Posted by Dinah on March 16, 2008, at 10:17:21
Not because I want to defend Dr. Bob, but because I have always cared about Babble.
I asked the question:
"Is it scarier to think that he's experimenting and watching? Or that he's not watching at all, and is tending to other areas of his life?"
It's not one that I came up with on my own. It's one that Dr. Bob asked me a long time ago. I may not have even been a deputy yet. And it made me realize how very scary it was to think of him not being around, reading posts, and being hands on involved in the site.
That was long ago, and his role was different now than then. And I think to some extent, different posters are bringing different experiences to Babble, and we may not be speaking in ways that appeal to the experiences of others.
Some people have been around long enough to remember when Dr. Bob read every post. Back when there were no deputies, or when deputies played a very limited role. Some people have been here short enough a time to know Babble only as it is now.
I could be wrong, but I see the historical progress as something like this.
At one time Dr. Bob interacted with the board as a person and a professional. This was before my time.
During much of my time here, Dr. Bob would at least scan most or many posts on every board. You could see him in the wee hours, going through the board, redirecting, giving Please Be Civils. Deputies weren't always around, and once they were they only intervened in very limited circumstances. Dr. Bob provided the frame that led to a safe, supportive, environment.
Then more recently, Dr. Bob no longer reads every post. He has deputies take a far more active role in the board. Deputies never have read every post on every board. But if deputies see something, or if something is reported to them either on Admin before the notify administrators function, or by notification otherwise, deputies acted in accordance with the guidelines laid down by Dr. Bob. If a single deputy thought something wasn't clear, they asked other deputies, and if it wasn't clear to deputies, they asked Dr. Bob. Dr. Bob also exercised the right to override deputies, and did so. He also provided guidance as to his wishes. Which is why, yes, deputies have communications channels with him that the board doesn't have. Given the role he expected us to play it was necessary. At this point I think Dr. Bob conceived of it as deputies providing the frame that led to a safe, supportive, environment. And Dr. Bob providing support on a step once removed.
Perhaps I resisted this idea. And maybe I didn't understand that posters may have started to feel that way too? So that my resignation as deputy felt somewhat akin to what Dr. Bob's absences from the board used to feel when he was here every day or every few days?
If I missed that, I'm sorry. I still think of Dr. Bob as providing the frame for a safe and supportive Babble. And I still think that the presence or absence of any one deputy won't affect the safety and security of Babble. Babble will go on as long as Dr. Bob is here to provide the overarching framework.
I suppose I see Dr. Bob as trying to move in a direction one step further. He's trying to have the posters themselves provide the frame that leads to a safe, supportive environment on Babble. And deputies to play the role of providing the frame for posters to do that. Which would, I suppose, put him another step back. Have his level of support... Hmmm... I'm trying to think of architectural terms here, and unfortunately I don't know them. But it would go something like...
At one time Dr. Bob was the sole frame holding up the safety and security of Babble.
At the current time, the deputies are asked to be the more immediate support (certainly not as much so as Dr. Bob once was). With Dr. Bob providing a level of support over that.
In the future, Dr. Bob would like the posters themselves, the community of Babble, to provide the immediate level of framework, with deputies providing an intermediate framework, and Dr. Bob providing an overarching support.
Like different levels of support in an architectural project.
I think that if we stop and think about the varying expectations and beliefs about Dr. Bob's involvement, it's easy to see how we can misunderstand each other.
I'm not trying to defend Dr. Bob. I will never think the board is as well supported in any other way as it was when Dr. Bob was involved intimately. I can understand the anger involved with his no longer being as involved. I can understand, and have experienced myself, how that can be seen as abandonment.
But I am aware that he has already stepped back. Perhaps it is not as obvious on board as I thought it was, and others don't understand that he now acts as more support to the supports. (Is that a bulwark or something?). I have been angry and gotten over this a long time ago. And because I value Babble and Babblers, I have chosen to stay involved because I have felt that the better outweighs the bitter in this. Others have concluded differently, and that's fine. Our internal calibration of weights and balances for what is and isn't valuable or unacceptable differs from person to person, and rightly so.
Does Dr. Bob convey any of this well? No. Clearly he does not. I'm not even sure that I got it right this time, and await for his correction as need be. But not with baited breath. Because he'll come when he feels he can. I have no idea how he calibrates that.
Dr. Bob isn't experimenting. I almost wish he were. In answering that long ago question, I know where my feelings lie. I feel safer thinking he's involved and manipulating than thinking he isn't around on a day to day basis.
poster:Dinah
thread:818238
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20080313/msgs/818238.html