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Author Message
25 new of 186 responses total.
naftee
response 156 of 186: Mark Unseen   Dec 5 04:10 UTC 2003

Happy GreX staffers, its funny how you talk about the GreX community changing
in one sentence and in the next one saying how the system rules must never
change.
cross
response 157 of 186: Mark Unseen   Dec 5 04:40 UTC 2003

Regarding #134; I didn't resign staff because I couldn't seperate what I
was doing from who I was doing it for, but rather because the president
of the board of directors specifically encouraged a vandal I had locked
out of the system.  She further ignored me whenever I tried to explain
what I had done and why.  If I, as staff, couldn't expect the president
of the board to even hear me out, how could I be expected to do my job?
I didn't leave because my feelings got hurt, I left in protest of the
attitude of the president of the board.
other
response 158 of 186: Mark Unseen   Dec 5 04:44 UTC 2003

re:
> b) Is it worth it to make the changes (either in attitudes, 
> prices, general content etc) to make other people feel like they 
> belong?
> If the answer to either of these questions is No, then this 
> discussion need not be pursued further.

Whose attitudes?  We're all individuals, and Grex cannot change the 
attitudes of any individual, much less the whole community of 
individuals.

As for the prices, let's see some specific suggestions, along with 
the numbers of members at those rates that it would take to pay the 
bills to keep Grex running, and I'd be willing to run an experiment 
in which memberships are offered at that rate for one month, and if 
the membership income for that month exceeds both the average income 
for that month and the average and actual expenses for that month, 
then let the experiment continue for as long as it continues to 
succeed.

Regarding general content:  The entire content of Grex is whatever 
any user interested enough to post something makes it.  If you want 
to post an item you think would be more welcoming, do it!  But don't 
expect someone else to do it for you, and don't expect anyone else 
not to post something because it may not be ideally welcoming and 
inclusive.

There is something going on in this discussion which really annoys 
me, and I'm surprised no one has commented on it.  Jamie has made 
some very interesting contributions along with all the annoyance he 
has generated, and I have yet to see any remotely reasonable idea he 
has presented be ignored simply because it came from him, but the 
thing that irks me is that he is being held up as an example of 
what's wrong here when what he represents is the idea that the ends 
justify the means, and that no matter how flagrantly one violates 
the basic rules of this community, if one appears to have good 
intentions then it's okay.  That is just plain wrong, and no matter 
how valuable or interesting the results (and frankly I myself would 
like to see some changes made on the basis of those apparent 
results), it doesn't change the fact that it is wrong.

Is it really that strange that I doubt the goodness of the 
intentions when the methods are so blatantly antisocial?

cross slipped in, and to cross I say: remember, the president is 
only for one year, staff is for as long as you choose to do it.  If 
you can't handle a difference of opinion with someone just because 
she's president, you're probably better off getting out.  That said, 
I'd like to see you give it another shot.
gelinas
response 159 of 186: Mark Unseen   Dec 5 05:33 UTC 2003

And I'm glad to see you speaking up, cross. :)

I've missed you.
mynxcat
response 160 of 186: Mark Unseen   Dec 5 11:36 UTC 2003

Re 158> I agree that what Jamie did was wrong. What annoys me is that 
whenever we try to discuss the points he brought up about the users 
feelings, people revert back to the means he got them and try to gloss 
over the fact that his data has some potential. Point in note is your 
comment. There's a whole item devoted to his account being locked out. 
You can go whine about his means there. No one is justifying his means 
in this item (at least I'm not). And I wouldn't like to see the ends 
forgotten because of the means he chose to take. We can make some good 
happen from his results and I don't want to see that lost.

