Re: <nettime> report_on_NNA

[Andreas Broeckmann <abroeck@transmediale.de>]

friends,

so long as we can limit this debate to a few days, i think it is a
welcome occasion to think about one of the wonders of the online
world - after all, Nettime is still one of the most interesting and
most active (and kicking) mailing lists with a relatively consistent
topical field, after 11 years.

this is partly due to a string of people who have fed, starved,
swamped, dieted, stuffed and moderated the channel over the years
- thanks to those, and thanks also to all the unpaid time invested
by people who have to take, for my taste, too many personal attacks
in some of the messages of the last 24 hours. they deserve some of
this, but also a lot of praise for an immense amout of work. (please,
imagine offering at least an hour every day - you, yes, you, every
day, one hour! -, ploughing through spam and short comments by people,
sometimes meaningful, sometimes meaningless, and having to take
decisions about whether or not to post; plus a lot of background
communication with unhappy subscribers, unsubscribers, posters,
etc.) (i accept the subjective, good-willed choices that the team of
moderators make; remember, this is not only one person.)

contrary to some others, i have the feeling that those who have
entered academic or other careers are posting much less than they used
to. remember, nettime was started and built by a whole group of people
who were the precariate (some said then: the virtual class) of the
mid-90s. (the problem for moderators are often those people who have
too much time on their hands and little sleep, and who spend their
nights writing stuff which has a very high noise-to-signal ratio;
people who insist that all of those should be made available should be
condemned to 1 year of nettime-bold! ;-)

finally, if you are unhappy with the list, be aware that 'the list',
i.e. nettime, is what gets posted. of course, moderation plays a
role in this. but the greater role is played by the things that get
written and sent, or not. if certain discussions are not happening,
it is because people are not writing their opinions. (and before you
complain that your posts never get through, please, consider whether
they have been adequate in form and tone for the list; if they have,
they should have been posted; but there are so many people listening
in this big 'scripto-auditorium', that the late-night babble that some
people return is simply inappropriate to the forum. (i second the plea
for 'less', and for selectivity.)

regards,
-a


ps: like the demons at night, the 'stars' and the 'little people' 
just disappear when you stop talking about them; what remains are 
potentially equal, of course unequal participants in a public online 
forum. your name will be respected if your contributions are, and 
they will never be by all, but maybe by some. the community of people 
here is incredibly mixed, so be brave.
-- 
----------------------------------------------------------
andreas broeckmann - artistic director
transmediale - festival for art and digital culture berlin
klosterstr. 68-70 - d-10179 berlin - tel. +49-30-24749-761
ab@transmediale.de - http://www.transmediale.de
----------------------------------------------------------
+++ transmediale.07 ++ unfinish! +++ 1-6 february 2007 +++



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