list etiquette

Mon Jun 15 05:45:25 PDT 2009

Hi all:

When we think about it, and as we think about it, I think we should try to
honor (or honour) Kaliya's request. One of the things that I have noticed on
this list is how welcoming we are to newcomers and how often, they post a
request for information that has been discussed a lot in the past. No one
seems to mind reposting links to various kinds of information that has been
posted before and we are quick to suggest that they go to various websites
and search for past threads. In fact we are very generous with this. How
much easier might it be if we kept our subject lines consistent with the
topic that inspires them?

The reaction against this might have to do with the word "etiquette". The
word's history is described in the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary where
it suggests a routine, a procedure and even the mechanism or ticket by which
a French soldier might find his billet.  It then comes to mean something
that represents honour (or honor) and a sign that someone knows how to do
something (usually someone in the French court and therefore upper classes).

In our North American and indeed Western and more modern view of things, the
word "etiquette" has grown to mean the rules of correct behaviour (or
behavior) and that implies that someone or some authority is trying to
impose those rules (in my youth it was my parents, now it is largely my own
conscience, but also the law) and in a kind of way, Open Space was formed to
get around formerly binding and constricting conventions and get rid of as
many rules as we could in order to allow people to self-organize. But OS is
not lawless. There are rules and principles that allow for OS to flourish.

In my humble opinion, we should honour (or honor) Kaliya's request. I do not
think it is an unreasonable one nor do I think she is trying to impose
anything. And it is simply a request.

My two cents.

Esther

From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Kaliya *
Sent: Monday, June 15, 2009 1:58 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: [OSLIST] list etiquette

FINE!

You guys can have your own "reality" of list etiquette. 
I live in the tech world....and people work and do business and change the
world developing common standards and work via mailing lists.

Keeping threads clear and not dividing them is an important part of helping
these communities function and work together. It is like having a session
that is going well and then for no apparent reason dividing it into multiple
sessions mid way through......not cool (this is assuming the conversation is
coherent and going well)

While you all are SO focused on face to face processes of OST (and other
things) you are forgetting that some have develped amazing cultures and
learning for connecting and sharing online. It is from these practices and
sharing that I make this request. 

I make a simple request that is not specific to "your" list serve it is
respectful of mailing list community practice generally...I am pointing it
out so you can stop doing it. If you choose not to FINE but it is
disresepctful of the conversation and people like me who start threads only
to find them split off for no good reason....in technical communities you
can have threads that are 80+ posts long this is good cause if you are going
back to read them in archives or even reading them the first time in a
reader like google they all come out in order. 

I suggest you add a #12 to the etiquette guide about not splitting list
threads a part...

Thanks. 
-Kaliya

On Sun, Jun 14, 2009 at 9:59 PM, Raffi Aftandelian <raffi at bk.ru> wrote:

Kaliya,

I hear you'd like folks to follow list etiquette.

("etiquette" FAQ here:

http://www.openspaceworld.org/cgi/wiki.cgi?FrequentlyAskedOSLISTQuestions)

I've been on this list for some 8 years now, love it, (most of the time it's
a pretty amicable place except when a few of us go off the deep end) and am
not sure how much luck anyone has had for people to write or post things
differently.

Perhaps like herding bees?

I can just say in my own case, that I just had so much difficulty seeing
myself being part of a session called "Open Space defined badly" that I
created a new one...

bzzzzzzzzzzzzz

wormly,
wroffi

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