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12/26/2005: "Imbas Public Posting Grinds to a Halt Due to Poor Moderation"
music: I'm A Loser, Baby - Beckmood: Disbelief
The triple moderators of Imbas Public have accomplished what many have feared only flame wars could do; effectively silence the 7+ year old e-list with its grand archives and loyal membership.
Once again, restrictive, ill advised, knee-jerk moderation is to blame.
Why a subject of the blog? Well, you can't complain about
the Imbas Public list on Imbas Public. You can't complain about the moderators lack of abilities or unfairnes when it comes to shepherding a list of 700 people. If you do, you get moderated or threatened with removal from the list. I learned quickly. Here, all are free to read, research for themselves, or answer without fear of reprisals.
On November 20th, 2005, when co-moderator Dubhtine complained (message 26308) that members who wanted to start another list to discuss topics without moderator interference were misguided and that a Celtic children thread had become anti-Christian, postings over a previous 6 month average were 10-15 posts per day. From that post till today, membership postings have ground down to averaging less than two a day (75 over a 45 day period).
This email posted from Dubhtine shortly after two moderator posts: first co-moderator Brenda Daverin (in message 26269) squelched a thread about children and their practices related to Santa and the tooth fairy, by saying it was off-topic and had nothing to do with CR Paganism. When some list members complained, pointing to a pun thread going on simultaneously, Dubhtine weighed in (Message 26304) saying the action was justified to reign the topic back to Celtic Children, insulting posters by adding his opinion that it had become anti-Christian, while also saying the pun thread was on-topic and irrelevant to the argument.
List members openly discussed starting another list where these things could be discussed; resulting in the final say on the matter, ironically in the form of a question, as to why people were complaining about having to start a new list when there was a perfectly good one right there at Imbas-Public, if only posters would stop tearing others down. There were few takers on the new thread; the list membership voted with continuing silence.
Due to copyright and terms of membership issues, the posts will have to be read by the readers at Imbas-Public. I will tell you, though, as a reader, the moderator's arguments are ridiculous.
First, there was nothing "anti-Christian" about the original thread, unless expressing one's desire as a CR parent not to raise their children with a Christian religious worldview regarding holidays can deemed as such. Second, the majority of Celtic children in the world *are* Christian. Despite Daverin's spin that the thread was not related to CR Paganism, her statement belies the purpose of the Imbas-Public list and is an unintended disservice to its list membership, many who are not CR Pagans.
On the Imbas-Public elist home page, the purpose of the list is published (besides the regular email disclaimer that the views of the public group's emails are not necessarily those of IMBAS proper):
"Imbas' public discussion forum covering topics related to Celtic spirituality and culture, particularly the spiritual beliefs and practices of the Pagan Celts. Imbas is focused on a Celtic Restorationist philosophy and is attempting to develop a method by which modern people can have a valid pagan path based on ancient Celtic practices while still living in the modern world."
Whenever Christianity becomes a subject on the list, moderators tremble, between not wanting the list to show any outward negativity towards Christianity, but putting their collective feet down when a thread appears (to them anyway) to be devoid of CR paganistic value. It ignores the undeniable fact that Celtic spirituality expressed in the world today is done so today by a vast majority of Christian Celtic language speakers, not Pagans; CR, Neo or otherwise.
Add that to knee-jerk reactions on outside links and Celtic traditionalism posts this year, and there is no wonder why posting compared to high membership numbers is at an all-time low.
Raising your children in a CR family, dealing with the issues of Santa, the tooth fairy, and Christmas holidays are all about trying to adjust to "living in the modern world." It is certainly related to Celtic spirituality, and the exchange of ideas from others who have handled these issues lends itself to helping to develop a method.
The pun thread, though entertaining early, got boring quickly (in my opinion) and, though an on-topic excuse can be made, was far less important than the issues of CR parents handling children's' issues relating to holiday figures.
The resulting fall-out was almost immediate. Postings have fallen to their lowest level since the outside links flap in April 2005 ( Message 24330 Outside links) and threaten the historic lows attained from October 2003 until July 2004 (averaging less than 2 a day for 9 months with a March 2004 low of 17), after I-P moderators shut down, ironically, a Christianity thread (Message 21439 Christianity topic closed) that had run amok.
Moderators have already posted IMBAS disclaimers on the emails; no one will mistake opinions offered publicly as speaking for IMBAS. With the continued irrelevancy of IMBAS proper as an organization, one has to wonder why there is so much drama from the moderators about posting on IMBAS Public. Let the list breathe. Imbas Public members are smart enough to use the delete key for themselves. Truly offensive posts can be deleted by moderators at any time when needed.
This type of knee jerk reaction by Imbas Public moderators (Dubhtine, Daverin, and Vanya Tucherov) has continually stifled the desire of the vast majority of its membership to express themselves. There is always a need to have police on the streets of an egroup list, but not to the point that its members are afraid to "drive". One hopes current list moderators review the above and adjust their modus operandi before the public list falls as silent as its organization "proper".
Tearlach Roibeard Luder
December 2th, 2005