The Index of the Giant's Comments III - We've Left a Banana In Charge

[Jasdoif]

But in any case I wouldn't say you would remove it (and certainly not freely), but you are forced to do it by the rules. Which have an established consensus.

If for example if there is (for whatever reason) a quote "I like Italian food" in the Index, I think it should be removed without any voting/consensus needed. Because it violates the rules. The rules mostly (A-E) covers which content is allowed/not allowed in the Index, while rule F covers how we reach consensus when something isn't clear, but not to override the other rules. I think in the case if for example most posters start wanting to include "I like Italian food"-quotes, I think we shouldn't do that because of rule F allows it, but we should amend rule B to allow "I like Italian food"-quotes. And without amending rule B there shouldn't any such quote listed whether or not the majority wants it or not. (But if the majority wants it we should seriously considering changing the rules.)

That at least is my opinion on it. [Which might be a bit based on my logical reasoning, but any other procedure would make absolutely no sense to me.]

Now, if this were a formal project, or intended for use by automated resources, or maybe even just had a way to filter out entries on demand; I'd agree entirely.

But it's not. It's an informal project meant for a Humanoid (and Fey polymorphed into Plant) audience, and the only way to filter entries is for the curator to manually remove them. Because the intended audience is composed of independently thinking creatures, unexpected removal of entries they remember to be here is a severe psychological disincentive to trust the thread; because the project is informal, there's no strong sense of "this is the way we expect it to be" to overcome that disincentive because we have no authoritative angle to back us up; and because entries have to be manually removed, retroactive application of rules would require someone to go through all the entries whenever there's a rules adjustment.

It's for those reasons that I view the rules as applying as an entry/exit gate to the Index, rather than applying to the Index content directly. It has tradeoffs, like the occasional inconsistency with some of the things we have in the Index like the transcript, but I think the reduction in workload and increase in perceived reliability more than makes up for it.

But I think maybe that it is better not to focus on that, since unless there are problems I think it isn't really worthwhile to spend time on such rule detail shenanigans.

I keep explaining my reasoning here because how the curator intends to apply the rules is a critical portion of how the thread's run. My interpretation is not automatically the best or most-agreed-upon; If I'm off my rocker, it's better to find out sooner than later.

Also while we're at it, I think there should be a link to the podcast (and not only to highlight Rule A, but also to give proper credit to all involved): Link to Geekademia Interview. (Sure there is a link at the end of the transcript, but it is kinda burried and only points to the general Geekademia Page, but doesn't help finding the actual Interview.)

Sounds reasonable to me. The interview title's a good place, I think.

Jasdoif, would you consider replacing your avatar pic by a banana?

Kinda like this?



I may have to at this rate, but I'd want to make adjustments first. Portraying a banana crossing its arms was more difficult than I would have thought, and I don't think it carries on its own. Tarquin managed it pretty well, but he had the unfair advantage of shoulders