Posted by okydoky on December 13, 2009, at 13:46:59
In reply to Re: Posting under my real name » okydoky, posted by Dinah on December 13, 2009, at 9:57:40
I don't think it is for "us" to understand "his" position things. As THE professional trained psychiatrist, he proclaims to be and as the administrator of a site it is my opinion that it is upon him to "understand" us.
Obviously since it is "his" site, he has ownership of it and can do as he pleases.
I guess I would liken it to any other service provided to any particular part of the public.
In this case the "owner", at least as far as I know does not receive financial compensation. He gets his compensation by use of the site in his research and/or whatever else he may choose for compensation to his liking and/or need. (Of course all legal, moral? I would not know) Okay I am being seriously cinical one of my many fault.
From my reading of admin on an off over several years it appears as if "Dr Bob", not unlike any other provider of services, weighs out any benefit against the harm or disadvantage for his objectives he chooses for the site.
I don't think any of us will ever know what all "Bob" sees as benefits to "his" site but I think a lot of us often loose sight that this is a service with a service provider. I know it is not so simple. There are not several other services for us to choose if we do not agree with the way this one is being run.
That is one of the reasons I think it would be great if the population that makes use of this type of service could get together and be our own provider. Not an easy or quick task. There would be financial considerations as well as technical ones and of course what we are always debating, the basic structure. I think if it was done well it could be much more democratic, be run with integrity and obviously the argument that the "provider" truly does not understand those he is providing for should be mute!
I honestly think this could be done. I have seen it done and been one of the providers in the real world. Helped build the basic structure and constantly work towards the ideal of it being democratic. Democracy is MESSY, but it can be done. In this recession it might be more difficult to acquire financing from philanthropic and charitable organisations but then again because it is an Internet service and needs no physical presence the overhead would be significantly diminished.
It is always the decision of the user of the service whether to continue using the service provider or not. In many ways this provider has gone out of his way to be or at least appear to be democratic. How often does your mental health center ask for your input as to how it is run or care at all if any of its' services are to your liking! Of course it is much more complicated than this and there are specific reasons why in this particular case the users are allowed and/or encouraged to contribute to decisions made as to how the service is provided. ( I am not sure how much of this is just for show) Do we actually have any real input or just the appearance of it?) Who knows some of the reasons could even be altruistic.
Even if we did this daunting task of running our own service this community is not unlike any other where we constantly have to be vigilant against power and corruption. I am speaking from experience. People who's motives are entirely altruistic can be corrupted. We are human. Well I don't always feel that way:)
Does anyone think it is a feasible idea that we could try and start up a member designed and driven site like this ourselves? Do we have people here with the technical talent? Would enough people be motivated? Do people even have time to contribute to the making of such a site? Do more people than I realise have the need to have an authority figure in charge?
Am I being an idealist with WAY TOO MUCH TIME on my hands?
oky
I promise if no one is intersted I will stop talking about this
poster:okydoky
thread:928887
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20091103/msgs/929105.html