[Theforum] Re: (was) let's kill it

Peter-Paul Koch gassinaumasis at hotmail.com
Thu Apr 18 01:13:19 CDT 2002


>I can see two possible outcomes to our attrition problem that started with
>the original founding group, and in some ways has moved to our more public
>lists:
>
>1. Eventually governance gets whittled down to the privileged few who are
>actually *granted* access and given real, tangible control of the evolt.org
>entity. This is known by all kinds of less-than-flattering names:
>autocracy, dictatorship, despotic rule, fascism, etc. Yes,  the "citizenry"
>would still have a "voice" in posting articles and participating on the
>lists, but no real organizational control would rest in their hands.

Ugly names, for sure. But governance by a small group would, in the short
term, work best, especially to make some (apparently) necessary changes.

There is one check/balance on autocratic power in an online community which
doesn't exist in normal political entities:

People have the power to vote with their feet, as Lenin said. If the rule of
a small group becomes irritating or even oppressive, people can leave evolt,
leaving the rulers without people to rule.

If the admins/key bearers keep this sufficiently in mind while using their
power, they won't cross the line to abuse. In my experience (being a member
of an 'autocratic' group that administers a far smaller mailing list) this
works fine.

>2. Enough of the greater evolt family (including members of this
>list) decide that the .org is as important as the "evolt" and works
>for change. This is called democracy, and means that with the right
>to participate in the running of evolt as an organization comes some
>measure of responsibility towards seeing evolt thrive.

Beautiful ideal, but how do you implement it? Through theforum?

I'm all in favour of this idea, don't get me wrong, but how do you start
this process of change without it becoming a chaos immediately?

ppk

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