Joel (and others)'s revelations are shocking and truly disturbing: its
unacceptable to be using private messages to harass, the real world
postcards rises to the level of reporting to local law enforcement.
As a perhaps un-useful digressionside that maybe could lead somewhere, I've
never heard problems to this extent on other birding listservs. Its likely
I just missed them, but they aren't as apparently commonplace. This
difference is either community composition (Oregon vs elsewhere, don't
*...think*... that's it... but I don't hear about birders being threatened
with guns in California), or long standing community norms (vis-a-vis
community rules). If its too expansive to start asking the moderators on
the others lists (EBB-sightings, SFBirds, SanDiegoBirdingRegion, pen-birds,
etc), we can at least look at them and realize that this doesn't have to be
the case. There are constructive forums where new birders can ask for IDing
help, and accomplished birders can show off if thats what they're here for.
*-Teresa "What can we do about it?"*
A no harassment/bullying policy. Violaters will be warned and/or
temporarily silenced (depending on severity), then removed if violation
continues. If it's something like sending people postcards threatening to
kill their pets, that gets forwarded to local law enforcement. And policies
and multiple routes of communication and remediation for offenders and
offended, open communication about standards (to the community) and
decisions (for those involved).
Private messages, begun from initial contact or communications through
OBOL, are equally the responsibility of OBOL moderators and us as a
community as communication directly through the listserv. Sending harmful
private messages is no different than sending harmful group message. The
bylaws guidelines should state this. Sadly,what should be an implicit
community understanding (i.e. "dont harass in public or in private"), is
being violated so it must be made explicit. Private communication uses OBOL
community resources to get there so it involves the OBOL community; we're
responsible for protecting others in our community. Recipients of harassing
messages should be reminded to forward such emails to moderators so
harassment might be moderated.
Is a non-email community board a better idea? It allows for more
moderation, membership, etc. My guess is its too heavy to implement.
Listservs work because they're easy.
Alternatively, the option is to just start a new listserv. I would be happy
to do this but am not as active within the Oregon community. In the end a
board of reasonable birders, willing to establish community standards,
could make decisions and put things to community vote. But why do this when
the structure is already in place? I think its perfectly possible to talk
about everything from bird ID and rare birds & FOS, to conservation,
politics, and everything else, within the context of OBOL as it is, IF
everyone is expected to stay civil. Its very easy to sit behind a keyboard
and fire off text without feelings of repercussions.Don't feed the trolls;
but also you can starve them on purpose. These community standards would
ensure that it was only by people's own actions that they left the
community, rather than feeling forced to because they were being attacked.
Its ultimately just to make it about personal responsibility "if you want
to be part of a good community, keep the community good."
Thanks for all the thoughtful discourse from everyone,
Stephen
On Thu, Feb 25, 2021 at 8:03 PM JILL PUNCHES <punches1@xxxxxxx> wrote:
I appreciated your posts, too! And I like Harry Fuller’s reports as well.
Take care!
Jill
Sent from my iPad
On Feb 25, 2021, at 6:15 PM, jmeredit@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Boo,
Well it stopped recently because covid stopped group activity but I
stopped sending to OBOL before the pandemic. Maybe if we had a rare bird I
would share to OBOL.
I said that not to point to me, but if I felt it and heard it, how many
others quit posting or left the list or felt intimidated. I am sometimes
fairly thick-skinned but may lack self confidence. I suspect others may
relate. Perhaps esp females. Judy
On 2021-02-26 01:36, Karen Saxton wrote:
I agree with Linda and darrell. I somehow must have missed where those
posters were being given flack, because it seemed the story just stoppd
On Thu, Feb 25, 2021 at 5:02 PM linda phelan thompson <
lindaphelanlmt@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I'm amazed to learn you got flack for that. I can remember reading those.
I enjoy that kind of storytelling. It wasn't that long ago someone gave
Harry Fuller a hard time for his longer storytelling. I enjoy those myself.
And afterall, if it's not your cup of tea, you don't have to read it.
Linda
On Thu, Feb 25, 2021 at 1:42 PM <jmeredit@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I used to send bird lists weekly to OBOL but not any more. I got plenty of
negative comments about posting common birds on a list every week, or why
did I list participant names etc. I always thought new birders asked great
questions and I liked to get their names on the list.
I really appreciate reading about bird arrivals and departures statewide,
changes in range, habitat changes statewide etc. It can be about learning,
not just chasing rare birds. To me, those are all bird related and
appropriate. I would dislike OBOL being only for rare bird reports. I do
agree about conservation issues being more and more important but how do we
keep politics out of it?
So good to hear the many voices on this. So glad we have Boo. Judy,
jmeredit@xxxxxxxxxxx
On 2021-02-25 21:21, Joel Geier wrote:
To draw a finer point here:
... about the scope and purpose of OBOL. What is it? It was designed tobe about birds in Oregon.
My understanding is that OBOL originally grew out of an informal e-mail
chain that was formed to share state-level rare-bird-alerts, with a
Slaty-backed Gull as one particularly formative example. So if we go by the
"founding fathers' original intent," it should only be about very rare
birds.
In the early years (around 1999 or 2000 when I was a relative newbie on
the list) there was at least one individual who took that idea seriously
enough to send threatening anonymous postcards to at least three of us. One
woman received a card saying, "Shut up, you talk too much!" The card that
showed up in my mailbox told me to stop posting about commonbirds. Another
woman got a card with a threat to drive to her house and kill her pet geese
if she ever mentioned them on OBOL again.
However, despite such opinions, OBOL quickly became a place for people to
talk about non-rare birds and topics more peripheral to birding. By the
time I joined, OBOL was already being used for coordination of the Oregon
Breeding Bird Atlas, which led to many discussions about distribution of
species as common as Spotted Towhees, and also personal experiences of
birders who volunteered on that project.
Birders also used it to discuss encounters with hostile residents. One
particularly memorable discussion in early 2001 concerned a
"pizza-box-tossing cul-de-sac resident" who vented his unhappiness at
birders who were flocking to a Summer Tanager in Beaverton, which led to a
broader discussion/argument about the rights of private residents to
control access to public rights-of-way. Impacts vs. benefits of ranching
and grass-seed farming were also frequent topics in those years.
Some prominent birders used OBOL as a soapbox to fault the EPA for
limiting manure seepage into Tillamook Bay, on the grounds that this was
detrimental to shore-birding opportunities. ODFW was criticized for letting
"scrapes" become vegetated. Even the OBA board (then called OFO) was a
regular target of criticism. One very well-known birder was fond of
discussing the culinary possibilities for waterfowl and other wild fauna,
often provoking a reaction from vegetarians on the list. Another once
promoted an unsuccessful campaign for birders to buy the whole town of
Fields when it was up for sale.
There have always been a few voices who objected to these more
wide-ranging topics, but -- at least since 1998 -- it would be hard to
argue that discussions were strictly confined to just birds in Oregon.
--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area north of Corvallis
--
*Linda Lee*
