Ladynimue, I am curious if it is my newsletter you have taken such umbrage with, since as far as I know, mine is the only one that bothers to include an article of an editorial nature, and this past week introduced a new feature, the first chapter of an ongoing series of articles from an Admin Handbook I am writing. If so, I think you are over-reacting just a tiny bit, and personalizing things that are not meant personally. My first chapter of my book titled "On the Care and Feeding of Online Communities" is not aimed at you, nor any particular admin, nor any particular site. I have found an empty space and decided to fill it is all. The "empty space" is that there is no formal ethics training manual on running Online Communities available for Admins, unlike similar training manuals for Mushes and MUD Wizards and roleplay communities. So, seeings as how ethics theory and philosophy has always been an interest of mine, I have decided to write one, chapter by chapter, and run it as an ongoing article in my newsletter. It is certainly not meant as criticism of any one admin, nor any one site, but meant to provoke thought and self examination by admins on ALL sites, including my own, were we too must examine our ways of doing things, and our actions, in our ever present quest to do the right thing and indeed, act with integrity in all our actions and decisions. I find it interesting that you are so grievously offended by ethics training material, when so many others have written praising the handbook, asking if I plan to continue it, and one person even asking for redistribution rights, meaning permission to repost it to all the other communities they attend. For those of you who do not get my newsletter, and wonder why she is so distraught, here is the first chapter of the new handbook that I think has her so worked up. ========================================================== Leadership Ethics 101: On the Care and Feeding of Online Communities By Liz Birdsong-Cook I must follow the people. Am I not their Leader? ~ Benjamin Disraeli Community Administrators have a considerable amount of power. With that power comes the responsibility to use it wisely, for the actions of an administrator reflect not only on himself, but also on the community as a whole. You can't have a happy Community unless you have happy community members. We, as leaders must never lose sight of this basic fact. It's been said that every online community is a dictatorship, and that the members have no inherent Rights, but only enjoy such Privileges as the Dictator (and his chosen servants and advisors) see fit to grant them. Even if this were true in theory, it would be a very unwise leader that would "show his hand" and let it be known for a fact. If you must be thought of as a dictator, far better to be perceived to be a benevolent dictator than one who coerces people to your will. If a community member "feels" like a valued citizen of a nation with an enlightened government, he's not likely to spend a lot of time worrying about philosophical questions such as, "If the Admins wanted to ban me without warning for nothing, could they get away with it?" But if you start stepping on the member's toes in an overt way, he's liable to rebel. Remember, unlike such Real Life dictatorships as Cuba, China, and North Korea, being a part of your community's population is a strictly voluntary matter and any citizen can "defect" at any time, without the slightest warning. Accordingly, it behooves you to do your level best to make sure they don't really WANT to. Management is doing things right; Leadership is doing the right things. ~ Peter F. Drucker