The Question and Answer Board

[Bird of Prey]

Gee whiz! This is starting to give me a headache!

On "Personal Boards" and the CoB concept: I may be wrong and possibly out of line here but, As I understand it the purpose of the CoB's is to make administrating the site easier, not harder. It requires a certain amount of trust in the Chairperson. Chairs should be held to higher standards than members should. How that is accomplished is for IHUB to decide. The other primary argument I see taking place is "when is a personal board not a personal board". And quite frankly I think the difference between Gary and Bob on this is a matter of Volume. Gary (I believe) is referring to a single or occasional instance of a particular security or securities being mentioned on a board while Bob is referring to a pattern of recurring references. If that is correct, both are Right! If a stock gets mentioned, in either a positive or negative light during the course of regular on topic discussion on the "personal board" it should remain as should any responses to it (provided no other rules are violated). However if there is a pattern of ongoing use of a personal board as a 'bully pulpit' concerning a particular stock or group of stocks. Then the CoB is not operating a personal board in the spirit in which it was intended and should be removed from "personal" status. There are always exceptions to this rule but quite frankly even a board titled "Why OTCBB stocks (suck/are the greatest investing vehicle)" probably shouldn't get "personal" status.
Perhaps as a means of restricting "Personal Boards" guidelines could be established showing what criteria must be met before a member can become a CoB. Add further criteria before starting a personal board. Additionally, a probationary period would be in place for all CoB's during which they would have a lower level of powers and/or be subject to more stringent reviews. This should only apply to new CoB's though it might be a consideration for CoB's returning from a serious suspension.
Once again folks, this is a BBS. What transpires here is not likely to affect much of anything beyond it's direct effect on the lives of the people involved. And then only to the extent they allow it to. IHUB does need to have rules and regulations in place that will allow it to protect itself in the legal arena. But I for one hope it will be able to maintain its "common sense" approach to solving many of the problems that face a WWWBBS. No matter what is done though there will always be those that are too ethically or intellectually challenged to abide by the rules. That is why a SM has to have a legal means of removing the offending material. It does open a door for the SM to become an abuser. In the case of IHUB, we the CoB's and Users must trust that the powers that be will recognize such abuse (if it should occur) in time to end it.
As a Moderator of a BBS I had the following sayings stuck to my monitor. Not only did they help keep me sane but I feel they helped to keep me impartial as well.

Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely.
Do Unto others, as you would have them do Unto You.
Consistency, Consistency, Consistency.

In Closing I'll offer a very old tagline (now called siglines) of mine. It says quite a bit about how you should respond to a moderator IMHO.

Never anger a Dragon…for thou art crunchy and go well with Brie.


David Weed
aka the Bird of Prey
www.warp-drive.com