2009.11.03 14:00

Present: Eliza, Eos, genesis, Pema Pera, Storm Nordwind.

Apologies: Maxine.

Reference: this week's agenda

Facilitator: Eliza

Minutes

1a Name tags worn at PaB sessions in SL

Eliza suggested we make a decision on Host tags.

Pema recalled comment made by some guardians that there is a militaristic flavor to these but that when he asked for alternatives no one on the main guardian mailing list suggested any.

Eliza commented, and Storm agreed, that people are wearing their existing tags more often at the moment anyway.

Pema suggested that one person from the WG should be spokesperson for another week to put this forward to the guardian mailing list.

genesis opined that the need for this will happen again, not just to solve any current problems. (The point being that we want to ensure that newcomers to PaB sessions are clear as to who is and, more especially, who isn't a representative of Play as Being.)

Pema suggested that if we take current circumstances as an example, if address that, we may address future cases too.

Eos volunteered to be the WG spokesperson to the mailing list, in line with Pema's suggestion. However this was modified by discussion below (1b).

1b Dealing with inappropriate behaviour at PaB sessions in SL

Since the tags solution (1a) was in the first instance to address the problem of newcomers getting the wrong impression about PaB if they see/hear what would be inappropriate behaviour if it were coming from a guardian, the conversation drifted into a separate new sub-topic regarding how to deal with such behaviour.

Much discussion ensued. genesis wondered if honesty and straight talking is what we have to do. Eliza wondered if people had been holding back in the past and that they needn't! Pema suggested we could confront persistant offenders outside the PaB sessions. genesis suggested this could be part of a mentoring function. Storm pointed out that mentoring in that way would take some time to set up and Pema observed that mentors may be reluctant to act as "yellow card" referees!

Pema and Eos agreed to draft an email about the subject to be sent first to the WG and then, when approved, to the general guardian mailing list.

ACTION: Pema, Eos

Pema speculated that if we institutionalise any procedures we can perhaps preempt problems since they can be nipped in the bud. Pema slo observed that if we agree on this within the main guardian group then perhaps we don't need to pursue the tag issue at all.

Storm opined that we should not saturate guardian's time and attention on the main guardian mailing list with multiple issues simultaneously and that perhaps one at a time was best.

Therefore we agreed not to pursure 1a (tags) with email to the main guardian mailing list as yet and instead air this issue.

2 Chat logs

There was some discussion on technical feasibility of prefixing guardians' names with, for example, "PaB Host" or some such. Pema and Storm assured the WG that this would be possible.

genesis commented that chat logs are the public face of PaB. She then took up Storm's point that he'd asked on email that perhaps the discussion of chat log prefixes would be best informed by first defining the purposes of the chat logs. Since Pema had stressed the importance of chat logs from the start, perhaps he should be the first to comment.

Pema said he'd delineated his thoughts in an email to the WG. Sadly no one could find a record of receiving the email. Pema agreed to redraft his thoughts and send the email again. Further discussion on chat logs was suspended until the WG has read the email.

ACTION: Pema

Eos also had a further idea regarding chat logs and agreed to email this to the WG.

ACTION: Eos

3 Coordination responsibilities

The WG discussed where to put genesis's tabulation of all the 'job descriptions' that had come from the meetings between Pema, Storm and herself. We agreed that these had best go on the Wiki for maximum transparency.

Eos said he needed to communicate outside the meeting with genesis to clarify some of the points in the descriptions that affected him ebfore they were finalised on the Wiki. Eliza suggested she might also want to do so.

Storm suggested that we should be careful to emphasise the descriptions and the roles rather than the names of those who currently and possibly temporarily filled some of them.

Agenda items 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 were not addressed. However...

AOB

Eliza mentioned the recent question raised on the main guardian mailing list about additional sessions. No one yet had responded. Storm said he had not commented as it was based on a point he'd mooted at the village hall meeting. We agreed to make it an agenda item but meanwhile allow others outside the WG to respond. [Minute taker's note: this may tie in with points 4 and 9 already on this week's agenda.]

ACTION: Eliza

We agreed that WG members should be free to make personal comments on random matters in the main guardian mailing list. If they were writing 'wearing a WG hat', they should simply state that explicitly.