months. The reason I'm saying this is because since I've
> registered to this list, the guidelines have only been posted
> once. I think this would be a great way for everybody to be
> aware of the rules and think about what they've done if they have
> caused trouble on here.
> Also, another suggestion is that when people register, after they
> submit their email address, name and password, why couldn't the
> guidelines be displayed, with buttons or links for the person
> would have to click on to agree or disagree? Note: if they
> accidentally click "disagree," then they could be given a second
> chance to click "agree," and if for the second time they click on
> "agree," then their subscription will not be taken.
>
> About discussing opinions: I think that these kinds of
> discussions are fine as long as people are not personally
> insulting or attacking each other. In my opinion, if there is a
> discussion going on where two people have differing opinions and
> talk about their views, if it gets to the point where it starts
> to get bad, these people should stop discussing their opinions.
>
> These are just my thoughts.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Sami.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Arielle Silverman via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> To: Antonio Guimaraes <freethaught at gmail.com>,National
> Association of Blind Students mailing list <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> Date sent: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 15:32:02 -0700
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] NABS List Manners
>
> I agree with greater enforcement. I also think it would be nice
> if
> folks didn't respond to inappropriate messages on list. A single
> off-topic or obnoxious message often goes unnoticed but a huge
> thread
> of replies clutters inboxes and annoys people, plus rewarding
> someone
> who might be making an obnoxious post to glean attention. If a
> post
> bothers you, I suggest quietly emailing Mary and Dave Andrews so
> they
> can handle the offense and then quietly letting it go. If you
> aren't
> sure whether a message you see is inappropriate, ask the
> moderators
> privately. These are just my suggestions.
> Arielle
>
> On 8/14/14, Antonio Guimaraes via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
> wrote:
> Mary and all,
>
> This is not the first time list etiquette and civility has been
> brought up.
>
> People would think twice, or otherwise no longer have the
> opportunity to be
> inappropriate on list if there was enforcement of guidelines
> which suspended
> or banned people from list for violations.
>
> I have been threatened once for one spam sent to NFBNet lists,
> and I never
> did it again. The specifics do not concern the NABS list and
> are not
> relevant to the discussion at this time, but you bet I could
> have been
> banned by moderators, and as stated above, would no longer have
> the chance
> to polite the list in whatever way deemed inappropriate by the
> moderators.
>
> Some off topic messages to NABS irk me, but are infrequent
> enough that they
> don't bother me. I don't complain, hit delete ad move on.
>
> One much example are the periodic announcements from David about
> internet
> radio. It takes me a few seconds to see the topic and decide
> the
> announcement does not interest me. I delete, and move on with
> no stress. I'm
> sure David's programs are interesting to some, and I accept a
> member's
> self-promotion as a part of the supportive NABS community.
>
> I am not as tolerant of messages with personal information about
> others, or
> messages filled with self-disclosure on very personal and
> sensitive topics.
>
> We would be a better list if we were expected to act civilly,
> stay on topic,
> and so on, and be wormed, and disciplined when we do not.
>
> Antonio
>
> On Aug 10, 2014, at 8:55 PM, Mary Fernandez via nabs-l
> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> wrote:
>
> Good evening all,
> I hope everyone's weekend was very enjoyable.
> I am writing because I am deeply concerned about the manners, or
> lack
> thereof, which are more and more frequently being displayed on
> the
> list serv. I'll quickly remind you that the list is supposed to
> be a
> resource for blind students, of all ages, young professionals,
> parents
> and teachers. The list is "public" and "archivable", which
> means that
> anything we write on here is easily brought up when someone,
> anyone,
> conducts a Google search.
> When someone inquires about software, or help with anything,
> which
> relates to blindness, or has a question and asks that you
> contact them
> off line, it does not mean that you can be disrespectful to that
> person. The list is NOT here for insults to be thrown back and
> forth,
> for inappropriate comments, or for general disrespect towards
> others.
> So, here is my question, how can we improve communication among
> list
> members? Does this list still have value, and if so what are the
> values and how to we maintain them? Let's have a discussion
> about
> issues and solutions. I'm probably opening a can of worms, but
> I'm
> truly concerned about the tone of the messages on here, and the
> frequency with which they have been occurring. Please, be
> polite and
> respectful when responding to this message, and if you have
> strong
> feelings you do not wish to make public, simply click on my
> email
> address: trillian551 at gmail.com and reply to me directly.
>
> Thank you,
> Sincerely,
> Your list moderator,
>
> --
> Mary Fernandez
> "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will
> forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made
> them
> feel."
> --
> Maya Angelou
>
> _______________________________________________
> nabs-l mailing list
> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account
> info for
> nabs-l:
>
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/freethaught%4
> 0gmail.com
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nabs-l mailing list
> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account
> info for
> nabs-l:
>
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/arielle71%40g
> mail.com
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nabs-l mailing list
> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info
> for nabs-l:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/ligne14%40ver
> izon.net
>
> _______________________________________________
> nabs-l mailing list
> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> nabs-l:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/crazy4clarinet104%40gmail.com
>
--
Kaiti
More information about the NABS-L
mailing list