And only a few months late! As we've previously stated on the archive page at Yahoogroups and since moved over to a side page in order to make the whole thing look cleaner, we have a moderator, now. His name is Edd Thompson, and he's been a pleasure to work with.
Since this list has both a moderator and an owner, and this can cause confusion, we thought that we might as well explain what it is that each of the two does, and just as importantly, what each doesn't. Most of what the owner does is just webmastering - setting list options, writing the homepage, promoting the list ... The actual day-to-day work of approving messages, resolving disputes, and things like that has been taken over by Edd who has our complete confidence and support.
We're glad to say that after we shook out a few troublemakers in the beginning, we found ourselves with a very peaceful list. A little too peaceful, perhaps, in that it's hard to get people to post, but no real crises, no need to back people down. But, just to avoid any misunderstandings, let's suppose such an unpleasnt situation arose. What then ?
Some, when they hear that a list has an owner and a moderator, think that the owner is like the court of appeals. On the off chance that a problem will arise, let's put an end to that idea, right now. When Edd makes a decision, the owner is in his corner. Edd would have to do something really far out before the owner would dream of intruding of his domain, and he strikes us as being way too nice and reasonable a guy to ever do that. So, let there be no misunderstanding. What Edd says, goes on this list.
What qualifies him to be the moderator and Medius to be the owner of such a list? We would say just that they care enough to do their jobs right and treat people fairly and with respect. A lot of Burning Man lists have sunk into a clubhouse mentality, with the ruling clique stepping on the newbies in order to establish their power. We don't play that way here, and we wouldn't stand for it if other people did. There is no cabal on this list, no ruling clique, no pretense, nobody whose butt you're going to be asked to kiss. What is here? Just people, and while you may have to earn the trust of those on the list, you're going to be treated as an equal here from day one. Call it the rewards of a Midwestern attitude.
Why was this list founded? A few reasons. The appointee for the local Burning Man contact list proved to be a problem. With BMORG's blessing (to their eternal shame) he attempted to pass himself off as the moderator of the old bm-chicago list, which BMORG had no valid claim on. (A point that Yahoogroups evidently agrees with some of us on). What resulted was, and remains a madhouse, in which groupthink and backstabbing politics runs the show.
Some of us felt that we could do better than that, and founded this list, very much without the blessing of BMORG, which has attacked this list in the vilest of terms. "So why don't you just leave?", some have asked. The answer is because we believe what BMORG pretends to believe: that the Burning Community is a subculture, not a corporation's group of customers - or at least it should be. "Burning" is a way of looking at an arts festival, not a codeword for the Burning Man Limited Liability Corporation's (BM LLC's) latest marketing effort. The focus on this list is on what we do here, locally, and whether the folks in San Francisco like it or not, this is our home, not theirs. They can back off and learn to mind their own business. Their, um, reluctance to do so is what inspired us to start the "BMORG Doesn't Speak for Us" webring (home of the Anti-Playa). Let somebody else define our rebellion for us? We don't think so.
It's amazing how hard some people have found it to accept an idea as basic as doing your own thing with respect for others and their rights and needs, but without somebody else telling you what your own thing is before you do it. This, maybe, has been the most frustrating part of watching this list develop, this feeling that some people think that we're here to take the local appointee's place. Not at all. What we hope to see here is a little more independence, within reason. Sit back, and let other people take the risks? No! That's not life, that's TV. Maybe some have become used to doing so out of fear of being trolled. Our message here is that they should let go of that fear, because they don't need it on this list, and we don't want it.
"So why don't you post?", some will wonder. We do, we just try not to do so in forums that we moderate, at least no more often than necessary. If we can get by without having to be directly involved very often, this will allow us to maintain our neutrality, and, if you view the moderator as being a kind of chairman, is just basic parliamentary procedure. People often forgot such niceties during the "in your face" 1990s, but for the chairman to speak on an issue without stepping down, has traditionally been frowned on. (See : Roberts Rules of Order). The abuses of moderatorial discretion which we're seen on other forums have only confirmed the wisdom of this tradition. If nobody else speaks, what else can we do, but we would like to avoid the situation of being both moderators and active posters, if at all possible.
We do hope to hear from you soon, especially if you've been here for a while. To start you off, here are a few posts which were made on our list, before we started archiving posts. See if you can get an idea. But, guys - if everybody is sitting here waiting for somebody else to do something, how can anything ever happen? Be brave. Speak up.