[Orcnet] Administrivia: Politics on the Orcnet List

[Keith Lofstrom]

Administrivia:  Politics on the Orcnet list

Does anyone remember the arguments about IEEE concentration banking
we had a few years ago, which resulted in some valuable members 
leaving the group?  We all pretty much agreed that concentration
banking sucked, and that we should avoid it, and yet mere tactical
disagreements turned into a group-rending argument.

Politics is about 40dB more fractuous and emotional than arguments
about concentration banking will ever be.  Since there are at least
three political parties and one candidate represented among our
members, it is far too easy to hit somebody's hot button with any
kind of political posting.  That somebody is just as smart as you
are, they merely disagree.  When it comes to politics, it is easy
to forget that your opposition contains people that are just as
intelligent and public-spirited as you are.  Anyway, email is a
really lousy way to discuss these things;  it typically just makes
people dig in their heels.

So from this point forwards, if you want to send email about your 
own perfect candidate, or their scum-of-the-earth opposition, 
please make your own mailing list, and do not include Orcnet in it. 
If someone inadvertently includes the list in a political posting,
remind them of their error over one-to-one email, off the list.  I
may fail myself - I'm human - so berate me off the list if I do.

If the group wishes, I can set up another list, orcnet-talk or
orcnet-politics, where those that wish can call each other names.
I don't think it is a good idea;  some people with mere political 
differences that ought to be friends might turn into enemies.
Email does that.  But if that's what the group wants, I will do so.
I can also set up an OffTopic area on the wiki - same land mines.

I have the ability to moderate postings;  I can make it so that
postings from certain individuals or the whole list get held for
approval.  If moderation is in effect, I will hold an email for a
couple of days to give everyone time to cool down, or the writer
reconsiders and asks me to cancel the posting.  If I see off-topic
argument going on here, I will do that.  No offense intended, but
it is my task to keep this channel open and friendly, and relevant
to electronics, consulting, and the IEEE.

These are my policies for the list, for now.  If you don't like them,
let's set aside some time after our speaker at the September 25th
meeting to discuss them, and again, I will implement whatever the
voting members decide there.  And like concentration banking, the
bylaws do not permit us to vote on such decisions on the list, and it
is a really bad idea to attempt to change minds by email.  Whatever
policies we choose September 25, there will be 40 days between then
and November 4th to use this channel (or a new one) in whatever way
the group decides.

The candidate elected in November may bring about Armageddon before
2013, but frightened people have been saying that for decades and it
has not happened yet.  On the other hand, we can easily kill Orcnet,
and all the good it does, before November, unless we show restraint
about expressing opinions that may step on the feelings of others. 

Keith

-- 
Keith Lofstrom          keithl at keithl.com         Voice (503)-520-1993
KLIC --- Keith Lofstrom Integrated Circuits --- "Your Ideas in Silicon"
Design Contracting in Bipolar and CMOS - Analog, Digital, and Scan ICs