[IMC-Boston-Editorial] list/consensus

[Pete Stidman]

Hey Ted!

Good to hear from you after all this time...  And it's
really good to have an outside perspective from time
to time.  

One thing that is unique about our group at this
moment, and you fortunately did not experience during
your tenure at BIMC, is an enormous amount of hostile
online behaviour.  The Boston collective so far has
not created any sort of protection for volunteers who
might be called anything from controlling to a white
supremacist while stating their opinions online.  

Without this sort of ettiquette in place I have seen
several people leave the group, and most of it starts
over attempts to make decisions online.  Most fomal
guides to consensus process (CC Butler and the like)
emphasize face to face meetings.  I thought this would
be a good thing since Boston IMC needs to build up
trust among its members and so on. 

It may appear that I am being stubborn, but other
people, almost everyone you knew while you were here,
have left the group.  I am on the verge of leaving my
self.  So the situation is much more serious that you
may deduce.  

-Pete


--- TDForsyth <TDForsyth at alfredalum.com> wrote:

> Hey all from Chicago!
> 
> Couple of things...
> 
> I've been reading the banter lately and while I'm no
> longer a member of the BIMC I do have the great
> experience of working in two other IMC
> collectives... Chicago and some work with Rochester.
> 
> 
> Let me preface this by saying that this point about
> the list being open, yet requiring a password that
> doesn't even effectively bar people from reading the
> list, is a really tiny issue to get worked up about.
> Not that anyone is getting so.
> 
> I think it's against the spirit of Indymedia to have
> secret or private lists. I have heard of editorial
> lists for members currently active and working on
> things within collectives, but even those lists are
> made available to the public at large if requests
> are made. Transparency Above Secrecy, and all that
> rot.
> 
> This doesn't even sound like a protected list as I
> think it was Svea who was able to get a password and
> access the list lic-et-ty-split. 
> 
> I say throw open the doors and let the light bathe
> you! Scrap the ineffective "security" password
> device and let the chips fall where they may.
> 
> Finally, just a note on consensus from my
> perspective. Consensus does not mean we all leave
> the table with exactly the same idea or solution. It
> simply means that concerns are addressed and if
> someone has a serious problem new solutions are
> thought of to satisfy all parties. Not all parties
> have to agree 100%, but agree enough and be able to
> swallow some pride. There is also consensus minus
> one or two whereby the whole collective agrees with
> a solution but one or two members constantly
> complain and declare that the solution is unfair
> without creating new solutions or expressing their
> sincere concerns. Therefore the collective agrees to
> a solution and perhaps has a direct democracy vote
> thereby eliminating the forces that continue to
> block but won't present alternatives. At this point,
> one understandable option would be for the parties
> to leave. I've seen this commonly done out of
> stubborness and paralyzation of collective action.
> It frustrates the hell out of people and can cause
> groups to split. In Chicago, we do a lot of our
> consensus online. Our agenda meetings twice a month
> are primarily dedicated to feature selection and
> coverage of events. (They are very short by the way,
> 2h at the most.) The one time there was an issue it
> did take an online direct democracy vote and finally
> some face to face meetings to settle something which
> inadvertantly caused some angst among
> members...which all appear to have moved on. No one
> left the group, which reinforced my idea that they
> were simply being stubborn. If they felt truely
> betrayed or that the action was unjust they could
> have left. They did not. I was disappointed because
> I thought no solution was pursued, but that's
> another story. 
> 
> Take it for what it is...
> 
> My .02
> 
> Ted Forsyth.
> 
> Chicago IMC (formerly of Boston IMC) 
> 
> 
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> Boston-editorial at lists.indymedia.org
>
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> 



		
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