Theos-Talk Archives (April 2004 Message tt00624)

Years ago, Bart first found a good definition of a troll, a list of
behaviors that someone might take to disrupt and possibly destroy a mailing
list. We have been fortunate that it has been years since there's been a
case where I'm getting lots of emails (as list manager) complaining about
anyone's behavior and where any intervention was needed.

On this list, I'd expect basic, common-sense behavior. Following is a
partial list of ideas that we might all consider.

-- Eldon

----

There should be no flames or personal attacks, and if they happen in the
passion of the moment, people should feel and express regret. Intentional,
systematic, and persistent attacks of others is not allowed. 

Plagiarism and abuse of copyrighted materials is banned.

Off-topic materials are discouraged, although it's hard to say exactly what
they might be. Someone who collects postage stamps and writes about it a lot
might make a good example.

There should be no explicit, sexually-oriented content, nor frequent
advertising of commercial products or of other mailing lists and websites.
(Timely news announcements and perhaps a monthly mention of other sites or
lists for informational purposes would be tolerable if there's some
connection to people interested in theosophical topics, but not frequent,
persistent promotion of places and things unrelated to the discussions.)

Postings made on theos-talk by someone else should not be forwarded to
another list without asking the author first for permission to repost their
messages. 

One may carry out the same thread of discussion on more than one list, but
should take care to remove as much quoted materials and references to other
lists as possible.

(It's not good to quote and reply to someone's theos-l or bn-study posting
on theos-talk or to write to theos-l or bn-study a message with extensive
quotes and replies to something from theos-talk. The person one may be
responding to may not be on that other list; their views may end up being
misrepresented because their quote may be seen there out-of-context.)

Extreme cases of bad behavior on the list should be reported to the list
manager rather than confronted directly by people posting to the list.
(Write theos-talk-owner@yahoogroups.com.) This is when people are really
getting out-of-hand and something needs to be done. Except for extreme
cases, though, it's appropriate for anyone to ask someone what they mean by
something they said that sounds bad or to peacefully say something to them
to defuse a tense situation. 

We should treat others on the list like guests in our living room at our
home. We talk to them face-to-face, see their emotional as well as
intellectual reactions to us, and respond openly to them. (We're talking to
real people, not playing a video game; it's important to remember that when
dealing with an impersonal media like email.)

----

-----Original Message-----
From: Morten Nymann Olesen [mailto:global-theosophy@adslhome.dk] 
Sent: Tuesday, April 20, 2004 10:31 AM
To: theos-talk@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: Theos-World multiple channels of discussion

Hallo Eldon and all,

My views are:

Where has anyone ever written anything about this "troll" issue mentioned by
Eldon ?