My issue is more with the process than the timer. It was presented as a done deal carried out as a single-handed back room power grab without mention of even a moderator discussion of the matter. (Maybe that isn't how it happened, but it is how it was presented.)
There was extensive moderator discussion about the timer, both before and after the implementation. As it happens, Diane is the only active person at Kiva Friends with the ability to implement the timer because of her role as Administrator. Therefore she made the announcement and took the responsibility for the action. If you feel that the process was unfair, don't make assumptions, ask us about it.
I object strongly to the phrase "back room power grab" here as well as earlier in this thread. What power was grabbed? What power does the timer give to anyone? It is the only tool that is available to the administrators of Kiva Friends (Joe and Diane) to prevent thread deletion and to preserve conversations. This has all been said before, but let me repeat here, Joe owns the forums, he built them and he maintains them on his servers. Joe has every right to choose whom to trust with help in administration of the forum and he chose to trust Diane with that honor and responsibility while he is inactive. From what I see both on the face of the forum and behind the scenes he has chosen very well. Diane takes her responsibility very seriously and attempts to do what is best
for the entirety of the forum.
That said, I would rather discuss what meaningful productive things we can still accomplish here. (Because this discussion gives me migraines and sleepless nights that I don't need any more of!)
I partially agree. It is not so much the discussion here that I object to, but the manner in which the conversation has been raised and the tone and implications in some of the comments. As Peter noted:
In all the discussions, I never actually heard anything on the "Con" side that amounted to anything more than "I (personally) like to edit or delete my posts and have done so in the past". I didn't for example see anyone pointing to some legal or constitutional precedent that suggested that the ability to unsay something one had uttered was intimately bound up with freedom of speech, or human liberty, or anything else.
Talking about censorship, "oppressive power grabs" and the like is not in any way a discussion of "meaningful productive things we can still accomplish here". And the timer in no way affects anyone's ability to discuss anything on KivaFriends.
... we could try to do it the other way round. Instead of focusing on the negative aspects, why not try to find out what are the things that make Kivafriends a good place, a place interesting for many of us and especially so, that people are willing to spend their time and energy here and by this, yes, make also more posts.
Hear, hear!!
-Kerry-
