Re: Appropriate escalation (or non-escalation) re rude emails
On Mon, 30 Oct 2017, Sam Hartman wrote:
> 3) Similar to 2. I don't think you can take off any hats you do have
> when sending such mails. If you have a role in our account,
> antiharassment, conduct, listmaster, moderation, or other related
> processes, you can't really ever give that up when talking to people
> about conduct. People will hear, and to some large extent should hear
> your message with the hat, even if you intend it without the hat.
>
> And so, I think you need to take the same level of responsibility and
> care for anything unofficial that you would for something more
> official, because it's subject to the same potential for abuse.
Taking care and responsibility is appropriate (and I believe everyone in
these difficult roles does so.)
However, taking the same level of care and responsibility would
necessitate running any message I send by all of the other team members
before sending it.[1] That would mean I'll never point out sub-optimal
behavior until it reaches a level which is bad enough that it's worth
wasting everyone else's time to craft such a warning. [Usually after
multiple complaints.]
Instead, I just Cc: everyone else who is on the role so they know what
I've said, and can act if there's abuse.
1: At least, when I want to speak with my listmaster@ or owner@ hat on,
that's what I do.
--
Don Armstrong https://www.donarmstrong.com
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you really want to test his
character, give him power.
-- Abraham Lincoln
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