As for what could be changed, I agree that attitudes are individual 
characteristics, prices may be rock bottm (I'm not one ot dictate 
prices, I don't know all the costs that go into grex so I couldn't 
come up with a air price scheme) and general content changes as it's 
up to the users. I don't expect you or me or Mark or the board to 
change all that. All I'm saying is recognise that there is a problem, 
and you do have some sense of responsibility as a collective to help 
change it. I don't expect every user/member to fall in with this idea. 
However I would like to see discussions brought up on how we can help 
change. I'll be frank here Eric. From all the responses in all the 
items in this cf, yours seem the most resistant to the idea. All 
you've done is whine about how some elements are vandals and you 
haven't gone beyond that. As I said somewhere else, get over the chip 
on your shoulder.

"Is it really that strange that I doubt the goodness of the 
intentions when the methods are so blatantly antisocial?"
I can understand you ignoring Jamie, polytarp and naftee. But what 
have I done that constituted anti-social. In your zeal to prove Jamie 
a bad person, you're losing sight of what other people are trying to 
do here.
mary
response 161 of 186: Mark Unseen   Dec 5 12:00 UTC 2003

Dan, if you want me to discuss, again, what it was about
your use of staff power that concerned me, I'll do so.
But I'd rather take it to a new item, or the item where
this was discussed, or to mail.  The is jp2's campaign item.

jp2
response 162 of 186: Mark Unseen   Dec 5 13:34 UTC 2003

This response has been erased.

mynxcat
response 163 of 186: Mark Unseen   Dec 5 15:10 UTC 2003

And besides, when has an item on grex ever stayed on topic, without 
some drift. Drift... that's what Grex is about.
jep
response 164 of 186: Mark Unseen   Dec 5 15:56 UTC 2003

re resp:162: Jamie, I don't think you have any complaints about the 
focusing of this item on accounting, since it's something you brought 
up.

This is the item where you're trying to tell people why they should 
vote for you.  I think it's appropriate for people to ask you about 
events in which you've participated or been involved, when those events 
might influence how people view you as a candidate.

I think it's right for mynxcat to bring up things you've said in other 
items, about Grex's shortcomings and problems, and what you would like 
to do about them.

You will have no disagreement from me, though, when you say cross's 
issues are inappropriate drift in this item.
mynxcat
response 165 of 186: Mark Unseen   Dec 5 16:27 UTC 2003

This response has been erased.

naftee
response 166 of 186: Mark Unseen   Dec 5 16:36 UTC 2003

re 157
> the president of the board of directors specifically encouraged a vandal I
had locked > out of the system. 

No, the president did nothing of the sort.  You were responsible for that
entirely, by unlocking the dah and polytarp accounts.
mynxcat
response 167 of 186: Mark Unseen   Dec 5 16:39 UTC 2003

Actually, I would like to hear Jamie's views on making Grex's 
community more diverse. How does he propose we move toward that goal?
jp2
response 168 of 186: Mark Unseen   Dec 5 16:45 UTC 2003

This response has been erased.

albaugh
response 169 of 186: Mark Unseen   Dec 5 19:18 UTC 2003

"change is good" - that's just as much a bullshit generality as "change is
bad".  Sometimes change is inevitable, regardless of "good" or "bad", but
change is not always for the better.  Each proposed change must be evaluated
on its merits, and not automatically embraced just because it *is* change.
cross
response 170 of 186: Mark Unseen   Dec 5 19:42 UTC 2003

Regarding #166; Just for the record, I didn't lock the polytarp account.
jp2
response 171 of 186: Mark Unseen   Dec 5 20:21 UTC 2003

This response has been erased.

naftee
response 172 of 186: Mark Unseen   Dec 5 23:59 UTC 2003

re 170 No, but you did lock the dah account, and mistakenly the asddsa
account.  I have no idea why you unlocked the dah account.
cross
response 173 of 186: Mark Unseen   Dec 6 01:48 UTC 2003

Regarding #172; Well, Mary was pretty convinced that I was abusing my
powers.  Even though I repeatedly explained my actions and she ignored
my explanations.  It was pretty clear we couldn't prevent dah from
logging in, anyway.  Somewhere in there, Mary got the horribly mistaken
impression I was willing to turn off newuser---I have no idea how or why,
but she made a comment about it being ``non-negotiable''.

