11/15/2017

When a Discussion Group Becomes Toxic

How to know when it's time to pull the plug

The Society of American Archivists (SAA) last week moved to shutter its main discussion listserver, which had been notoriously contentious for years and especially toxic in the past year. The decision spotlights common questions around association discussion lists, such as the role of moderators and how much of a role nonmembers ought to play on such lists.

SAA decided that its main Archives and Archivists list would be “decommissioned”—accessible but closed to posting—on Dec. 31 following attempts in recent years by leadership to strengthen its code of conduct [PDF]. SAA had begun more formally moderating the list after an August thread in which “several of the posters used unprofessional or intimidating language,” according to an SAA briefing paper that recommended decommissioning. But the tenor of the list has been a known issue for years, spawning a popular Twitter hashtag, #thatdarnlist, which participants used to express their exasperation.

Why keep the group an open forum? And why was SAA so hesitant to moderate it? “Archivists are information professionals, and they think that information should be free,” said SAA Executive Director Nancy Beaumont. “And they liked the notion that any archivist or anybody with any interest could participate in the list.”

Please click here to read the complete article from Associations Now.