[ExI] Moderation on the ExiCh list

Tom Nowell nebathenemi at yahoo.co.uk
Sat Dec 5 17:17:40 UTC 2009


Robert wrote :"But I do remain resolute in that undefined moderation policies border on gestapo policies"

I would beg to differ. In my experience, the people who cry out loud for lists of rules on accepted standards are either people who work in management for large corporations (and insist on issuing lists of soul-crushing instructions on how employees must not goof off in a lengthy "employee handbook") or lawyers who insist that the letter of the law is all that matters regardless of the spirit. Both of these types profoundly offend me.

I much prefer places where the gentle hand of moderation seems to follow an agreement that by and large goes unspoken because there is no need to speak it. Maybe that's just me being terribly British about things, and believing the instruction "do not take the piss" covers 99% of all eventualities.

(Thinking of unspoken agreements reminds me of a conversation I had with Anders Sandberg after an ExtroBritannia meeting, where he mentioned the trouble for a foreigner to understand British pub culture and  how he could fit in and make small talk in this social environment. Perhaps it is too much to ask people to operate with minimal rules, but I still feel the effort is worth it).

Tom


      



More information about the extropy-chat mailing list