Okay... why *am* I the list owner of Gmast? I really have no attachment
to the position, there's no reason that I need to be in the hotseat.
So here's the deal. I'm going to abdicate the "throne" of Gmast list
owner. You guys can vote on who you want to handle the technical details
and the web page (which could use some updating anyway). You *can't*
leave it entirely un-owned... somebody has to deal with the infrequent
bounced messages the robot doesn't know how to handle.
I'm not doing this out of spite, or resentment, or any bad feelings. I'm
doing it because I don't see any reason *not* to. People are obviously
unhappy with my being the list owner, so there isn't any reason for me to
keep the title. If you don't like me as list owner, you're welcome to
choose a new one.
--
Carl D Cravens (raven@phoenyx.net)
[ The Fudge List -- http://fudge.phoenyx.net/ ]
Where am I . . . and why am I in this handbasket?
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GMAST Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gmast/
With how vocal I've been recently, I'm almost afraid to offer this for fear of sounding egotistical, but I'd like to throw my name into the proverbial hat, with some caveats. How far are we talking here? I've been knocking around here for a few months shy of a decade. I have experience running listservs (I handle the listservs for the company I work for and ran MARVEL-RPG for five years). I have experience writing webpages. My Perl is _very_ rusty and my experience with other programming languages is extremely limited to nonexistant. If you're talking working on the webpage, handling error messages, unsubscribing and subscribing people who can't figure it out on their own, etc., I'm yer man. If you're talking SQL, I'm out, unless you'd be willing to see GMAST make another move (I'm part of another organization that has the technical people who could handle these things). Besides, I'd feel wrong complaining about how things are run and then not be willing to run things myself. Lucifer >:} -- "The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a heav'n of hell, a hell of heav'n" --Milton, Paradise Lost, Bk. 1 Homepage: http://members.aol.com/noctifer/index.html Lucifer's DJ Webpage: http://members.aol.com/noctifer/private/DJ/index.html Lucifer's Vampire Webpage: http://members.aol.com/noctifer01/private/VampHome/index.html ---------------------------------------------------------------- GMAST Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gmast/
On Thu, 14 Jun 2001 Noctifer@aol.com wrote: > With how vocal I've been recently, I'm almost afraid to offer this > for fear of sounding egotistical, but I'd like to throw my name into > the proverbial hat, with some caveats. Well, I was considering putting my name in the hat (I was even considering contacting Carl and seeing if he'd mind handing the list over to me *before* his announcement), but given Lucifer's "volunteering", I'll support him in this (as long as it doesn't mean another list move). In general, being a Phoenyx list-owner is not in any way difficult. I'd know, currently being on my third Phoenyx list (one of which is now defunct, but hey). -- Michael Feldhusen mike_f@io.com http://www.io.com/~mike_f/ ---------------------------------------------------------------- GMAST Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gmast/
I also am satisfied with the way the list is run currently. It ain't broke, despite the loud claims of a few, and I don't think it needs to be fixed. Jae Walker -- jae@rpga.net - http://www.countess.org **I can't be fired - slaves have to be sold!** -- ---------------------------------------------------------------- GMAST Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gmast/
On Fri, 15 Jun 2001 09:13:45 cst, Jae@mail.RPGA.NET wrote:
>I also am satisfied with the way the list is run currently.
>
>It ain't broke, despite the loud claims of a few, and I don't think it needs to be fixed.
>
>Jae Walker
Yes. Carl, you're doing fine.
Lansing D. Tryon
splorg@rochester.rr.com
No enemies had ever taken Ankh-Morpock. Well *technically* they had, quite often; the city welcomed free-spending barbarian invaders, but somehow the puzzled raiders found, after a few days, that they didn't own their horses any more, and within a couple of months they were just another minority group with its own graffiti and food shops.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Eric)
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GMAST Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gmast/
I just want to say I support the decision either way. I wasn't really following the discussion that spawned this, and so managed to miss the start of the situation...and I'm always amazed at how quickly some mailing lists delve into chaos. I've never minded Carl's moderation, and in fact, and am glad when I am on lists have moderators who are willing to put forth their own opinions, no matter how strong or unpopular. As long as the moderator keeps the list from having technical difficulties (or solving them when it does), and keeps disruptive people from harrassing others, and makes an effort to keep things to whatever charter it was created (and still operates) under, then it matters not to me who moderates it. While the gmast has its share of tempers, it is much less problematic than many lists I've been on. I was on a list for a game system that was hosted at a university. The list was low traffic, but had a long and loyal following. The list had not had a moderator for something like five years, nor anyone responsible for it. It had problems, where people would get unsubbed at random. It had problems where people couldn't, no matter what, get unsubbed. Every time there was a problem, people panickly begged the person who'd been on the wrong end of the snafu to not report it to the university sysadmin, in fear that if they discovered the list lying around with no one to claim it, it would be deleted. There was occasionally talk of starting a new list elsewhere, but nothing was agreed upon. Then, one time it happened again. Someone bopped over to egroups and set up another list, and came back and said "look what I did! now we won't have to worry." The outrage was unbelievable. They didn't want a list with ads at the bottom. They didn't want someone to have taken charge without permission like that. They didn't want to deal with some unknown company. Throughout this argument, the list had its