e.Digital Corporation (fka EDIG)

[chwdrhed]

To the board:

As this issue refuses to die I feel a need to say something in public.

Is a moderator held to a standard that is higher than other members in general? Yes and No. Yes, with respect to the TOU for this site. No, with respect to being a decent human being in another forum.

My expectation for myself is that I uphold the Terms of Use for Ihub and accurately represent the interests of those that own and manage the site. My expectation for my assistant(s) is fundamentally the same. I feel that friendlyfred has performed well in this area with few exceptions.

But what about my behavior outside of the Ihub community? The problem of this question is that it presumes a very difficult supposition - that the line between what is known and unknown about another member be drawn somewhere other than at the edge of this site. Where do we draw that new line? At the edge of another site? A list of other sites? At the edge of cyberspace itself? Or do we demand that the line reach into the actual lives behind the aliases that are presented to us as real individuals?

If we choose to draw this line anywhere short of knowing the real people behind the aliases we have, at best, a representation of the real individual. At worst, a lie. Given that, for the most part, we cannot peer into the real lives of our members we must find the point at which comfort matches practicality. The point at which our expectation of behavior is matched by performance. For this site that line is at the edge of this site and no further.

As long as a member follows the rules of conduct for this site while interacting on this site that member remains in good standing. It is of no concern to us how a member conducts themselves outside of this site. It is as if it does not exist.

Of course, individual members may make judgmental decisions about another member based on whatever criteria they wish. However, those individual judgments would serve to govern how one wishes to interact with that individual on this site. Not how this site would choose to interact with that individual. The ignore feature is available to any member that would wish to act as though another member did not exist here.

As such, with respect to friendlyfred and his appointment as assistant moderator of the EDIG board, I do not feel there is any sound basis for his removal.

If there are any other questions on this matter it should be discussed elsewhere. Perhaps the Question and Answer board #board-504 would be the best place as free members would be allowed to participate.