Re: the sins of moderators

Arun,

Thanks very much for this message - and thanks for the "words of wisdom";
truely appreciated.

Personally, I have no problems to have Sarbajit on this list, provided he
apologises for what he has done and provided he brings "white crow"
information, concerns, discussions without extra luggage of
"foreign/Indian", "ethical/unethical", "moral/immoral", "duped" or any
personal insults. Like you I do value free-speech and the more I hear
contradictory comments, the more I learn and who knows, may be change my
opinion on a subject matter. That is what this list should be: discuss (so
different viewpoints) and learn from the discussion to contribute for
better Indian ICT (policy/regulations/infrastructure) implementations

So thanks Arun for the "words of wisdom" and, for the past, as Beatles said
"Let it be" and let us move forward.

Warmly,
Kirit

On 18 May 2015 at 17:33, Arun Mehta <[email protected]> wrote:

> Sarbajit is not on india-gii. His message got copied to india-gii
> inadvertently, and if it was one of us moderators, we are sorry yet again.
> In any case, guys, me included PLEASE DO NOT FORWARD MAIL FROM SARBAJIT TO
> INDIA-GII !!! BAD IDEA!!!
>
> It has been decided, that Sarbajit no longer is allowed to post directly
> to india-gii. He must route it through one of the moderators. Sarbajit,
> hope this has better success at getting through to you, than the phone
> system. I would happily have given you a chance to defend yourself before
> censuring you.
>
> People must wonder why I went to such lengths to defend Sarbajit.
>
> Our first attempt at organizing online was the Forum for Rights to
> Electronic Expression, which was killed in the mid 90s when two BBS sysops,
> one of whom sadly is dead, attempted to "take charge". But that brief
> admittance into free speech fresh air was heady indeed.
>
> I was a member of Amnesty International from 1976 to 1991, the last four
> years as president of its Indian section. Friends of mine had been tortured
> for exercising free speech.
>
> When I set up india-gii, free speech was a given. I chose the host with
>  care. First cpsr.org, then when they died on us, Suresh kindly offered
> to help. I am delighted, that even after treatment of him that many
> consider unfair, his support as our host has been beyond reproach.
>
> Rarely in an argument any more, do I get to say that my free speech is
> being violated. The problem is, when you say it softly, like I just did,
> that statement is easy to ignore. Do so at your peril.
>
> When it comes to my free speech, you do not get a vote.
>
> See, I like having Sarbajit on india-gii.
>
> Imagine we were to throw out all those from india-gii who never posted,
> for they contribute nothing. From three hundred something we would be down
> to a dozen or two, I am afraid.
>
> Now, suppose we were to also throw out the views of those who work for
> multinational companies or the government, for surely someone is looking
> over their shoulder.
>
> Lets also discard as possibly colored the views of those NGOs, who by
> their travails of first getting foriegn funding and then Indian government
> permission to get foreign funds, have learnt to say less rather than more.
> Oops, Bapsi could be one of them.
>
> Let us devalue those who never start a discussion.
>
> By now, if you get my drift, we are left with one guy. Once, I used to be
> that guy.
>
> In information theory, they talk about how a black crow provides almost no
> information of value as compared to a white crow. Sarbajit is that white
> crow. Would be great if he learnt to follow rules. I believe he can be
> taught. We need someone to raise the issues he does and nobody else seems
> to be doing so, that's the bottom line.
>
> If you are still reading, thank you for not having given up on this list.
> Your job is to please post useful content to this list, and ( my hidden
> agenda ) to help train list members, by pointing out inaccuracies and
> breaches of list rules, and us moderators too.
>
> But for now, could everyone please think about content? Post something
> other than advice?
>
> Arun Mehta
>
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>
>

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