Kind of my sentiments.

I find it fascinating that people can't seem to get past the idea that we are FTers first and moderators or talkboard members second. It isn't a hard thing to grasp, IHMO.

As far as a conflict of interest goes, when you consider that that the Talkboard is not responsible for setting moderator policy or or overseeing moderator action(s), I don't see it...

After thinking more about it, I think that my concern is not conflict of interest but rather concentration of power and checks and balances. I'd still like to see TalkBoard members who are not moderators (and am voting thus).

Do you define "power" as the ability to recommend new forums to be created? That and the signature issue is really the only thing I've seen the talkboard undertake in the last 18 or so months.

After all their mission is to advise Randy on decisions, not make decisions, right? :confused:

Don't take the word "power" literally, but my feeling is that if there are people who influence Randy and if there are people who implement decisions made by Randy then it is good to not have an overlap among the two. YMMV and vote accordingly.

The TalkBoard does not really have any formal power, but it obviously is supposed to channel members concerns, suggestions and requests and make recommendations to Randy based on that, as I understand it. As such, it does have a special role within the community. Now, if all or almost all members of the TalkBoard were moderators, one might argue that they do have a different perspective than regular members on some things, due to the role they have. I guess the idea would be that the TalkBoard represents ALL members, not only those which are already in a way "part of the inner circle" due to their moderator status.

It is not a big issue for me, I think one can see it either way, probably, there are good arguments for both sides - and in any case, one should not have any illusions of grandeur with regards to any kind of decisionmaking power for the TalkBoard.

But as you also point out when saying you cannot remember much TalkBoard has undertaken within the last 18 months, I think TalkBoard could probably be a bit more involved in issues which are being discussed among the members, such as moderation guidelines, ideas on how to increase traffic, etc.

I would try to proactively initiate such discussions in the TalkBoard.

I wouldn't take it too literally. :) I think that Randy has a lot of FTers who influence him, the talkboard being one of many. In other words, its going to happen no matter what.

and therein lies a substantial reason why you didn't get my vote. I prefer the US Libertarian view of "less is more" when it comes to the day to day management of FT.

The TOS does not need to be expanded, moderators do not need more guidelines. People need to simply show more respect for others, be it their position, political view, whatever.

I think moderator guidelines can be a help to ensure that people can give each other more respect because they know what they can expect and how far one can go, and moderators will get help towards making consistent decisions across all forums.

Therefore, having guidelines and striving for more respect towards each other is not a contradiction, I think.

But with or without guidelines, I agree with you that people should try to treat each other respectfully.

Am I the only one who sees a dead horse being beat? :confused:

I think that people should try to treat each other with more respect.

Gang,

It seems as some have forgotten what this thread is about. Please remember the original post:

"It concerns me a little that a number of moderators have elected to run for Talkboard this time. With a handful of incumbent Talkboard members already being moderators, this raises the very distinct possibility of a majority on the TalkBoard also being moderators.

While I have nothing but respect for most of the moderators here, I cannot help be disturbed by the potential conflicts of interest. It would not be in the best interest of the userbase to have "their" elected representatives also be members of a group whereby they cannot be fully transparent about their actions and motives.

Perhaps Randy might look into instituting a rule that a majority of TalkBoard members cannot also be moderators. This will ensure that these kind of conflicts do not arise."

Please discuss.

William

Sorry to take this thread off topic, but was just wanting to ask you B747-437B if you had PM'd those you had questions for to let them know that there was a question here waiting to be answered? In my mind, there would be a difference between someone who choses not to answer and someone who hasn't answered because they didn't know there was a question waiting to be answered. Yes, you can argue that a potential talkboard candidate should be watching the talkboard board, but hey its not a perfect world and people are full of human frailties :)

Post has been edited.

Edited (by myself :)).