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

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  • From: internetworkers AT lists.ibiblio.org (Michael D. Thomas)
  • Subject: [internetworkers] Au revoir, et pour les poissons, merci
  • Date: Thu, 6 Feb 2003 00:13:59 -0500

----- Original Message -----
From: "Josef Komenda"

> I leave with no hard feelings.

First, Joe hasn't completely escaped the INW realm... I've taken it as my own
personal challenge to keep Joe from breaking all ties.

Without Joe's efforts, the InterNetWorkers thingy wouldn't be where it is
today. When it came time to do the web site, Joe took the lead, did the
coding, and did all the maintenance for a number of years. The web site is
much more than just a couple of HTML pages. Joe also created a DB-based
Article Management System and Job Board. IMHO, INW still hasn't fully grown in
to the web site that Joe has created.

But Joe's contribution goes far beyond code monkey duties. I first met Joe at
a gathering where he was taking pictures of everyone and, with well-earned
military precision, writing down everyone's name to correlate with the
pictures. Joe brought real drive to all aspects of INW. Though some of us have
been involved with INW longer, Joe has always acted as a leader and
contributor, and we owe a lot to him.

It saddens me that Joe would feel the need to quit, just as it would sadden me
to see anyone wish to quit
something to which they've given real heart.

--------------

The Triangle InterNetWorkers effort has now reached a certain maturity. The
'cost' of continuing the group is a mere 2 hours per month. As soon as the
current leadership can figure out how to replace ourselves, the whole thing
can run perpetually.

But I think that, throughout our fourth year and as we enter our fifth year,
our community is seeing a lot of interpersonal tensions emerge and flare. I
wish I could say that this is a complete surprise to me, but I can't. I wish I
could say that I'm not guilty, too -- that I haven't been overly defensive or
taking some things too personally -- but I am.

I think this is an inevitable that any real community encounters some of the
tensions we've seen over the past weeks and months. Now, I didn't get in to
the community-building game so that I could watch public, hurtful and personal
attacks amongst friends and peers. But we have been seeing such dialog
recently. It's a drag. I think the question for us now is, what do we do about
it?

First, doing nothing is a valid option. INW has always been very laissez faire
organizationally. I know that I'm not interested in some list of what's
appropriate content for the list and what isn't, chiefly b/c the process of
creating such a list would suck and create a lot of tension. But if others are
interested in creating and submitting such a list, more power to them. I just
think it is much simpler than that.

This community is what you make it.

I would like to encourage everyone take some ownership and try to make this
community something you can take pride in. Your posts shape the community just
as much as the more formalized efforts of the event organizers -- in some
cases, more so. As someone who is responsible for the community, maybe that
means that you chastise someone in public for something that you think is
wildly inappropriate for /your/ community. But alternatively, maybe it means
that you let it go. Or you take it up with that person off list. Or you
express your concerns to one of us that is a bit more established and
experienced in dealing with such issues....

Or maybe you just show some empathy for those of us that have given a lot to
the creation and maintenance of this community over the years. Maybe as a
favor to those of us that have made a more substantial investment, you first
consider whether or not an obviously offensive post or aggressive response is
best for the community. (In some cases it will be, and then your consideration
will give you more confidence.)

These are just the opinions of someone that has been here since the start.
Maybe you disagree. I hope you disagree and that you tell me where I'm wrong.
This is how we grow, right? I want to explore these events and elevate our
discourse. I want to get a level of abstraction above these personal attacks
that we've been seeing.... And while I could care less about being personally
attacked on this one, I would hope that we can avoid an audit of who has said
what and who was right and who was wrong.... why try to apply today's
judgments to past actions....

In other words, let's not shoot anyone's eye out, ok?

But please, do flame away ;-)

Cheers!














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