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Re: SRH Reorg: Personal Vendetta : Conclusive "Proof"!
In article <4csg9j$j9b@babbage.ece.uc.edu>,
Rajiv Varma <rvarma@stallion.jsums.edu> wrote:
>In article <4cgco4$jam@babbage.ece.uc.edu>,
>Vivek Sadananda Pai <vivek@cs.rice.edu> wrote:
>>I guess one of the "philosophical" issues regarding this RFD is what
>>one thinks of the role of the moderator. In the reorg RFD, it is
>>clear that the moderator acts as a facilitator, but is in no way a
>>"leader" or a "speaker" for the Hindus on the net. I personally think
>>it would be somewhat hard to designate some individual as the
>>"representative" for all of the Hindus on the net, and I think that
>>the RFD ensures that no moderator attempt to pass himself/herself
>>off as such, or give the impression that he/she speaks for anyone
>>but himself/herself.
>I request the gentleman to focus on the meanings of the word "facilitator"
>and "moderator"/"speaker".
>For example, if someone posts an article related to "pornography in the
>playboy magazine" (nothing to do with Hinduism). Alright. What do you
>need to do to screen this out of a ng like SRH. A mere facilitator? No!
>Facilitators don't use their judgement, they only facilitate.
>Facilitation does not require intelligence, IMHO, moderation does.
This is a vast misrepresentation of what a facilitator does. A facilitator
does use his or her judgment to insure that progress is made and that
the points of discussion remain relevant. For example, at international
meetings, group training sessions, and other schemes of this sort you'll
frequently see a facilitator who does more than just arrange for the place
for the meeting to be held -- a facilitator can also cut short discussions
that veer off the agenda and so forth. Shri Webster concurs that a
facilitator does indeed help bring about some type of progress.
>So, you need a "moderator" or a "speaker"!
>IMHO, ng moderators are "speakers" who keep the discussion relevant.
>I bet Shivraj Patil is not merely a facilitator of the Lok Sabha. Instead
>he is the moderator or the "speaker". he belongs to the Congress Party.
>Right? But that does not mean he won't allow Atal Behari Vajpayee (floor
>leader of BJP) or Somnath Chatterjee (leader, CPM) to oppose Narsimha Rao
>(leader of his own Party).
Well, Rajivbhai, Newt Gingrich is also a "speaker" who keeps the discussion
relevant. He belongs tot he Republican party. Right? But that does not mean
he won't allow Dick Gephardt (minority leader of Democrats) to oppose
Bob Dole (a leader of his own Party).
Clearly in the case of Newt Gingrich a "speaker" not only keeps the discussion
relevant but has some influence on his troops, and even on the functioning
of his House as a whole.
This should be enough to explain why SRH needs moderators in the role
of facilitators rather than speakers. One of the points in the RFD is that
a moderator cannot display his "Moderator" title when representing his
personal opinion; he can only do so when explaining a point of the charter
or administration of the group.
>>In an earlier post, Rajiv Varma made the comment "You cannot have
>>a panchayat be the speaker of the House. Ajay Shah is just fine."
>Yes, I hold that you cannot have a Panchayat, regardless of the
>qualifications of the Panchs, moderating SRH!
>Lok Sabha is not moderated by a panchayat!
Neither is the US House. It is moderated by Newt Gingrich. Enough said.
On the other hand, many successful job skills seminars, public speaking
workshops, and so forth are given by multiple people who act as
facilitators.
>>That statement disturbs me for the very reason that I do not see
>>the moderator as a "speaker" of any sort. I don't want a single
>>"ruler", I don't want a 5-person panchayat "speaking" for the
>>Hindus, and I don't want some sort of totalitarian, authoritarian
>>connotation built into the position of moderator.
>Have any of your legitimate posts been rejected by Ajay Shah? or anyone else?
Well, I have never had a legitimate post rejected by Ajay Shah, but
I have already presented nparker@crl.com's famous Shiva Purana rejection
numerous times. Of course, that was on alt.hindu, so our moderator won't
accept this for discussion, despite the fact that the two newsgroups
have similar charters and the same moderator.
>>If you want to read it for yourself, and see what I'm talking about,
>>it can be found in many places, including
>>http://www-ece.rice.edu/~vijaypai/srh.html
>>The offer to have Ajay join as a moderator is
>>still open. There are obviously some deficiencies with the current
>>setup of SRH, and Ajay has even spoken about the unavailability of his
>>hardware, etc. I wish that the positive points of this proposal would
>>receive some attention, since there does seem to be a need for some
>>modification to SRH.
>regards,
>rajiv varma
Yours,
Vijay
Submitted around Tue Jan 9 07:12:48 CST 1996