I was also getting some pressure from other members of the board to
step away from the situation.  So, I undid what I did and stopped.
Mary continued to insist I had abused my authority (such as it is;
grex staff has no real authority.  That all comes from the board and
membership.  Grex staff does have discretion to do certain things,
like lock accounts if circumstances dictate---anyway, that's minutea,
and I digress).

I admit; to this day, I'm still pretty perplexed as to what she was
thinking.  She never explained herself well, and mostly made sniping
comments about it.  I note she asked none of this of Valerie who just
recently did something virtually identical.  And indeed, the same board
member who suggested I step away from the dah/naftee issue came down
firmly in support of locking jp2.  Also, what Jamie did wasn't even
malicious.  What dah did was.  From that context, locking jp2's account
was less defensible than locking dah's accounts.  When dah logged in
again and again using new logins, I blocked his ISP (though I missed
some of the IP range).  I had posted somewhere that no one other than
dah and naftee had logged in from there in over a month, and only two
or three people in the three months prior (at the time I still thought
polytarp and naftee were the same person).

The really funny thing was that polytarp himself (or whatever psuedo he
was using) posted something along the lines of, ``Wow, I intentionally
abuse grex and I get more out of it in return than I had at the time!''
after I unlocked the polytarp account.

I've given up getting anything resembling a sensible statement of her
comments out of Mary, though.  This is the third time she's grossly
distorted something I've said or done.  The first time, I mentioned that
grex should encourage users logging in *only* for free email to look
elsewhere, and she insinuated that I was suggesting grex shut off email
service.  The second time I mentioned casually that my female friends
who had had abortions had often felt emotionally conflicted over their
descisions, and she insinuated I was against abortion and added the
comment, ``my opinion of you just tanked.''  Shesh.  I've never seen
someone take random, idle comments and be so vindictive about their
gross misinterpretations of them.

That said, I was touched by how many people asked me to stay on grex
staff.  I would do it, but the unfortunate thing is that I have to leave
in less than two months for a ten month stint, during which I will have
only limited access to a computer.
sholmes
response 174 of 186: Mark Unseen   Dec 6 03:25 UTC 2003

This response has been erased.

naftee
response 175 of 186: Mark Unseen   Dec 6 04:38 UTC 2003

re 173
It seems that, apart from mary, you did have a lot of support in locking dah's
account for filling up user partitions.  In item 29 of this conference, the
user other both offered constructive criticism towards your actions and yet
commended your efforts, then immediately wrote  a few choice words to willcome
(resps 31-33).  responses 43 to 72 are mostly willcome complaining about the
mass IP ban, after you had unlocked the naftee account. Responses 76-82 are
more interesting.  Willcome gloats after needling you to get his accounts back
and ISPs unbanned, and succeeding, and out of frustration for all the wrong
things, you resign from staff.  In short, it's a sad chapter.
willcome
response 176 of 186: Mark Unseen   Dec 6 05:32 UTC 2003

"...both...and yet..." doesn't work.
other
response 177 of 186: Mark Unseen   Dec 6 07:42 UTC 2003

This is a worthwhile discussion and there's a lot more to it yet to be said,
but I think jp2 is right that it doesn't really belong in this item and we
should move it to another.  If, when I get to the end of coop, I discover that
a new item has not already been created to continue this, I will create one.
I hope that those of participating in the discussion of cross's activities
on staff and departure therefrom will take up the discussion there.
mynxcat
response 178 of 186: Mark Unseen   Dec 6 12:08 UTC 2003

(I think mary pointed out that this was not the right item. jp2 was resigned
to it, or maybe he revelled in the fact his item was hijacked.)
jp2
response 179 of 186: Mark Unseen   Dec 6 13:23 UTC 2003

This response has been erased.

naftee
response 180 of 186: Mark Unseen   Dec 6 15:53 UTC 2003

Politically motivated...as in revenge?
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