[hackerspaces] status of this list

[Jens Ohlig]

Am 14.05.2009 um 23:36 schrieb druid at stonedcoder.org:
> now if the GROUP responds formally, saying "you are an instigator,  
> based
> on this this and this", hackerY will not assume as he has in the  
> past that
> the person criticizing him is just responding in kind, because the
> language will indicate the criticism has been well thought out.

This assumes a common set of values in the group that this group is  
willing to defend against the instigator. With drastic examples like  
the use of extremely derrogatory speech or ad hominem attacks, it's  
probably easier to find a consensus. Things get a lot trickier if you  
look at the examples of your original list: "religious and policitcal  
issues, gender issues portrayed negatively, etc..." In that case a  
group of 3 people can stop any thread they disagree with by requesting  
that thread to be moved and seconding that. This may not say anything  
about the position of the majority on the list.

Also, please keep cultural differences in mind (we're dealing with an  
international audience here). The thing that made me very unhappy  
about the thread in question that started this meta-discussion, was  
that it became a flame-fest with ad hominem attacks. On the other hand  
I was really confused when a group of people wanted to kill the thread  
because it dealt with political issues. I may be totally wrong (I've  
only lived in Europe all my life), but I got the impression that  
discussions on political issues are often avoided among Americans  
daily smalltalk, as it might offend those with a different opinion.  
I'm not judgeing that, it's a perfectly fine example of a cultural  
difference. Yet it feels foreign to me personally. On the other hand,  
there are counter-examples to this, two people from das Labor in  
Germany also voiced their opinion that they didn't care for political  
discussions. So I may be wrong here.

Still, I believe it's tricky to impossible to objectively judge when a  
thread should be removed, apart from the more drastic examples.
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