[TPIN] ADMIN - PLEASE READ

[Michael Anderson]

All,

After much thought I have decided to make a major change in the way I
administrate TPIN effective immediately.

Until fairly recently, I've always tried to stay out of personal spats and
arguments only getting involved if things got "ugly." I've also thought that
the pros and well-known teachers/players who have tried out TPIN and went
off with their feathers ruffled should grow thicker skins and argue their
beliefs and have them stand on their own merits. All of this would work just
fine if the discourse were always polite and civil. Unfortunately, it hasn't
been and we have lost countless numbers of valuable members over the years
because of it. I've always felt that if "they can't take the heat, get out
of the kitchen," but now I feel completely the opposite.

I'm not pointing fingers here either (yet,) because I'm as guilty as the
next person for spewing vitriol on TPIN in defense of something I believed
in strongly. For the health of TPIN I've decided to radically change the
ways in which I administer and moderate TPIN.

We can continue to argue passionately on TPIN, but the bottom line is, these
arguments will be polite and civil. If you need a guideline for what is
polite and civil, simply don't type anything you wouldn't say to someone in
public, face-to-face, with a group of people listening on. This group
includes all sorts of people of all ages. In short, don't be a jerk making
your points. Be careful when trying to be sarcastic or when "joking around"
because it is easy to be misunderstood in a text-only medium.

Yes, I know that this sort of thing means different things to everyone and
what is polite and civil to one person is rude to another. Unfortunately, it
will not be a perfect system and decisions will be left up to my
interpretation as they always have been.

Let it be known that there will be situations that will arise where I will
react differently than I have before. It is a new day on TPIN and this
approach trumps anything I've done in the last 15 years of administrating
TPIN.

Anyone, from this point forward, who I feel is not being civil and polite
will get a warning delivered in private email. After that I will simply ask
them to leave the list for a period of time or will ban them from posting.

I won't tolerate a public debate of these rulings when they happen. They are
expressly off-topic on the list. All of this will go on in private email
behind the scenes. If it gets dragged to the list, the same actions as
stated in the previous paragraph will apply.

My hope is for a bit of a culture change in the TPIN Community. The vast
majority of posts are quite positive and civil, but the few that do come
through on occasion can do a great deal of damage to the quality of the
list. I am going to do whatever I can to protect the quality of posting on
TPIN even if it means bouncing people who are causing problems.

Here's to another 15 years of high-quality discussions on TPIN.

MA - TPIN ADMIN