Consider this an open letter to whom ever else is in charge of the USMS website and forums.
This is something that has been bothering me for a while, and if I end up going to the convention I will bring it up in appropriate places as well. It has to do with the USMS Code of Conduct, and how it may or may not extend to it's forum communications.
While I'm not really young, I belong to the 'younger' generation, who is very internet friendly. I barely watch TV and read printed news, I get most of my information and communication online. This is getting more and more prevalent, and the internet is maturing.
This also means that internet presence is more and more important PR resource for USMS.
USMS website is very nice, decently organized, and somewhat formal. Having been involved in USMS Administration, locally and nationally I know USMS business is done in a rather formal manner as well.
Then we have USMS forums. Forums can be a very valuable interactive communication tool, and great for building a sense of community. However, when it comes to the USMS Forums, code of conduct and just plain common decency disappears. As if they are some magical territory where none of this applies.
I've spoken to many swimmers and coaches and productive people who could be a valuable assets, and they have a strong aversion to the USMS Forums, they consider it a cesspool full of combative weirdoes and irrelevant losers who have nothing better to do then to fight and argue.
Not only is this sad and detrimental to the overall USMS image, but it also ends up being a very wasted resource.
In the past, circa ‘05 or 06, I spent a little bit of time being a forum monitor here (very little, because due to time constraints at the time, I had to bow out of the job), however over the years, I’ve owned or moderated and participated in dozens and dozens of forums and interactive communities, moderated and not. My own personal business is online community and forum based. Internet is mainstream media now. It’s less and less place for cooks, geeks and weirdo’s.
The fact is that you can’t confront and cuss someone out on a pool deck, but you can log on to the USMS forum and do it with impunity. If you do it on the pool deck, a person can file a grievance against you, and worst case you can be expelled from USMS. In a forum, you can do a lot, with impunity. This is just wrong. Very very wrong. Yes, I’ve succumbed to the temptation of doing it myself many times, but just because I’ve done it, it doesn’t mean that I did the right thing. There are times I, and just about everyone else, gets upset, and doesn’t do the right thing, but do it anyway, because they feel secure that they will get away with it.
I’ve heard many arguments for relaxed moderation, or almost no moderation at all… things like, ability to opine and have an open discussion etc. Guess what, people share opinions and have open discussions across the world every day without engaging in bad behavior. Without antagonizing, attacking, cussing, excessively negatively judging, shaming and many similar things that people don’t dare to do face to face, are can get in trouble if they engage in them.
I’ve also heard arguments about “I’ve seen a lot worse places”, “this is not nearly as bad as it can get”, and worst of all, those are presented as if they are some sort of badge of honor. It’s a lot like, well, be happy we only cut your arm for this one, there are places where you could have been killed. Decent people tend not to go places where they think they may get killed or their arm cut off.
I don’t believe that forums should be an exception, and we in the USMS need to get out heads out of sand about this. Participating in forums should not be a license for almost anything goes kind of bad behavior. This is still a public place, and one that contributes, and will continue to contribute more and more to the USMS image.
Like I said, I participate in many online communities, and the most thriving ones have really good moderation. I’m not talking about super stuffy formal places either, but forums and communities that have to do with cats, scrapbooking, graphic arts, video games and several other informal activities. Places that have free-for-all attitude out of fear that they may stifle open discussion. Good people not wanting to come to the forums because they consider it a waste of time, frequented by a few irrelevant oddballs and a cesspool is what stifles good productive discussion. Being able to tell each other off, and yell louder then the other person is NOT good for open minded discussions. All it is, is brawling, that wouldn’t be allowed anywhere else.
It doesn’t have to be this way. The fact that it is, I believe points to the failure in oversight. I think USMS needs to take a closer look at why this is the case, whether it’s short-handedness, or peoples beliefs, or something else, and try to improve the situation.
Part of why I’m writing this is because of recent team and LMSC bashing in the forums. Several ‘offline’ people’s reaction was, bah, just ignore it, these are irrelevant goofs and oddballs who don’t matter that are engaging in this. This is very untrue. I’ve been able to track down some of the ‘brawlers’. They include coaches, USMS delegates, current or former USMS or LMSC officers, swimmers featured and highlighted in the Swimmer magazine, people who many of us already have or will be meeting face to face.
Compared to several years ago when I was a lot more active, it appears that things have gone significantly downhill. This is sad to see, especially considering that a significant segment if ‘internet’ is realizing that free-for-all is not a good way to go. Just look at what is happening with unmoderated free for all places, like usenet newsgroups, Craigs list, mySpace and similar places supposedly not stifled by moderation. I doubt that his is the kind of reputation USMS forums want.
There is no plausible reason why USMS forums should be exception to USMS code of conduct, or at the minimum, to common decency.
thewookiee
Originally Posted by thewookiee
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