I’ve mentioned the rather stupid way in which Enterprise Ireland mismanage their ebusiness mailing list.
My previous comments were primarily aimed at the “anonymity”, which I felt was problematic on a number of levels.
But what about the actual editing and twisting of people’s words?
When I write an email, an article or a blog post I do so consciously. I may, from time to time, use words or phrases that may not be the most appropriate, but I am more than happy to accept any and all consequences for my actions.
Do I really need someone from Enterprise Ireland to tell me how to word my emails?
I honestly don’t think so.
In reply to a thread on hosting I sent a reply where I clearly stated that I considered the previous reply to be “inane”. I know what the word means and I don’t hide my identity. If I’d wanted to say “misinformed” I’d have said as much. I didn’t.
Do EI’s list moderators live in fear of offending the poor ickle business people?
Thank God there are still mailing lists like OPEN where you can say what you want without having your words twisted around (or having to wait hours for someone to “approve” your reply)
Is it any surprise that people like Damien end up organising their own trips to the US instead of relying on EI?
UPDATE: It now seems that people are offended by “my” reply where I said someone was “misinformed”. Considering I didn’t even use the word in my email I find it amusing that the “moderator” has decided that the discussion should continue elsewhere. Idiots!
Couldn’t agree more Michele. Granted moderation is required, and sometimes it can’t be realtime (although I disagree with that approach as well), but editing of original posts (especially their context) is a very disruptive approach to discussion.
IRFU (and their branches) official forums adopt this approach as well. To a point where the editing of a post can change the meaning entirely. Bizarre!
I un-subscribed from the EI mailing list ages ago. Poorly managed and the same questions get recycled every week.
Second your emoticon, Michele.
Yet another symptom indicating why bottom-up, box-breaking innovation seems doomed to failure in Ireland.
And yet we could excel at biz-tech inventiveness (if only our old paternalist instincts could be suppressed!)
I stopped participating on that list a while ago.
First the moderator edited one of my posts in a way that subtly altered the meaning – there was no indication that it had been edited so it looked like it was exactly what I posted.
Then a short while later, I sent a detailed (and I thought helpful) reply to a question and my post didn’t make it onto the list at all. Not sure why, but I suspect it was due to a comment about the unlikelihood of good code being written in php.
@cgarvey I’m on a lot of mailing lists and forums. With most mailing lists moderation is imposed by the status quo. If someone says something that is unacceptable to the rest of the list they might get flamed, but we’re all adults, so we don’t need to be edited
@fintan – I know. Part of the problem is that the archives are very hard to navigate and people probably don’t even know how to search them. Of course the number of blatant sales pitchs on the list at times is just maddening
@Aidan – they’re probably afraid that you might have upset one of the ickle business people.