[Seattle-editorial] Re: [IMC-Seattle] we need to allow readers to help rate andfilter newswire spam (reply to Joseph and iamforher)

Fri Mar 19 11:35:15 PST 2004

I forwarded it to the general list, NOT with the intention of the list making decisions (heaven forbid), but to just let people know that these kinds of interesting discussions were taking place on editorial.  Editorial is the empowered working group to make those decisions and is still "active".  My point was not to be making distinctions between who makes decisions or not, but rather to include other people in what I think lies at the heart of indymedia and local imcs at this moment.  This discussion is larger than just a few decisions being made.  I think you can continue to make the decisions on the editorial list and in working meetings, but I would suggest that minutes should be sent to the general list of meetings, just as a friendly gesture for those who don't want to read archives of the editorial list.  I also don't think that some of the discussion issues that are coming up are going to go away in the next 6 weeks.  It will be an ever evolving issue for many people.  I just thought some of that thread was interesting enough to post to the imc-seattle list.  

Sheri

> -----Original Message-----
> From: BFGalbraith [mailto:bfgalbraith at yahoo.com]
> Sent: Friday, March 19, 2004 06:52 PM
> To: 'Joseph Eisenschmidt', 'ListEditorial'
> Subject: Re: [Seattle-editorial] Re: [IMC-Seattle] we need to allow readers to	help rate andfilter newswire spam (reply to Joseph and iamforher)
> 
> I wonder if this is appropriate to take to the general
> list.  This has to do with Editoial policy, which IS
> supposed to stay active, and taking it to the general
> list, which is not supposed to be making decisions,
> seems like it might be bothering people who are not
> interested in web page stuff.  (The editorial list is
> an open list.) To me it seems like taking this
> conversation to the general list is asking the general
> list to make decisions when they are not suppesed to.
> 
> --- Joseph Eisenschmidt <relayer at riseup.net> wrote:
> > Agreed. 
> > 
> > This a big-but-intimate group type of discussion. 
> > 
> > Not for public, nor for small group. 
> > 
> > Thanks for the insight Sherri.
> > 
> > Joseph
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Quoting "sheri at speakeasy.org" <sheri at speakeasy.net>:
> > 
> > > more valuable discussion
> > > for when we are more of a collective and meeting
> > again
> > > as a whole
> > > (may 1, 2004)
> > > 
> > > Sheri
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Ben Seattle [mailto:bensai at pix.org]
> > > Sent: Friday, March 19, 2004 03:21 AM
> > > To: seattle-editorial at lists.indymedia.org,
> > > seattletech at lists.indymedia.org
> > > Cc: 'Joseph Eisenschmidt',
> > snow-discuss at lists.riseup.net
> > > Subject: [Seattle-editorial] we need to allow
> > readers to help
> > > rate and	filter newswire spam (reply to Joseph and
> > iamforher)
> > > 
> > > Hi everyone,
> > > 
> > > My comments follow the excerpts from iamforher and
> > Joseph
> > > below:
> > > 
> > > iamforher -- March 18:
> > > ------------------------
> > > > the problem of mean spirited comments
> > > > in response to news posts [...]
> > > >
> > > > I have an idea about how to democratically deal
> > > > with this sort of thing.
> > > >
> > > > If every person who read an article had the
> > > > chance to vote to delete a comment, then a
> > > > comment could be automatically deleted if it
> > > > received 5 delete votes from different
> > computers,
> > > > then it might be resolved in a way that
> > respected
> > > > all parties and made for no more additional work
> > > > for editors.
> > > 
> > > Joseph E (from the Seattle Indymedia editorial
> > group) replies:
> > >
> >
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> > > > This has been discussed by SEAIMC Editorial.
> > > > Thanks for your thoughtful analysis.
> > > 
> > > > Our new software, Mir, allows this type of
> > 'voting'
> > > > to occur for the ranking of articles by the
> > general
> > > > readership. To make the software do what you
> > > > suggest would be relatively easy.
> > > 
> > > > Not to nay-say, but there are considerations:
> > > 
> > > > SEAIMC has an unofficial policy of not
> > harvesting I.P.
> > > > addresses from readers or Publishers. We do this
> > for
> > > > legal reasons, and in recognition of the
> > tradition
> > > > of anonomous publishing by individuals
> > > > and groups who wish to so publish.
> > > 
> > > > In a nutshell, we [...]
> > > > don't have enough time to keep up with the
> > trolls,
> > > > infiltrators, insane, and misguided.
> > > 
> > > Ben Seattle replies:
> > > -------------------
> > > It is not difficult to allow readers to help rate
> > and filter
> > > posts and comments _without_ harvesting their IP
> > addresses.
> > > One technical solution is that instead of
> > capturing the IP
> > > address itself--we can capture a "checksum" of the
> > IP address
> > > (ie: more or less a reduced, semi-encrypted
> > fragment of the IP
> > > address that would be of minimal use to Ashcroft's
> > snoops).
> > > 
> > > >From a political perspective--I consider it
> > necessary that we
> > > allow readers to help us rate and filter the
> > newswire--so that 
> > > readers have a democratic voice in the site
> > content and a
> > > higher signal-to-noise ratio is available for busy
> > people who 
> > > don't have time to read spam.
> > > 
> > > And yes, if we let readers rate posts and
> > comments--then we can
> > > also (just like at http://slashdot.org) let
> > readers choose the
> > > minimal rating level of what they have time to
> > see.
> > > 
> > > If we fail to take this step--then we are telling
> > readers that
> > > our site is a good place for people who have lots
> > of time to
> > > waste--and that if they don't like it--they can
> > get their news
> > > from the mainstream, bourgeois media.
> > > 
> > > Sincerely,
> > > Ben Seattle
> > > ----//-// 18.Mar.2004
> > > http://struggle.net/Ben (my elists / theory /
> > infrastructure)
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Seattle-editorial mailing list
> > > Seattle-editorial at lists.indymedia.org
> > >
> >
> http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/seattle-editorial
> > > 
> > > 
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > imc-seattle mailing list
> > > imc-seattle at lists.indymedia.org
> > >
> >
> http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/imc-seattle
> > > 
> > 
> > 
> > Joseph
> > 
> > ----- End forwarded message -----
> > 
> > 
> > Joseph
> > _______________________________________________
> > Seattle-editorial mailing list
> > Seattle-editorial at lists.indymedia.org
> >
> http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/seattle-editorial
> 
> 
> =====
> -Benjamin 
> 
> "BFGalbraith"- bfgalbraith at users.sourceforge.net 
> (H&S Project Manager- http://hack-and-slash.sourceforge.net)
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