My Apartment Is Not On Fire: On Asking Patrick To Intervene

[patio11]

Last night, at about 1 AM local time, as I was checking my email from paying customers right before I went to bed, I got a few emails about a spat between two long-time NB members, involving the moderation policy. Thankfully, that particular spat has since been resolved amicably.

There are a variety of things I appreciate getting told about at 1 AM in the morning. "Patrick, your apartment is on fire" is one. "Patrick, the NB server is inaccessible, you're the only one who can do anything about that" is another.

Then there are things that, if you tell them to me at 1 AM in the morning, I do not see as requiring action on my part. That would include almost everything else.

I only "own" this site in a very narrow, technical sense. Its been my opinion for years that the community is largely capable of working things out for itself, as happened here.

(Seperately, I have also said for years that the moderation policy is a solution in search of a problem and causes vastly more squabbling than it has ever solved, but that is my personal opinion. I bow to the will of the majority that keeps voting for the policy, and won't be changing it.)

Tradition and technical requirements dictate, apparently, that I get to be the court of absolute last resort for resolving major issues with the site. I would really, really, strongly prefer to never be asked to do this. So if you're considering asking me, here's the hurdle: is this at least as important as Patrick's apartment being on fire?

In over 5 years of spending an entirely unhealthy amount of time on NB, I can recall exactly two incidents that met that hurdle. Both involved the possibility of actual, physical harm to community members. I'll act, with alarcity, on those things any time day or night.

For all the other incidents, including those which people think are Really Transcendently Important OMG WTF BBQ, I will continue to excercize the benign neglect that has characterized my administration for the last several years.

Additionally, to encourage folks to not see me as the judge of first resort, I am going to refrain voting in the various election procedures outlined in the moderator policy.

[thedancingbear]

Hey, Patrick, the site looks like ass. Intervene.