[Talk-us] New List: osm-professional

[Serge Wroclawski]

On Wed, Mar 3, 2010 at 11:49 AM, Frederik Ramm <frederik at remote.org> wrote:

> What does semi-moderated mean, who will do this moderation, according to
> what rules will he or she moderate, to whom will he or she be accountable in
> case of disputes about his or her moderation, and does he or she have any
> business interests of his or her own that might clash with the role of
> moderation?

It seems my reply to the list somehow got munged... so here it is
again, rewritten from scratch.

The current moderators are myself, Kate Chapman and Thea Clay.

There are no explicit rules. If someone wants to be disruptive,
they'll find a way to do it inside the rules. For example if I said
"No namecalling", someone could say "Your idea is one only an idiot
could make"- then it would fall under the rules. And then the list of
rules would be pages and pages.

Most people know what professional behavior is, and if things get out
of hand, we'll talk to them. Semi-moderated means at first, all post
and all people will be moderated. Over time, we'll probably get go of
the reins a bit, but it also means that in case of a disagreement that
flares up, one of the moderators might turn moderation on for every
post at any time.

The idea for the list is that it'll be a safe place for professionals
and groups to join. @talk can be a bit too "raw". The joke I make to
friends is "Let me show you some of the students from our prestigious
learning institution" and then I take them to the men's locker room.

As for potential business conflicts- I don't currently have any
business conflicts. But we have several moderators and at some point,
you just need trust us. It's not in anyone's interest to keep
information away from the list. It's not as if this one list is the
one and only communication channel, and it's in everyone's best
interest for communication to be open.

I hope that answers your questions.

- Serge