Re: PostgreSQL moderation report: 2010-1-25

On Tue, Jan 26, 2010 at 9:14 PM, Greg Smith <greg(at)2ndquadrant(dot)com> wrote:
> Whatever bot is generating these "moderation reports" going to the list
> seems to know exactly what work needs to be done, so it sounds like the
> logic is there but just not exposed on the web app.

It's a trivial script.

> If I'm reading between the lines here correctly, the reason this whole
> moderation bit continues to die out is that the people who need the items
> approved--those hosting events--can't approve their own, so they have little
> incentive to get involved just to approve their competitor's announcements.

I don't think most of the moderators generally post anything of their
own - and a lot of what is posted it not necessarily company-related
anyway (think project announcements, doc comments etc).

>  And there's no single person or small group who has volunteered to be the
> backstop moderator(s) of last resort here, people who personally need the
> event pipeline to always be clear for their own purposes.  Instead, the
> people who need the work done are not those who are doing it, which is never
> sustainable.  You need motivation to ensure action.

There are certainly people who have pledged to be 'backstops'. I can't
imagine what motivation they are likely to have to keep all the queues
empty though, except to contribute to the project.

> If the following things can be arranged:
>
> 1) I'm added as a moderator and pointed toward the app
> 2) It's possible for me to get a daily e-mail of pending moderation activity
> as a reminder
> 3) The list of moderators is at least exposed to the moderators, so we can
> improve coordination here without dragging the whole list into it every time
>
> I'd then be willing to coordinate with Gabriele so that the two of us work
> through the bulk of the approvals.

With the greatest of respect, I've lost count of the number of times
people (including many that are as valued as a contributor as you are)
have said similar things in the past. This is why I'm so disillusioned
with the whole process, and have basically run out of energy and
motivation.

(oh, and on #3 - we have a moderators mailing list to which moderation
notices are sent as items are submitted, and we can discuss things)

Here's what I'm going to do, if noone objects:

- Add Greg as a moderator.
- Setup the reminder email to go to the slaves list on a daily basis.
- Purge old moderators who haven't contributed recently.

If that fails, frankly I'm likely to give up and just remove anything
that needs moderation from the website.

--
Dave Page
EnterpriseDB UK: http://www.enterprisedb.com