[Theforum] my two cents

Louis P Bennett lbenne01 at tufts.edu
Tue Oct 30 21:24:11 CST 2001


[ rudy sez ]
>i don't think anybody disputes this objective (opening up the leadership to
>new people), but the hangup at the moment seems to be just how to do this
>
>in that regard, it would really help matters if a few more non-admins here
>would speak up and share your thoughts

the opportunity for leadership (for those of us who aren't in admin) 
seems rather limited at the moment. of course, that's what this is 
supposedly all about, and hence why i joined it. (-:

focusing on the matter at hand is by far the most effective way to 
keep discussion rolling, but perhaps we need to step back a bit...

[ rudy also sez ]
>one of the things that peeves me -- i'll make no bones about it, and take
>my lumps -- is the way people ... focus on the "how" of getting something
>done, rather than the "what" of what should be done

it appears we've been keeping busy fussing about how to mould admin 
into admin and theforum. we know why we're doing it, and [ albeit 
somewhat less well ] what we'll accomplish by doing so. i'm glad to 
see [ advertently, maybe ] that both admin and theforum are 
discussing this matter separately. it's scary, however, to see such 
tension between members [ admins or not ].

now, i'm all about sitting back to some music [ usually dmb for me ] 
and examining a problem. i'm damn good at the build & fix game, be it 
with coding, writing, or managing my "love life," but i know it's 
just not the right way to work. there's a process that one should 
follow to do things the right way. i don't intend to suggest 
reinventing evolt.org; members among us know why and how it came 
about, but a quick word on this from a non-admin. for the first 
period of my evolt membership, i wasn't aware that admin existed [ as 
cited by others on theforum ]. when i joined thelist, i discovered 
that someone had to be in charge, but didn't heed much attention to 
it, because i was too busy absorbing all of the content therein. 
finally, when i joined thesite, it was clear that select people have 
r/w access to the server [ duh. convenient, i suppose (-: ]. just now 
i'm learning about the origins of evolt.org in a less vague [ but 
fragmented ] picture.

while thinking about what we have and what we want, it occurred to 
the me that as this list grows, it will be harder and harder to come 
to consensus. that's fine. however, are we a majority rules or 
consensus community? does it vary depending on what decisions are 
made? these are the questions i see that will matter as we determine 
who we are: whoever you are and wherever you have come from, when you 
interact with evolt.org, you are a part of our community and you are 
welcome here. but, i wonder, what do we want to offer to users who 
want to change the world with us, but know only of thesite and 
articles on weo?

-louis




More information about the theforum mailing list