Ben replies to Mike Ely re: Moderation on the Kasama blog

Hi Folks,

As many of you may know, I have avoided posting to the Kasama blog for more than a year because of repeated threats from Mike Ely to permanently expel me from the Kasama community if I did so.

My reasoning has been that it is better for me to avoid the blog and, by so doing, at least preserve, for the time being, my ability to post to the Kasama "threads" bulletin board (ie: a part of the Kasama site that has maybe five percent of the readership of the Kasama blog).

Recently, however, Mike has claimed on the blog that he exercises a "light touch" with moderation and that it is possible to openly discuss moderation on the "threads" bulletin board.

I decided to reply. I have made a good faith effort to avoid giving Mike an excuse to expel me (my post is directly relevant to the topic, there are no links, etc). Of course, if Mike is determined to expel me, he does not really need an excuse.

In any event, it is now Mike's decision whether to allow my post to see the light of day. If he deletes the post or deletes me from the community--then, in my view--he will expose himself as a hypocrite in the eyes of some members of the Kasama community. It would be good if Mike does the right thing. But we will see--and in any event I have other fronts of work that require my attention.

I posted about 12 hours ago. My post is now in the moderation queue and will not be visible to readers unless Mike approves it. I will most likely find out if he does so within the next 48 hours.

Here is my reply to Mike:

Light Touch: Kasama Moderating Rules
http://kasamaproject.org/2011/01/03/...erating-rules/

My opinion is that Mike's description (above) of moderation on Kasama is neither accurate nor sincere.

Before I go into this, I should point out that, of course, moderation is necessary and the guidelines Mike gives (above) are quite reasonable. And, I should add, nearly all of the complaints I have read on this site about moderation were from people who tended to be clueless and were unable to understand why we need to discourage behavior that wastes everyone's time or threatens the site.

The problem, in my view, is not with Mike's guidelines, but with their application here on Kasama.

So I should explain:

This is my first post to the blog portion of Kasama in some time, probably more than a year. (Generally I only post to the "threads" bulletin board).

Why do I not post here on the blog?

(1) On three occasions Mike has threatened to permanently expel me from the Kasama community if I step out of line. Stepping out of line includes posting a link to anything (including posting a link to a discussion in the Kasama "threads" forum) if Mike considers this an attempt to "divert discussion" or "spam".

There is more.

(2) My experience has been that it has never been possible for me to participate in a real and honest discussion about moderation on Kasama. Mike has prevented this.

Yes, of course I know there is a thread on the bulletin board that is supposedly devoted to discussing moderation. Mike created that thread at my request. I made that request because I recognize the need for open discussion of moderation. After Mike created it, I then posted to that thread, giving specific examples of what I considered to be heavy-handed and unnecessary edits and deletions to my posts.

Unfortunately, Mike then immediately deleted my post. Mike then asserted that moderation can be discussed--but only if no specific details of a dispute are mentioned.

The problem is that this is like saying that we can discuss chemistry as long as we do not discuss any specific molecules.

Mike does say (above) that:

> Disputes over moderation are handled by email
> or on Kasama threads, not in the threads of
> the site.

But this is, as I noted, neither accurate nor sincere.

Here is what I believe would be helpful:

(1) I would like Mike and the Kasama leadership group to recognize that discussion of moderation is empty if specific examples of heavy-handedness or errors in moderation cannot be discussed.

(2) I would like Mike to publicly withdraw his repeated threats to permanently excommunicate me from the Kasama community. I see no need to engage in heavy-handed threats like this. The development of a thriving community of revolutionary activists (and the resolution of disputes between activists) will not be assisted by these kinds of crude threats.

Some readers may ask why I do not make an effort to resolve this privately with Mike or the Kasama leadership by email. I gave that a try. My experience was that Mike was abusive and did not act as one would expect of a professional revolutionary. I do not trust Mike. His public image is that of an activist who is respectful and deeply thoughtful. My experience in private discussion with Mike, however, is something different.

Furthermore, my belief is that for a site like Kasama to fulfill its potential of assisting the self-organization of a powerful revolutionary movement--then it must learn how to handle moderation disputes in ways that are public. Keeping moderation disputes hidden and secret cannot be excused by the need for a security culture--because the legitimate need for a security culture cannot be used as an excuse to hide dysfunction.

Moderation, as I noted, is important and necessary. But it is also important and necessary to build a community of activists who can help with the work involved in moderation. This is part of what makes a community real. But this also requires that both principles and practical application of moderation are allowed to be public.

I do not know if this post will see the light of day. If it does, I do not know if I will be allowed to respond to any comments it may draw. My experience is that my comments, even if allowed, are usually delayed two or three days and for this reason the majority of readers never see them.

Readers who would like to discuss this with me are welcome to do so on my blog at RevLeft (I will not give a link to it here because that would make it easier for Mike to claim I am attempting to divert discussion or spam Kasama).

Ben Seattle

Here, also, are some graphics I created in the past which give some background concerning my disagreements with Mike and the Kasama leadership team concerning both moderation and the overall direction of Kasama's development:





Ben Seattle
http://struggle.net/ben/
Information war wants to be free
to serve the struggle
to overthrow bourgeois rule