[unrev-II] Elders

From: Jon Winters (winters@obscurasite.com)
Date: Thu Mar 09 2000 - 21:23:18 PST

  • Next message: Henry van Eyken: "[unrev-II] Where does meaning come from, anyway?"

    From: Jon Winters <winters@obscurasite.com>

    Jon Winters wrote:

    <snip>
    > I suspect they might help out but I don't see anything that could
    > completely replace the job of the F.A.Q. maintainer. (or maintainers)
    >
    > Burnout is also an issue with the job. When my friend Anthony first got
    > started on the newbug.org project he had boundless energy and
    > excitement.... Over time he has slowed down a bit and I look for him to
    > pass the torch on to a new maintainer eventually.

    Looking at my own post it struck me that the F.A.Q. maintainers are like
    elders in a tribal setting.

    In our newbug.org community the "elders" are the folks who have been
    around the scene for a while and know all the answers to the frequently
    asked questions. They also know the rules of our virtual community and
    they help to guide and teach the newbees.

    One example would be when we were "invaded" by a bunch of die-hard "old
    beetle" zealots. The air cooled guys subscribed to our list serv and
    invaded our chat room posting and ranting in an abusive manner. The
    elders were quick to educate everyone that the invaders would go away a
    lot faster if we ignored them. At first some of our members engaged the
    invaders and a flame war erupted.

    The elders quickly jumped on the situation by emailing folks "in
    private" and advising them to ignore the trolls and flame posts. As
    soon as this happened the air cooled freaks went away.

    Elders are a valuable part of a successful online community.

    --
    Jon Winters
    http://www.obscurasite.com/jon/
    

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------ GET A NEXTCARD VISA, in 30 seconds! Get rates as low as 2.9% Intro or 9.9% Fixed APR and no hidden fees. Apply NOW! http://click.egroups.com/1/936/2/_/444287/_/952665092/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Community email addresses: Post message: unrev-II@onelist.com Subscribe: unrev-II-subscribe@onelist.com Unsubscribe: unrev-II-unsubscribe@onelist.com List owner: unrev-II-owner@onelist.com

    Shortcut URL to this page: http://www.onelist.com/community/unrev-II



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Mar 09 2000 - 21:18:53 PST