Meta: Managing the list

Regardless of where everyone stands on the Sender ID issues, I think we can 
all agree that the last week or so on the spf-discuss list has been 
grueling.  I am pleased with some of the messages I have seen today, 
though... it sounds like we may be close to reconciliation, or at least a 
working cease-fire arrangement :)
A few people expressed frustration at recent list activity, and at least 
one person talked about moderating the list or controlling it... so let me 
talk a little bit about list management here.
Meng has granted me some control over the list (spf-discuss) and I'm 
prepared to enforce some rules, if need be.  But, neither Meng nor I have 
wanted to take action to quiet the debate, because stopping debate is not 
the same thing as coming to agreement or compromise.
I would prefer a mostly hands-off approach to managing the list, and this 
has worked well on other lists I work on.  I would also prefer to manage 
the list in the way most members want it managed, so I will try to 
determine as objectively as possible whether there is consensus for list 
policies.  That said, I will also use my own best judgement and discretion 
in order to try and take care of issues smoothly without putting absolutely 
everything to a vote.
Let me float some ideas for managing the list and possible guidelines, and 
see if I'm going down the right path.
1. A charter will be important, both for SPF itself and for the list.  The 
charter for the list may not be the same as the charter for SPF, but it 
should be compatible.  The charter for the list will appear as Guideline 
#1.  A good charter is a useful tool for determining what the topic is, and 
whether a given message is on-topic or off-topic.
2. Respect the topic.  Some off-topic posts are tolerated, and even 
expected, but if they start to overpower the list and drown out the real 
topic, the list managers may ask for certain threads to stop, or employ 
filters to stop them if people get out of control.  Also, cooperation of 
listmembers is essential.  If you're posting something that is off-topic, 
acknowledge that you are doing so, and explain why you think the material 
is of interest to listmembers even though it is outside the defined topic.
2a. Meta issues are off-topic.  Because this is a high-volume 
large-membership list, it is important to conserve bandwidth whenever 
possible.  If you have a concern about the list, or whether something is 
appropriate or not, on-topic or not, how subscription works, how archiving 
works, etc., *raise it to the admins first*.  The admins will occasionally 
start Meta-threads (like this one) but for the most part, list admins will 
try to resolve administrative issues off-list and not add to the clutter on 
the list itself.  Important policy decisions will be made in the open, but 
the day-to-day running of the list can be done offline.  (The admin address 
is spf-discuss-owner(_at_)v2(_dot_)listbox(_dot_)com)
3. Respect each other.  Personal attacks, name-calling, insults, threats, 
and harassment are prohibited.  These types of "trigger" behavior are not 
conducive to "discussion" -- even if your intent is to prove a point, the 
bad behavior just derails discussion rather than enhancing it.  It's OK to 
disagree with someone strongly.  It's not OK to insult them.  Saying 
"You're an idiot" is an insult.  Saying what someone else wrote is "crap" 
or that they probably believe it because they are "ignorant" are also 
examples of insults.  "You are wrong" is borderline -- I would prefer to 
see people saying "I believe THAT is wrong" rather than "I believe YOU are 
wrong".
(Note that I didn't say being "offensive" or "rude" is prohibited.  They 
should be discouraged, but they are often hard to be totally objective 
about.  I would rather judge specific behavior rather than overall style, 
because that is hard to separate from content)

I am interested in getting feedback on this.  You can either reply on-list 
or to the admin list, at your preference.  I will summarize the results 
after receiving most of the responses.
Thanks
gregc
--
Greg Connor <gconnor(_at_)nekodojo(_dot_)org>