8 ms·

Eh, it’s easy to put elegant and abstract rules in place, but it’s another beast to scale that rule consistently over all users of your platform. The ambiguity

by sedatk 3y ago

Eh, it’s easy to put elegant and abstract rules in place, but it’s another beast to scale that rule consistently over all users of your platform. The ambiguity is just a cop out.

lmm 3y ago
On the contrary, I'd say a self-evidently subjective policy like this one has a better chance of being enforced fairly than a legalistic code that usually ends up being twisted by whoever's in power to go after their political opponents.
- mongol 3y ago
  I agree. Less is more. Better chances of users actually being aware what the rules are too, since I think only few users to actually read long code of conduct documents.
- KingOfCoders 3y ago
  I see this with my CTO coaching clients, I see quite a lot of values and policy documents. Often they have very long value documents no one reads or knows. Better have 5 bullet points everyone knows by heart.
  - WaitWaitWha 3y ago
    This is probably the biggest downfall of policies - long, drawn out prattle about irrelevant topics with weasel words and irrelevant niceties. Distilling them into standards and procedures becomes a nightmare and constant fight.
  - sedatk 3y ago
    You can have both kind of documents.
  - BLKNSLVR 3y ago
    This is true for so many things.
- sedatk 3y ago
  That’s a false dichotomy. You can have your subjective vision along with a legalistic code, so the abuse in practice could be tested against the vision itself. Think of it like having a constitution and laws at the same time.
  - lmm 3y ago
    > You can have your subjective vision along with a legalistic code, so the abuse in practice could be tested against the vision itself. When has that ever worked out in practice?
    - sedatk 3y ago
      on Wikipedia for instance.
      - lmm 3y ago
        My experience is that rules-lawyering and organisational politics has very much won out over the original spirit/vision of Wikipedia.
        sedatk 3y ago
        It has indeed, but that may not be the worst outcome as the other alternative would be a toxic trashcan.
WaitWaitWha 3y ago
Your statement begs the question, what rules would you put forth for online communities in the same succinct way that also scaled?
- sedatk 3y ago
  You can’t have succint and unambiguous at the same time. You need to be as specific and elaborate as possible to avoid ambiguity.

by sedatk 3y ago

Eh, it’s easy to put elegant and abstract rules in place, but it’s another beast to scale that rule consistently over all users of your platform. The ambiguity is just a cop out.

lmm 3y ago

On the contrary, I'd say a self-evidently subjective policy like this one has a better chance of being enforced fairly than a legalistic code that usually ends up being twisted by whoever's in power to go after their political opponents.

mongol 3y ago
I agree. Less is more. Better chances of users actually being aware what the rules are too, since I think only few users to actually read long code of conduct documents.
KingOfCoders 3y ago
I see this with my CTO coaching clients, I see quite a lot of values and policy documents. Often they have very long value documents no one reads or knows. Better have 5 bullet points everyone knows by heart.
- WaitWaitWha 3y ago
  This is probably the biggest downfall of policies - long, drawn out prattle about irrelevant topics with weasel words and irrelevant niceties. Distilling them into standards and procedures becomes a nightmare and constant fight.
- sedatk 3y ago
  You can have both kind of documents.
- BLKNSLVR 3y ago
  This is true for so many things.
sedatk 3y ago
That’s a false dichotomy. You can have your subjective vision along with a legalistic code, so the abuse in practice could be tested against the vision itself. Think of it like having a constitution and laws at the same time.
- lmm 3y ago
  > You can have your subjective vision along with a legalistic code, so the abuse in practice could be tested against the vision itself. When has that ever worked out in practice?
  - sedatk 3y ago
    on Wikipedia for instance.
    - lmm 3y ago
      My experience is that rules-lawyering and organisational politics has very much won out over the original spirit/vision of Wikipedia.
      - sedatk 3y ago
        It has indeed, but that may not be the worst outcome as the other alternative would be a toxic trashcan.

WaitWaitWha 3y ago

Your statement begs the question, what rules would you put forth for online communities in the same succinct way that also scaled?

sedatk 3y ago
You can’t have succint and unambiguous at the same time. You need to be as specific and elaborate as possible to avoid ambiguity.