Interesting discussion, but I suggest in part going back to basics. I feel it would be helpful to mentally divide the nature of what is being discussed and at times hastily tossed into this forum into three general topics:
A. intellectual diversity and an interesting debate space , which helps us all look deeper into the real issues EA was initiated to try to address.
B. Governance failures and personnel misconduct : financial and legal red cards and suspicions, personnel scandals, examples of bad and very bad behaviour within or on the fringes of a work environment , paid or unpaid..
C. Your very personal lives, and your emotional state today and particularly the minute before you hit the Submit button.
Subject A. is tricky to simultaneously encourage and keep manageable. Approaches (to vigorous debate, intellectual diversity etc..) that have a good track record are group facilitation, membership guidelines, ethics committees etc.
Subject B is addressed routinely in the rest of the world, through fairly replicable governance measures: rules, sanctions and behavioural norms. Equally applicable to a thinktank or a construction site. This approach is needed even more, and legally required, when it comes to managing money. So for example, having a clear and real separation of roles to avoid a financial conflict of interest in spending donor funds is not a schism—it is an obligation.
Subject C, in my opinion, does not really belong on a publicly accessible forum, now probably being regularly mined for journalistic content and ammunition for spoilers. Maybe it is needed, but just take it offline into a private forum with the relevant people.
The author is right to point the trend and risk of schism. We should all be allowed to contribute in territory A—the bigger and more diverse the group the better. Debates on fundamental direction and strategy etc..can improve the outcomes. It would be a pity if a break up happens simply because of insufficient understanding of the rationale for separation of the three topics noted above. In summary, A is what we are all here for, an investment in B enables this to continue, and C is possibly not really forum business.....
Interesting discussion, but I suggest in part going back to basics. I feel it would be helpful to mentally divide the nature of what is being discussed and at times hastily tossed into this forum into three general topics:
A. intellectual diversity and an interesting debate space , which helps us all look deeper into the real issues EA was initiated to try to address.
B. Governance failures and personnel misconduct : financial and legal red cards and suspicions, personnel scandals, examples of bad and very bad behaviour within or on the fringes of a work environment , paid or unpaid..
C. Your very personal lives, and your emotional state today and particularly the minute before you hit the Submit button.
Subject A. is tricky to simultaneously encourage and keep manageable. Approaches (to vigorous debate, intellectual diversity etc..) that have a good track record are group facilitation, membership guidelines, ethics committees etc.
Subject B is addressed routinely in the rest of the world, through fairly replicable governance measures: rules, sanctions and behavioural norms. Equally applicable to a thinktank or a construction site. This approach is needed even more, and legally required, when it comes to managing money. So for example, having a clear and real separation of roles to avoid a financial conflict of interest in spending donor funds is not a schism—it is an obligation.
Subject C, in my opinion, does not really belong on a publicly accessible forum, now probably being regularly mined for journalistic content and ammunition for spoilers. Maybe it is needed, but just take it offline into a private forum with the relevant people.
The author is right to point the trend and risk of schism. We should all be allowed to contribute in territory A—the bigger and more diverse the group the better. Debates on fundamental direction and strategy etc..can improve the outcomes. It would be a pity if a break up happens simply because of insufficient understanding of the rationale for separation of the three topics noted above. In summary, A is what we are all here for, an investment in B enables this to continue, and C is possibly not really forum business.....