A question for the staff, and anyone else who wants to chime in...

Discussion in 'The Lounge - Off Topic' started by ffreeloader, Oct 13, 2007.

  1. ffreeloader

    ffreeloader Terabyte Poster

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    This is a public issue, since it happens out in the open here, so that is why I am creating a post here rather than asking this through back channels of communications, i.e. PM.

    I'm curious as to why there are different ways of treating certain individuals here. Some can do something that is construed as breaking site rules, and they will be publicly reprimanded for doing so. Others can blatantly break site rules, and the rest of the site's users will be told the situation will be handled behind the scenes.

    I see this as a rather unjust way of handling issues. Why should some people be handled with kid gloves behind the scenes, while others are to be publicly reprimanded for simply commenting on behavior?

    I'm not referring simply to myself. I don't think being publicly reprimanded is any big deal. If I did something publicly that I shouldn't have, I should be told about it publicly. But, the same should also go for everyone. When it doesn't happen this way I see a problem. This playing of favorites will kill a site. Ask the old timers from some of the initial certification related forums what happened when favoritism began to happen on the institutional level. It's a slippery slope from which it is very hard to extricate oneself, or one's organization. I'm not saying anyone is engaging in anything like nepotism here, but there is a reason that nepotism is banned in all good organizations, and that's because it can lead to favoritism, and nothing will kill morale faster.
     
    Certifications: MCSE, MCDBA, CCNA, A+
    WIP: LPIC 1
  2. Bluerinse
    Honorary Member

    Bluerinse Exabyte Poster

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    Freddy, as you know the staff here do the best we can to handle any given situation that we individually think needs addressing. We are not a single entity, we all have our own perspective and reasons for acting as we do. We try to follow a set of guidelines but we are human and can sometimes get it wrong. On the whole i believe we do a decent job, we try to be fair, true to ourselves and just to our members.

    Things may be aired in public if there is no particular member that is crossing the line but rather a collective trend, as has been seen in some recent threads. Things are handled behind the scenes if the member in question is the sole person that is crossing the line.

    It's just logical really and has nothing to do with favouritism or nepotism and to suggest that we are somehow acting in any other way is unrealistic and rather unfair of you.
     
    Certifications: C&G Electronics - MCSA (W2K) MCSE (W2K)
  3. ffreeloader

    ffreeloader Terabyte Poster

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    I certainly didn't mean to say anyone was unfair to me, and I have a hard time seeing how anyone can construe what I said as having even implied that. I've been treated no differently than all but a very, very, select few. I just do not see the justice in handling public behavior privately. Now, if someone was doing something bad behind the scenes I'd expect that to be handled behind the scenes, unless it was a case such as UCM had recently, and then I'd expect that to be made public simply because it is bullying, and that is something everyone needs to know about and put a stop to. It's a community matter because only a community can put a stop to it.

    However, garden variety rule breaking done in public should be dealt with in public, if for no other reason than it is an object lesson for all who come afterwards. If the rule breaking is allowed to continue despite public protests, and then handled behind the scenes, it leaves the public image that nothing was really done about the problem and the behavior is not really all that proscribed by the powers that be because some people were seemingly getting away with it, so that behavior will be indulged in by others who come later.

    That's my concern. Not some imagined slight against myself. It's in that context that I see this as a fairness and justice issue.
     
    Certifications: MCSE, MCDBA, CCNA, A+
    WIP: LPIC 1
  4. Jakamoko
    Honorary Member

    Jakamoko On the move again ...

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    Doesn't the fact that these are public forums mean that by definition, the Members as such will ultimately have differing opinions ?

    There will therefore always, by the definition "public" being "everyone", differences of opinion.

    Therefore, does it not make sense that these differences be discussed off-board, then a consensus outcome be brought back to the forums ?

    Then, the whole process will start again. But that is the democracy we are luck to have.
     
    Certifications: MCP, A+, Network+
    WIP: Clarity
  5. ffreeloader

    ffreeloader Terabyte Poster

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    Ummm.... That's my point. It wasn't brought back publicly. Nothing would have ever been said publicly by the powers that be if I, and others, had not raised questions and made comments. It was just being quietly slid under the rug and we were told to be quiet about it when we said something.

    That is what I see as a form of favoritism and not being just.
     
    Certifications: MCSE, MCDBA, CCNA, A+
    WIP: LPIC 1
  6. Bluerinse
    Honorary Member

    Bluerinse Exabyte Poster

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    Yes this is true and it's true of all forms of management. The members here only need to look at how this forum has managed to maintain a reasonable level of decorum over many years now and trust the staff to continue to strive to keep things here on a friendly even keel.

    Clearly it's not a bad thing to step back for a moment and take a look at ourselves and the way we handle things. All critisisms will be evaluated as to whether they are valid and I am sure we will take them on board and incorporate any changes which we collectively approve of in the fullness of time.
     
    Certifications: C&G Electronics - MCSA (W2K) MCSE (W2K)
  7. ffreeloader

    ffreeloader Terabyte Poster

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    I can't ask for anything more than that. I just thought what I had to say needed to be said.
     
    Certifications: MCSE, MCDBA, CCNA, A+
    WIP: LPIC 1
  8. Bluerinse
    Honorary Member

    Bluerinse Exabyte Poster

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    Well thanks for your valuable feedback Freddy 8)
     
    Certifications: C&G Electronics - MCSA (W2K) MCSE (W2K)

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