Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

[Thomas Beckett <thomas AT tbeckett.com>]

mdthomas AT mindspring.com wrote:
> "For each post, you can reply with encourage or
> discourage in the subject line. The anonymous
> encourages & discourages are tabulated on the
> back end, and after so many encourages/discourages
> (say 10 or 20) a note is sent to the original
> sender. Maybe the most 'encouraged' post in a month
> is posted to the web site."

        This is somewhat suggestive of the Karma system on Slashdot, which
through some mechanism awards Karma points to good posts.  I don't know
who decides what's worth Karma, tho.  I feel fairly certain that it
isn't Anonymous Coward, the most frequent poster to Slashdot.  

        This is a creative technological solution to the question of directing
discussion on the list.  Michael's looking for a simple feedback device
to measure and express concensus.  

        I'm a little skeptical.  In my experience, group processes are not 
very
susceptible to technical solutions.  Email is already problematic
because the high-bandwidth emotional content which accompanies
face-to-face and even telephone conversations is stripped away.  That's
why emoticons :-p and other emotional signifiers sprang up <wry grin>. 
And email really requires more care in choosing your words, especially
when the debate is spirited.  

        For me, it always comes back to group processes.  The best remedy for
bad discourse is good discourse.  There's no such thing as a stupid
question.  And so forth.  

        I'm also worried about Anonymous Coward singling out individuals with 
a
lot of "discourage"-ment.  That's one of the good things about the Karma
system: only positive points are tabulated.  But I think that
"encouragement" can be given through discussion with out technological
tabulation.  If we decide to have a "cool post of the month", then
anyone could nominate someone for that at any given time --
spontaneous.  Another online community I belong to does this on an
informal basis.  

        Yet another natural mechanism for "discourage" is that stinker posts
just tend to die, while good ones have a life on their own.  I've had
this happen to me on many occasions, here and elsewhere.  And really
stinky posts tend to arouse discouragement in the form of other people
saying so.  

        I think ultimately my concern lies not so much "encourage/discourage"
among InterNetWorkers as it is with our attitude and -- for lack of a
better word -- tone, in our discussions.  Try to stay open-minded, try
not to be mean-spirited.  In the words of Howard Rheingold, "assume
goodwill".  

        To me, that means two things:  1) assume that what you are reading is
offered in a spirit of goodwill, and 2) assume a position of goodwill in
your own activities.  Resist the temptation to react negatively.  

        Well, enough said for the time being.  

TaB