From:
williamsdvm@comcast.net
Date: 2003-07-29 03:48:48 UTC
Subject: Moderation, politics, and the FHL
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <3690751.1059450528906.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
First of all, I am a moderator of the FHL. While having been unable to post on a regular basis due to a number of pressures (work, family, etc.), I still receive a copy of each post and a lot of followup traffic on ones that don't go smoothly to the list.
Recently a post was fowarded to the FHL about a current rescue operation. While certainly touching to the moderators (as well as anyone who cares about ferrets), it did not truly
adhere to one of the most important guidelines of the FHL - that of dealing with health issues affecting ferrets. As is the case with off-topic posts, one of the oher moderators crafted a well-written response, suggesting ways in which the post could be rewritten. As is also the case with rejected posts - they conferred with the rest of us. Rejecting a post is a very
serious thing - it is not taken lightly, and personalities never come into it.
Most posts that are rejected ultimately make their way to the list, usually with minor revisions. However, the rejection of this particular post resulted in a number of vehement responses to the moderator either as an individual, or to the entire group of moderators. Some were civil, and some were appalling - and
all were misdirected. The amount of hours that our three primary moderators put in is truly staggering - anyone that thinks that this is an easy job is sadly mistaken. There is no reward for the long hours spent at the computer, except for the satisfaction gained by knowing that many ferrets have been helped by their efforts. Each night as I browse through the posts that have already been handled by this stalwart three I am amazed at their effort. It is a shame that some individuals who think that they don't do enough for the ferret community will never get to see that.
When a group of us - Chris Bennett, Sukie Crandall, Mike Janke, Pam Sessoms, and I set up the FHL it had a few guiding principles - one was that it was a place where the agendas and incivility of a small minority of ferret lovers would have no place, and the second was that it was to fill a special
niche - that of being a place where reliable ferret health information (and only reliable ferret health information) could be obtained. Over the years, we have stuck pretty well to those guidelines,as has the overwhelming majority of our participants. A number of vets, who also do a yeoman's job at answering posts, have realized this, and have stuck with the list, where few other lists have any.
This incident serves to remind us exactly why we set up the list - and how the most innocent of topics can lead to fractions within the ferret community. My faith in the judgment of the other moderators has been justified too many times to count - and the FHL remains true to its tenets.
Make no mistake - I treat a personal attack on any of the FHL moderators as a personal attack on me.
Some individuals have pledged to unsubscribe from the list; that would be a loss, but people subscribe and unsubscribe all the time. Some followed their inflammatory comments by a promise to continue reading, as if that would upset us (it won't, because we're not writing it for them - but for their ferrets.) Perhaps one day, as they are helped by someone on the FHL even in spite of their past poor behavior, they may learn something valuable about the good in people.
But most of all, the FHL will certainly continue - for ferrets, for civility, and for the dissemination of ferret health information.
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, DVM