Where to Err? Introduction

This series of posts (yes, it will be a series) was inspired after thinking about the two posts [1] [2} that I wrote about the Twitter Packs episode.

Specifically, if you look at my second comment to my second post, you'll see that the second point in the second comment to the second post linked to a tweet from @yndygo:

...hate the fact that it's going down paths I feared might happen - good intent doesn't always result in good outcome :(

This relates to a series of tweets from Connie Reece regarding Twitter Packs, all of which pretty much state that unrestrained content, without either moderation or some type of explicit input from the community, is undesirable. For example, here's what Connie said in response to @yndygo's tweet above:

A wiki was the wrong format to do this in. Should have been a blog post that asked for recommendations.

Here's something that Connie subsequently tweeted to Chris Brogan:

No way to tell if self-identified & potential for abuse is too high IMO.

An aside: it doesn't seem to be implemented for the Twitter Packs wiki [CORRECTION: IT IS], but the Twitter wiki does allow you to view all changes, see who made the changes, and see what changes were made. For example, it shows that I made the following addition to the "Platforms" page on January 26, 2008 at 8:44 pm:

One feature that is available (at present) only for mobile SMS users is the trackingfeature:
"Tracking is an SMS or IM only feature that allows you to receive all twitters that match a word you're tracking. For example, if you send track Obama, you will receive all updates that match "Obama." All updates sent from tracking will begin with parenthesis. You can easily stop getting these messages by sending untrack Obama."

Anyway, back to topic. What level of control is appropriate for a given information source? The two extremes each have their own deficiencies:

• Total control can lead to, well, total control, in which Chris Brogan unilaterally decides to ban New York Yankees fans from the wiki or some such.


• Total freedom can lead to, well, total freedom, in which nude pictures of Barbara Bush (Dubya's mother, not Dubya's daughter) get plastered all over the wiki.

In such a situation, where you're going to get someone mad, where do you err?

I will address this question in the following posts, looking at the issue from the business realm, from the political realm, and from the religious realm.

Enjoy.

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