Well! It seems I've hit a nerve. I'd like to thank you for pulling aside the curtain on the inextricably intertwined realities of commerce and global economics, because it's something we all would do well to keep in mind, at least in the background if nothing else. My nutshell corollary would be that nothing exists in a vacuum.
But bear in mind that when I raised the specter of ethics, it wasn't an invocation. I merely sought to point out a pertinent aspect of human nature. Ethics takes many forms, and some that you or I probably wouldn't readily recognize.
GreenWood wrote: ↑Fri Apr 15, 2022 10:43 am... but mods are understood to be "more equal", and they carry the weight of past argument of others with them... equally people are happy to leave the "honour" of last post on a thread to mod... because it does make someone wonder sometimes, when no one follows up, if it was something they said. Anyway, maybe mods should be more like teachers, seen but not heard ? That isn't a criticism, it just relates to how people often react to "them", or the space they allocate to mods...."mod has last say, and so ends both argument and conversation" .
Here, though, it seems you have gone a very different direction from the topic. Now, C&F has a tradition of permitting - even celebrating - thread drift, so that, in itself, isn't an issue - but the sudden focus on moderatorship gives one a spot of whiplash. Let me clarify a few things (or teach, if you will): First, as stipulated in the
CCCP (#15, to be exact), mods are free to publicly socialize with our fellow members - for we are members too - and since we're not paid, this is entirely reasonable. At such times our mod hats are, in the main, set aside; when we put them back on, there's usually little question of it. How the regular member perceives this is beyond our control, so one has to start somewhere and hope for the best. Over the years and to date, nothing has arisen compelling enough for us to change this model (Dale would probably say it's Poststructural); for as much as nothing's perfect, it works in its own way. I can tell you with confidence that the only times we are determined to have the last word is when it involves policy, or we have to arrive at a decision that affects the Board and its members - and we try to do so with all due probity. In that, Admin's word is indeed final. But not so in other matters: In the socializing context I have been corrected plenty of times, and I'm grateful for the education. There, the last word certainly isn't mine unless things should end by happenstance after I say, "Thank you." Very often things don't stop there, though, and the conversation continues to its natural end with or without me. If a matter ends after I speak reason (such as my poor abilities allow), I would certainly hope that such reason transcends something so banal as hierarchy; I would be dismayed if others acquiesce due to my peculiar position alone, rather than on the merit of my persuasions. I can't accept that. But maybe I'll never know, will I. Anyway, that's the contract. Anything else is, of course, one's projections.
Really, I see my function as more akin to that of a janitor in the wings. The only thing I can routinely teach - strictly as a mod - is policy, and generally that isn't needed, because Chiffers tend to be a well-groomed lot. Anything else, though, has to messily come from what I know (or think I know), just as with any other member; there, moderatorial authority ends, for my non-moderatorial opinions (and they may be called that) are just as up for debate as anyone else's. There really shouldn't be any question which is which. A mod as teacher because they are a mod, or a mod being a mod because they have skills, posits that they are to be taken as a musical paragon, and that doesn't work anywhere because no one wants the same teacher. So if I offer opinions (teacherly or otherwise) on something, those opinions have nothing to do with moderating, much less authority, and as such are very much open to debate. In fact, you yourself have already demonstrated this reality. Remember that modship is administrative, and little more; a sensible person shouldn't even want the job. If you're concerned that we are drunk with power and hold the sword of vindictiveness ever aloft, ask around. I'm sure you'll get varying opinions, but ask around. Or better yet, observe. As mods, we would work for and with you, and hope you work with us; as members, we would idly chew the fat, serve up pertinent info, ask questions, or joke around; either way, heaven forfend that our presence should be hair-raising. It works better when people remember that sometimes we simply have a job to do. The station is nothing like a brass ring - any shlub can sweep up - although in the end policy norms do apply (without which one can only hope for chaos). So of course there are special empowerments, but in reality you can't have one without the other, right? With that in mind, here's a further bit of policy (also stipulated in #15.6, IIRC): Be careful of what we call metamoderating. If there's something about praxis that you think Admin could improve on, that's what PMs are for, and we will gladly engage the issue in good faith, for we don't have the hubris to believe we'll get it right every time. But public critique of how mods do their jobs - metamoderating - is quite another matter, and not permitted. Use the back channels instead. It's just good manners.
Not to seem naive, but on the whole I see us all as a team. Other members seem to as well, for the rank and file have on numerous occasions helpfully informed each other of policy, but of course they're not responsible for managing things. So that's why I see myself as a janitor, and a keeper of the peace when called for. But Sauron? Way too much power-tripping for my liking. I far prefer cordial conversations to exercising "control"; it's usually not needed at all, thank goodness. On the rare occasion it is needed, it puts a sour taste in my mouth. But somebody's gotta do it. More to the point: Someday someone will replace me, and needless to say, that'll only be sourced from the membership. Ben and I are inheritors of a particular administrative culture here, and since we find it good and are committed to it, we hope for that culture to continue.
So, has my mod hat been on or off in this post? The answer is both. Not concurrently, of course, but alternately in a sometimes fuzzy way. It won't be that way every time; sometimes it's all hat, but most of the time it's no hat. But of course the hat is always to hand, according to the needs of the time. Usually there's no need, so neither am I twitching to grab it. Most official mod work actually goes on behind the scenes, and that's chiefly in fielding and processing new applicants. Pencil-pushing, basically. We smite spammers, but that's not as epic as it sounds, I'm afraid.
GreenWood wrote:I don't think you darken any page ...
The word is "blacken", not "darken". "Blackening a page" is a metaphor for writing at such length that the page seems, well, black. Darkening a page suggests to me that one has a foreboding, threatening quality that goes beyond the written word. So I'm relieved that you don't think I do that.
Damn. And there I go, blackening another page.