More meanderings.
Aug. 10th, 2003 06:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bladesparkRight, I'm in a meandering mood, so...
This isn't really germane to anything, but something somebody else said recently brought it to mind, and so I'm going to ramble off, since I feel so inclined. I've noticed a tendancy that almost all on-line groups have, once they pass a certain size, and as the #crfh chatters have certainly passed that size, I'm beginning to see it happen here too.
It's the tendancy to regulate.
It happens in non-online groups too, though in different ways, and the size and time issues are different. We see it in the current US government. There's a law now for everything. They run into and over the top of each other, trying to regulate it all so that everyone is happy. Everyone being happy is an admirable goal, but it isn't possible. We're all different, and trying to please everyone ends of most often pleasing no one.
I shall cite the ban on ravishing as an example of what I'm trying to say. I can see the reasoning behind the ban, and I can see why people object to it. I'll tell you right now, I object to it. But not because I think #crfh'ers have a right to ravish, or anything like that. I object to it simply because it is a ban.
People were offended by the ravishing. So the powers that be, with the best of intentions, with the desire to make people happy, with the intention of solving ap porblem and ending what was, admittedly, a rather heated argument, banned ravishing. They did what they thought best under the curcumstances. They made the people who'd been offended or annoyed by the constant ravishing happy. But they offended a large number of people who enjoyed ravishing. (And I'm not even going to bring up the debate on what "ravish" means, suffice it to say that those doing it didn't mean anything nasty or cruel by it, it was done all in good fun, as anyone who's ever been pounce-ravished by sombeody should know.)
This happens every single time you ban something. So, we ban ravishing. What next? We boot those who are offensive in the chanel. But let me tell you where it can lead. I' not saying it will. There's some good people in charge at nightstar, and they most likely won't let it get this far, but before I came here I chatted at #draconic on the quelm draconic network, and now that chanel is completely dead becuase it became so rule-bound that more time was spent arguing over who had borken what than chatting about the real reasons for the chanel to exsist.
I doubt that will happen here, but I do see an awfully large number of people who, though still in nighstar, never go to #crfh anymore. It's the main chat room, the place where the newbies come. How will the appreciate the random insanity that is CRFH and the boardieverse if none of it is allowed in there?
Well, you say, what about the person who's being a total jerk in the chan? Shoudln't there be rules? Personally, I say no. I had, once when a jerk was pming me and refusing to leave, an oper offer to a-kill him for me. I turned it down. Why? Becuase I can take care of myself. I ended up rather having fun ridiculing him, as he was almost too stupid to know he was being insulted, as I wasn't using obvious clues like foul language. The point here is, we don't need to go crying to the ops over idiocy. Sure, I was annoyed by ravishing sometimes when sombody I didn't like did it to me, but so what? I took care of it on my own. As far as I'm concerned, that's the best way to do things.
This isn't really germane to anything, but something somebody else said recently brought it to mind, and so I'm going to ramble off, since I feel so inclined. I've noticed a tendancy that almost all on-line groups have, once they pass a certain size, and as the #crfh chatters have certainly passed that size, I'm beginning to see it happen here too.
It's the tendancy to regulate.
It happens in non-online groups too, though in different ways, and the size and time issues are different. We see it in the current US government. There's a law now for everything. They run into and over the top of each other, trying to regulate it all so that everyone is happy. Everyone being happy is an admirable goal, but it isn't possible. We're all different, and trying to please everyone ends of most often pleasing no one.
I shall cite the ban on ravishing as an example of what I'm trying to say. I can see the reasoning behind the ban, and I can see why people object to it. I'll tell you right now, I object to it. But not because I think #crfh'ers have a right to ravish, or anything like that. I object to it simply because it is a ban.
People were offended by the ravishing. So the powers that be, with the best of intentions, with the desire to make people happy, with the intention of solving ap porblem and ending what was, admittedly, a rather heated argument, banned ravishing. They did what they thought best under the curcumstances. They made the people who'd been offended or annoyed by the constant ravishing happy. But they offended a large number of people who enjoyed ravishing. (And I'm not even going to bring up the debate on what "ravish" means, suffice it to say that those doing it didn't mean anything nasty or cruel by it, it was done all in good fun, as anyone who's ever been pounce-ravished by sombeody should know.)
This happens every single time you ban something. So, we ban ravishing. What next? We boot those who are offensive in the chanel. But let me tell you where it can lead. I' not saying it will. There's some good people in charge at nightstar, and they most likely won't let it get this far, but before I came here I chatted at #draconic on the quelm draconic network, and now that chanel is completely dead becuase it became so rule-bound that more time was spent arguing over who had borken what than chatting about the real reasons for the chanel to exsist.
I doubt that will happen here, but I do see an awfully large number of people who, though still in nighstar, never go to #crfh anymore. It's the main chat room, the place where the newbies come. How will the appreciate the random insanity that is CRFH and the boardieverse if none of it is allowed in there?
Well, you say, what about the person who's being a total jerk in the chan? Shoudln't there be rules? Personally, I say no. I had, once when a jerk was pming me and refusing to leave, an oper offer to a-kill him for me. I turned it down. Why? Becuase I can take care of myself. I ended up rather having fun ridiculing him, as he was almost too stupid to know he was being insulted, as I wasn't using obvious clues like foul language. The point here is, we don't need to go crying to the ops over idiocy. Sure, I was annoyed by ravishing sometimes when sombody I didn't like did it to me, but so what? I took care of it on my own. As far as I'm concerned, that's the best way to do things.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-08-10 06:38 pm (UTC)That akill someone offered you now would probably take two, three hours to do, simply from asking for permissions to do it, to writing the posts explaning your actions in detail, and posting the logs and evidence to support what you did. Too, too many rules.
Anyway - back on track with what you said...Bob's Law Of Groups #53 - In any group, there will be one twit who gets offended, and that twit will inevitably ruin the original intentions of the group.
Simple, if cynical, fact of life - can't really escape it.
no subject
Date: 2003-08-10 06:44 pm (UTC)