Pit Schultz on Mon, 23 Jun 1997 18:49:47 +0200 (MET DST) |
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<nettime> moratorium |
[we wrote this textes a couple of days ago, ironically it got automatically bounced by the robo-filter of the majordomo listserv software .pit] >From pit@contrib.de and geert@xs4all.nl Subject: after ljubljana dear nettimers, here are two letters from me and pit (see below). Lately it has just been too busy on the nettime channel. People get into a panic, start unsubscribing, delete material that they would really like to read (in principle), and generally feel bad about the whole situation. A lot has happened recently: first we discussed various topics like the digital economy, net.art, push media etc. and then all this came together in the 'content potlatch' for the printed zkp4 newspaper. Then we had our meeting in Ljubljana, which has not yet been digested properly on the list. Here, in Amsterdam, we just went through the state of emergency because of the euro summit (see the reports). Not to forget the piran manifesto and the following (zero) work discussion. Simultaneously, nettime got engaged in its first discussion on cyberfeminism, which is causing a lot of traffic. The Workspace at documenta opened its doors -- a project that might easily overflow nettime. This should not happen, of course. Also, recently many new participants have entered the list. Some of these people behave like real newbies, and the rules of the list have had to be explained many times over. This is completely normal, but in a situation of heavy traffic, the growing ammount of mistakes by newcomers has reached the limits of acceptance. nettime is a content project, a pre-publishing list that is focussing on 'collaborative text filtering'. Discussion is a part of this process. This is how nettime has created the so-called 'threads'. But nettime is not a newsgroup where we are all posting our small and transient opinions. So, we are now working on solutions for this (see pit's text below). Pit and I could NOW switch on the moderation mode. That's the easy and radical solution. However, I would propose to have a small moratorium -- only five postings a day. If the traffic is still too much, we will have to re-think it. Five substantial postings a day is the average number people most likely find acceptable. If nettime goes over this amount of postings, PLEASE do not send anymore material. Let's keep nettime open! Think twice! geert --- dear nettimers, in Ljubljana we already talked about the questions of change, growth, institutionalisation and the art of dis-investment on or of this mailinglist. there were also the calm critique of the authority of the moderators and their secret techniques of policing and control and that's exactly what i try to do now. i think it's all about trust. we do not invest into money but into a network of relationships which build up a web of contexts for generating 'content', satisfaction, desire for more. it is about attention, which you better not abuse because the next time people won't listen anymore. everyone who invests into such an 'economy' has to know why. at this moment it seems that some do not know any more. instead, it is so simple, that every newsreader software has an inbuild function for it, a reminder. it normally says: before you post to the public: think again. we exceeded now the 500 members but this is no cause for a big HURRAAH! instead i have to play the nasty pool manager: "bad children, bad, don't jump on other people's heads and don't piss into the water." or, to use another metaphor, if you drink to much and begin to vomit onto the floor, you better don't do it in this pub. if you begin to harass other guests you will get helped to go and not come again. this is bad news for all of you who just love to talk to 500 people with a hit of a button. *nettime is not a dialogue list* it would not work as a dialogue list. it is no side canyon of the Grand Conversation. it has even not much intimacy any more which is a big pity. if old members cannot teach the new ones, mails like this one seem to get unavoidable. on this list you need some sensitivity for multiple contexts and some time and will to invest into its gift economy. if you don't care about it you better go. for dialogue, chat, talk and intimacy we have a diversity of different tools on the net. nettime has even its own newsgroup: news://news.thing.at/alt.nettime or http://www.dejanews.com and search for alt.nettime it seems that we have to face a bottleneck of social bandwidth, a desperate desire for more attention and a loss of sensitivity for who's behind all these electronic adresses. i still do hesitate to switch over to moderate mode even if this tendency is not changing. one 'bad' message denotates and devalues all others around. but who decides what's bad. luckily we had not the selfreferential textual masturbation orgies for which other groups are so well known. but we can debate about a categorian imperative, about emergent stupidity, about father complex and god complex, about radical democracy or the ethics of email. finally nettime will be not the place to 'chat' about such topics. you can start another list. instead longer texts or at least texts which show a certain intensity of thought are what brought the list to where it is. instead of policing you in an oldfashioned way or play the anti-authoritarian teacher who feels so guilty to punish his pupils, i believe for the future in 'tools not rules'. soon we will have 12 different newsgroups under 12 different issues moderated by 12 different groups on the workspace server. it is still in an experimental phase but it will give you the needed space for spontanous, quick hit and run dialogue, a different style of discourse in a higher diversity of channels. the forced unification of modes of expression which you have in nettime is maybe not the only possible solution. over the next 100 days we will also refine and update the software behind the online part of hybrid workspace. there will also be a 'free groupware' meeting at Hacking In Progress. Mieg who did the nettime archive at http://www.factory.org/nettime thinks about adding an IRC option to have a chat while you are fishing for documents. We invite you to take part in the cc:-conversation about the technical future of nettime if you believe you have to add something to it. this is also an answer to Heath Buntings subjective and precise interview, we have to face that we are not the little family any more,there is more anonymity, less social context, and more insensitivity as a direct result of social scale. we have to develope the question of scale and the architecture of our own small media. think about it before you post your next message... have a nice day /pit ps. ok, some nono-rules of thumb: no private dialogue, no chain letters, no commercial advertisment, no atachements, no announcents of small local events, no flame wars, no racism, sexism, fascism. --- # distributed via nettime-l : no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a closed moderated mailinglist for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@icf.de and "info nettime" in the msg body # URL: http://www.desk.nl/~nettime/ contact: nettime-owner@icf.de