Re: Call for a vote of nonconfidence in the moderator of the AmSci Forum

From: Jan Velterop <openaccess_at_BTINTERNET.COM>
Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:26:59 +0100

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I don't know what 'voting' means here. It's entirely up to Stevan what to do
and what not to do anyway. If he wishes to consult list readers before he
decides to do anything, fine. If he doesn't, fine also. At any rate,
consulting is not voting. Calling for a vote is precisely the sort of
pseudo-democratic imposition that I mentioned and that is not fitting for a
list like this. I am ready to offer an opinion or suggestion any time, but
not a vote, on line or off. For Stevan, or anybody else, to decide against a
suggestion or advice is fine; deciding against a majority 'vote' can all too
easily be interpreted in an unpleasant and unhelpful way.

I'm going against my own advice and vote against having a vote.

Jan Velterop


On 13 Oct 2008, at 12:39, Sally Morris (Morris Associates) wrote:

> A timely and very clear reminder
>
> As promised, I am collecting votes (offline, to avoid cluttering up the
> list) on whether Stevan should remain as moderator of the list. Please
> note
> that we are NOT voting on (a) whether Stevan should change his posting
> style
> (he has already said that he will not do so) or (b) whether Stevan should
> cease to participate in the list - this has never been proposed and indeed
> there would be precious few postings without him.
>
> If you had misunderstood what you were voting about and want to change
> your
> vote, in either direction, just let me know
>
> Sally
>
>
> Sally Morris
> Consultant, Morris Associates (Publishing Consultancy)
> South House, The Street
> Clapham, Worthing, West Sussex BN13 3UU, UK
> Tel: +44(0)1903 871286
> Fax: +44(0)8701 202806
> Email: sally_at_morris-assocs.demon.co.uk
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Scientist Open Access Forum
> [mailto:AMERICAN-SCIENTIST-OPEN-ACCESS-FORUM_at_LISTSERVER.SIGMAXI.ORG] On
> Behalf Of Jan Velterop
> Sent: 13 October 2008 08:22
> To: AMERICAN-SCIENTIST-OPEN-ACCESS-FORUM_at_LISTSERVER.SIGMAXI.ORG
> Subject: Re: Call for a vote of nonconfidence in the moderator of the
> AmSci
> Forum
>
> Apologies for the lateness of my comments on this matter. Stevan has
> my full support. He is fully entitled to post on this list what he
> wants and to withold submissions if he deems that right. Those who
> hold the view that a list such as this one should ? or indeed can ?
> be run 'objectively' and according to some pseudo-democratic rules
> are, frankly, a bit naïve. Those who don?t like Stevan?s judgement
> with regard to acceptance of submissions can always start their own
> list.
>
> That said, Stevan hasn?t made it easy on himself, combining the task
> of moderator with that of host. Other lists separate these roles, and
> he may wish to consider drafting someone in to help him run the list
> and do the same (Stevan being the host; someone else being the
> moderator, I would have thought, given the definitions of the roles,
> see below).
>
> The definitions that, for instance, the BBC uses for the two roles
> are along the following lines:
> A host's job is to encourage interesting discussions and to help
> resolve disagreements. They post regularly on the lists, start
> discussions or reply to questions. Hosts do not reject messages.
> A moderator's job is to reject messages that break the ?House Rules?.
> Messages will not be rejected for any other reason. Moderators do not
> post messages on the lists.
>
> Among the BBC ?House Rules? are the following (there are more).
> Messages are rejected that
> ?Are racist, sexist, homophobic, sexually explicit, abusive or
> otherwise objectionable
> ?Contain swear words or other language likely to offend
> ?Break the law or condone or encourage unlawful activity.
> ?Are considered to be off-topic
> ?Are considered to be ?spam?, that is posts containing the same, or
> similar, message posted multiple times.
>
> Apart from the possible problem of finding such help, the only
> difficulty of my suggestion that I can foresee is perhaps dealing
> with the last house rule mentioned. But then again, Stevan is free to
> set his own house rules.
>
> Jan Velterop=
Received on Mon Oct 13 2008 - 14:28:58 BST