Right, except you're missing an important word such as "regulatory", i.e. "self-appointed regulatory pools". So that's what I was wondering.
Your dramatization seems legit. With no system-level way to perceive justice we're left to form these mobs. I once formed one, though I wouldn't have accepted the description "mob" because we acted calmly (well, I did) and had our own standards that we stuck by, we did use the "force" of flagging to fight abuse. What we thought of as abuse. And I've held a couple of grudges. I don't act on them but if I'm honest there are few accounts I now think very badly of.
But we all know this story. We don't know where the story goes though, except for on and on like this until SMTs and communities shelter us from each other, supposedly save us.
EDIT: btw, is that Monty Python quote from The Life of Brian by any chance? 🙃
I try to avoid the word "regulatory" whenever I can, purely because it gives me the same response as other people have to the word "moist." It's inherently kind of disgusting. Also the whole purpose of these organizations of people is to attempt to regulate the behavior of others on the platform – with very scant evidence of actual effect.
Wanting to see some of that evidence is part of why I'm involved in this thread. I want to know. Is this really what it is going to take to maintain a relatively clean street for the rest of us to do business and socialize on? Are we going to have to recapitulate the ontology of local governance from scratch, plagued by robber barons and warlords while we go about our day-to-day?
We know where the story goes. If anything, the last 25,000 years of human history have shown us the possible points of exit from the state of being. At least with human history, we had the advantage of geographic distribution to help protect and shelter individual communities who experiment with different types of conflict management within the society, allowing some to flourish and some to die.
Like you, I'm hoping that SMTs and Communities can replace some of that geographic distribution, making it harder for self-appointed vigilante superhero teams to run around and impose their personal standards of not only "this is bad for the platform" but "I think your community is rewarding you too much for giving them something they want," both of which are writing in the same boat right now.
Geographic distance did not suffice to save every community or way of approaching and doing things. We know how this is going to turn out, eventually. The best that we can hope for, I think, is to limit the damage that the bad elements can do while simultaneously giving smaller groups the option of whether they want to adopt the methods of the others or invite them in to have an outpost or outreach in that community.
I hope. If we get to make it that far.
In the meantime, it would be nice to have some metrics to judge whether or not the activity that's currently happening is actually useful and effective.
6%. Is 6% of a monthly distribution really worth all of the blood and treasure being expended to wage these brushfire wars? Maybe it is, maybe it isn't – but I think we need to ask.
I know what you mean, but "self-appointed pool" is missing some necessary context without it, or an equivalent word.
I do wonder why such a thing as SMT oracles couldn't be applied more generally. I think everyone is hoping that the flagging (as an issue) gets solved indirectly by some other thing.
I happen to support some of those teams, but self-appointed they are, as is the style here. The real thing that communities will give is some kind of moderation. This is a step towards local governance and would be a kind of "geographical" distance. I think we'll make it that far. But the point is some moderation instead of none.
Well, it's much less dramatic than that. I think it's worth it surely, on the path to Figuring It Out™️. That's worth doing. The original designers didn't go that far.
Also, "I didn't vote for you."
Ah 😂