In my humble opinion, the collaborative development of a Stalker Rule isn't working very well.
Granted it has only been four days, but not much is happening over at our Mixedink site. (Though activity has picked up slightly in the last 24 hours.)
We need more participation. We need you! (I was tempted to put "ACTION ALERT" in the title of this diary.)
Below the fold I will share some thoughts and ideas I have about how we might make this a successful endeavor.
First the basics. Here is Meteor Blade's announcement posted on the 27th.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Here are some stats that Lady Libertine posted on the 28th. The comments also include our discussion of the inner workings of the process of Mixedink, but it's more questions than answers.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Finally, here is the link to the Mixedink site.
http://mixedink.com/...
I perceive two fundamental impediments to using Mixedink to come up with a good rule for stalking. Both can be solved.
- Going from DailyKos to Mixedink is like jumping over a cultural cliff.
- Mixedink doesn't provide a good forum for discussion of disparate viewpoints on fundamental issues.
I'll take these in order. First is the cultural cliff. Here at DailyKos we engage in FAST-PACED discussion. We post, we tip, we rec, and we recommend at virtually light speed. There is nothing wrong with that. It is our culture.
However, that culture doesn't work well on Mixedink. First, making a "submission" over there should be the equivalent of "publishing" a diary over here. Ideally it should be well thought out before hitting the submit button. That's not obvious, and I think the tendency is to submit over there the same way we post a comment over here.
Second, we may naturally think that "rating" on Mixedink is the same as a recommend to a comment here on DailyKos. I'm fairly certain that if you give lots of stars to a submission on Mixedink which is really no more than a comment or attempt at discussion, then it can confuse the process. It's not a fatal error. It can be overcome, but it can be a distraction. (At this time, the second and third highest rated submissions are NOT proposed rules.)
Third is time. Here we move fast. Over there we need to slow down. I'm not sure how to explain this, and I'm not even sure I have it right. It seems like over there everything we do has greater consequence than here. For example, consider the innocuous posting of a comment. Here you could get flamed or HR'd, but you can't mess up a whole thread. On Mixedink, there is potential to do so. As far as I can tell, it has no way of showing which comments are new and no way of showing an outline or index of comments. Imagine the chaos if those two facts were true here!
Now I'll move to the second impediment. Mixedink doesn't provide a good forum for discussion of disparate viewpoints on fundamental issues.
The video demonstrating how Mixedink works uses "Quimby for governor" as an example. The participants are charged with developing a press release. They have a common purpose. They want Quimby to win. They have a common goal. They want the best press release they can develop. For them Mixedink can work.
For us, I'm not so sure. But I think it could work for us if we can find a way to discuss and come to consensus on some overriding issues. There were several issues that arose immediately in our attempt to draft a stalking rule. Three examples were (1) rule or not, (2) ninja stalking, and (3) cross-diary continuation. I'll explain these.
"Rule or not" is the issue of whether or not to even have an anti-stalking rule. On this one I will express my personal opinion. We were tasked to draft a rule. Hence, arguing against having a rule is non-topical. (Probably showing my lawyer OCD here!) IMHO, it's like the Quimby staff being tasked to write the press release and then some of them arguing there shouldn't be one. If you think there shouldn't be a stalking rule, publish a diary or otherwise argue it here. Not on Mixedink!
"Ninja stalking", as I understand it, is commenting in diaries after they are "old", when few users are paying attention, and making personal attacks. I have no idea if this is a problem, but we need consensus before a rule can be drafted.
"Cross-diary continuation" means continuing an argument from one diary into another diary. I lean toward including it, but the important thing is to have discussion and try to reach consensus.
These are just examples. There are others, and more may come up.
I'll mention one other issue that is probably more stylistic than substantive. About half of the proposals read similar to what is found in the FAQ. The other half read more like specific rules. The former are like descriptions, and the latter are like definitions. There is not a perfect dichotomy between the two. More like just an impression that I got.
The point is, unlike the "Quimby for governor" people, we are not on the same page. I have no concrete suggestions for this. Rather, the solution is to develop a method of discussion to reach consensus. That might be accomplished within the framework of DailyKos diaries. I'm skeptical it will happen within the constraints of Mixedink. Mixedink is NOT conducive to in-depth discussion of issues.
I guess that's the end of my rant. Of course, all of the foregoing problems and issues may well work themselves out in the course of the collaborative effort, but I'll end with some concrete suggestions that I think might help the process along.
- Don't rate submissions that aren't specific rule proposals. If you rate up a submission that is just a comment/idea/suggestion, it may just muddy the water.
- This one may be controversial. Don't make minor edits or compilations before you have received supporting feedback. Use the comment function and be patient for replies. If you only correct a typographical error, the new submission does not come up with the body of comments or ratings that the original had. Think about that!
- If you want to make a comment, think it out carefully before hand. Try to include everything you think is relevant in ONE comment. (This may be personal taste, but it relates to the fact you can't tell what is new and comments aren't threaded.)
- Slow down, and read lots before you write. I know it's long and tedious, but at a minimum read all the main submissions, and if you have the time and patience, read all the comments and replies below them.
- This is probably the second most important suggestion I can make. Figure out a better way to discuss the fundamental issues! I wish I had ideas about how to do this, but I don't. Still, I'm confident that YOU, the community, will find a way to get us on the same page, and then we will use Mixedink to come up with a good stalking rule.
- Finally, my single most important suggestion. Get over there, register, read the proposed rules, and rate up the ones you think are best. If you don't have time to read all of them, my suggestion is to read the most recent ones and the highest rated ones and pick from those what you think are best. In rating, remember the guidelines that MB listed! (And only rate up rules!!! - yeah, yeah, you're sick of hearing me say that.)
PS Big disclaimer! I've spent some time on the Mixedink site and kind of sort of think I've maybe got a bit of a tenuous grasp on how it may possibly work. On the other hand, maybe I've missed something which is incredibly obvious to the rest of you, and I'm now demonstrating supreme idiocy. If the latter, please let me know. TIA