On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 3:12 PM, Steven D. Vormwald
<sdvormwa@xxxxxxx> wrote:
Hello all,
In light of recent events on IRC, I've arranged to have two guests at tonight's meeting. For those of you who don't know what happened, suffice it to say that someone didn't know when to stop trolling. It is expected that when someone, particularly an officer or a channel op, tells you that you are taking things too far, that you will immediately cease that behavior--even if you think that person is overreacting or being unfair to you. It is also expected that you will be mature enough to recognize that things have gotten out of hand, and that further arguing/trolling/whatever will only make things worse for everyone involved. Remember that use of our IRC server is governed by the Michigan Tech Computer Use Policy, which can be found at:
http://www.admin.mtu.edu/urel/studenthandbook/policies.html#computer
While we are generally fairly lax on enforcement of these policies, they will be enforced if someone is feeling uncomfortable or upset about specific violations. But do not assume that violations are condoned merely because they go unpunished.
That said, Patricia Gotschalk, the director of Judicial Affairs, and Sherri Kauppi, the director of Affirmative Programs have kindly agreed to attend tonight's meeting to talk to us about harassment, Michigan Tech's policy toward it, what to do if you feel you are being harassed, and the consequences harassing others. I encourage everyone to attend in the hopes that it will encourage us all to be more considerate of other people's feelings when taking part in online communication.
Steven Vormwald
PS. To those of you on this list (you know who you are) that do know about the circumstances that I mentioned earlier, I would remind you that those involved have been warned and forgiven. What's done is done. There is no need for finger pointing nor jokes. We all go a little too far sometimes.