normal shares of problems, becoming even more flaky. The result? We ended up with two lists, the original and hte new. Half the folks were subscribed to both, another quarter to one or the other. So now, instead of wondering if the lull in messages would be that you'd been unsubbed or just a lull (which always led to: "am I subbed?" questions and the invariable "yes, you are" responses), you also got dupes of most of the posts...and most of the conversations, being cross-posted, got fractured more quickly than otherwise would have been. In disgust, I finally quit both. Why'd I bother saying all that? Because I've been on at least one other list Carl has run (fudge), and in neither case were we ever abandoned by our moderator. If there was a problem, he told us how and why and when it would be fixed, if it hadn't already. Have we had our dust-ups here? Sure. But I won't blame Carl or Karen if they refuse to be polite in the face of rude individuals. I've worked customer service, and I know how hard it can be to keep a smile in place when dealing with someone whose request for help starts with an obscenity or an insult. And we aren't exactly customers, are we? I don't recall that we pay anything for the service they provide. I certainly don't agree with everything they do, or the way they do it, but I recognize whose ball I'm playing with and who can take it home, ending the kickball game. I support Carl being moderator, and thank him for all he's done. Of course, if the next moderator is also attentive and keeps things running smoothly, I'll support them too. Jennifer ---------------------------------------------------------------- GMAST Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gmast/
On Fri, 15 Jun 2001, The White Crow wrote: > While the gmast has its share of tempers, it is much less problematic than > many lists I've been on. I was on a list for a game system that was hosted > at a university. The list was low traffic, but had a long and loyal > following. The list had not had a moderator for something like five years, > nor anyone responsible for it. It had problems, where people would get > unsubbed at random. It had problems where people couldn't, no matter what, > get unsubbed. Every time there was a problem, people panickly begged the > person who'd been on the wrong end of the snafu to not report it to the > university sysadmin, in fear that if they discovered the list lying around > with no one to claim it, it would be deleted. There was occasionally talk > of starting a new list elsewhere, but nothing was agreed upon. > > Then, one time it happened again. Someone bopped over to egroups and set > up another list, and came back and said "look what I did! now we won't have > to worry." The outrage was unbelievable. They didn't want a list with ads > at the bottom. They didn't want someone to have taken charge without > permission like that. They didn't want to deal with some unknown > company. Throughout this argument, the list had its normal shares of > problems, becoming even more flaky. > > The result? We ended up with two lists, the original and hte new. Half > the folks were subscribed to both, another quarter to one or the other. So > now, instead of wondering if the lull in messages would be that you'd been > unsubbed or just a lull (which always led to: "am I subbed?" questions and > the invariable "yes, you are" responses), you also got dupes of most of the > posts...and most of the conversations, being cross-posted, got fractured > more quickly than otherwise would have been. In disgust, I finally quit both. [Reminder of message snipped as not relevant to my reply] Oh, I didn't realize you were on Falkenstein too. :-) Yeah, the problem of the absent moderator is a definite issue. Certainly when GMAST was hosted on the college server, the list-owner was *very* absent and this *did* cause problems when the list was to be shut down. But we survived that one, the Stargame time and we'll survive this too. -- Michael Feldhusen mike_f@io.com http://www.io.com/~mike_f/ ---------------------------------------------------------------- GMAST Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gmast/
>Oh, I didn't realize you were on Falkenstein too. > >:-) ;) I figured someone would recognize it. I haven't been for ages, since I got so fed up with it. >Yeah, the problem of the absent moderator is a definite issue. >Certainly when GMAST was hosted on the college server, the list-owner >was *very* absent and this *did* cause problems when the list was to >be shut down. It can be a mess, that's for certain. >But we survived that one, the Stargame time and we'll survive this too. I missed the Stargame time thing, apparently. GMAST, the list that would never die. Jennifer ---------------------------------------------------------------- GMAST Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gmast/
I'm perfectly happy with the list as-is. I don't have the history to compare it to, but I've been acquainted with Carl and Karen since Red October and have no gripes with the way either one of them is handling things. Theron Bretz Houston, TX ---------------------------------------------------------------- GMAST Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gmast/
On 14 Jun 2001, at 23:44, Noctifer@aol.com wrote: > With how vocal I've been recently, I'm almost afraid to offer this for fear of > sounding egotistical, but I'd like to throw my name into the proverbial hat, > with some caveats. One: I'm fine with how Carl and Karen have handled GMAST-L since we moved here. I supported the original move to Stargame just to keep the list alive and the move to GMAST as well. When traffic is flowing I find the conversation much preferable to what I see on UseNet (not on r.g.frp.announce of course) which is has basically degenerated to namecalling in many cases. If it's just listmanager, I'd be willing to backup Lucifer, just as I backed up Randye when needed. But only for the technical issues. No "listmod" features from me, I *like* the occasional literate arguments we have here. I catch enough flack as a Usenet "Censor/Moderator" over on rec.games.frp.announce, even though I follow the charter and guidelines. ================================================================ -Coyt "The Internet, billions of electrons with nothing better to do." ---------------------------------------------------------------- GMAST Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gmast/
