Elitism

Wah I’m so pissed!!! You see I’m on this Mailing List in my school and in August 2001 the fellow running the list asked for comments & ideas to make things livelier on the mailing list. Nobody suggested anything, so I tried to give my two cents worth knowing how hard an online community can be at times and how hard it is to suggest technical things in layman terms. So this was my reply.

I think the list is facing a natural death. Why not create a forum. An easy way is to use Yahoo Groups. You can find more info at http://groups.yahoo.com

The fellow then replied

Of course! Why didn’t I think of that! Instead of hosting the existing email based list on a private, university administered server, I should host an entirely new email based list on a public access website run by a dot-com company with a history of selling consumer information to advertisers! The Californian Dot-Com will make all the difference to the daily life of an inactive group of academic acheivers in Perth! That’s the shot in the arm the VC-List needs!

You might want to consider finding out all the facts first, and then thinking a little about your suggestions before you start jumping in, cowboy.

Okay I was a little pissed when I got the sarcastic reply to my constructive feedback, so I replied.

I am not critisising the list, i was just trying to help.

Anyway I do want to let you know that there are free discussion board scripts out there where there is absolutely no ads.

This is one I did and only moderating it on an adhoc basis. http://www.urbanplayground.f2s.com/bbs/

I intend to change it to ikonboard (http://www.ikonboard.com) when the new version is stable.

Hope everything works out fine.

Then came the ultimate reply

You’re not exactly the brightest bulb in the box, are you.

Let me make it simple for you.

WE ALREADY HAVE A FULLY FUNCTIONING DISCUSSION FORUM.

IT IS HOSTED BY THE UNIVERSITY.

IT COSTS NOTHING.

THERE ARE NO COMMERCIAL LINKS.

IT PERFORMS EVERY TASK THAT IT IS CURRENTLY REQUIRED TO PERFORM.

THERE IS NO PRESSING NEED TO CHANGE TO __ANY__ OTHER SYSTEM.

PUTTING THE EXISTING DISCUSSION FORUM ON A WEB SITE WILL __NOT__ MAKE THE DISCUSSION ANY MORE VIBRANT, INCREASE PARTICIPATION, INCREASE THE QUALITY OF DISCUSSION, OR SOLVE WORLD HUNGER.

You are not impressing me by demonstrating your expansive lack of knowledge about the problem at hand. You are not endearing yourself to my better nature, either. Please refrain from sharing your folk whizdom (sic) lest you seriously embarass yourself.

My last reply

I might be new to the VC-list and might not know the ongoings, but i do not appreciate insults to my efforts to contribute in a positive way. But i do know flaming will definately not make “DISCUSSION ANY MORE VIBRANT, INCREASE PARTICIPATION, INCREASE THE QUALITY OF DISCUSSION”, etc…

I do not enjoy elitism and i wish you good luck for your future.

Fine!!! If that’s the attitude, then being on this elitist list is really not worth my time. Darn I was bitter. But the funny thing is now, they sent this e-mail out to everyone on the list.

Dear Vice-Chancellor’s List Member,

Last year, we were challenged by our student speaker to make more of the Vice-Chancellor’s List and to encourage members to be more active in its promotion. One task was to update the VC List website. We are now pleased to announce that a new website dedicated to the VC’s List is now “live” and can be found at:

http://otl.curtin.edu.au/vclist/index.html

The site has been developed by two List Members, Anlly Li and Tania Jacob, and our grateful thanks go to the two girls for all their hard work, which was undertaken in addition to their demanding study schedule.

Please take the opportunity to visit the website to keep up to date with List developments. A discussion board has been included should you have any comments about the website or anything else which may be of interest to other List members. Username and password are included below:

…

I rest my case.