KBW Membership Clarification

As usual, too much energy is being wasted on non-issues - MY OPINION.

It does not matter who or what you are, as soon as you create something positive, that works well, that recieves notice by the larger world, there are those who always, always, always be envious, hateful and want to bring you down. You know it, I know it and those trouble makers know it.

You started the ring and very generously donated your time, money and energy to ensure that I was comfortable in the ring. Sometimes I think you forget that this is your baby, your creation so to speak. If don’t decide what goes on in it, other people will decide it for you.

Gossips, trouble makers and envious people will always be with us.

PS were you to shut down this ring, which is your right, and stopped paying for and administering the aggregator, there would be no KBW.

You’re right in that respect- stuff needs to be out in the open- otherwise, there’s a reason for why it’s being done and discussed in the dark.

Reading Aco, I came across the post where he claims to have been kicked out by KBW for posting (paraphrased) objectionable posts. As I commented on his blog, if indeed that was the case, this is something that we all as members need to be aware of. The membership criteria is something that needs to be discussed openly and be transparent.

An ‘open discussion’, naturally means that people are talking to each other and the one part of the conversation that’s significantly absent, is KBW’s response to his claim that he was kicked because of the content of his post. I *did* read Admin’s clarification on this (i.e. ‘people are kicked out for lack of a KBW webring code’) but it doesn’t really address his allegations though. I think that as an Admin team (assuming Aco waives his right to privacy on this issue!), you really should address the particulars of this situation- and as a websring, come up with policies and SOPs that address this type of situation.

I agree with you, some of the ‘discussions’ about KBWAdmin are border-line (if not downright) slanderous. And I hope that this discussion does not degenerate to this. This should be a discussion that aims to get to the root of the problem and gives us a way to move forward and stegthen this community called KBW.

Advised not to believe everything i read , i might as well ask my few questions;
Is Acolyte still a member of KBW?

If not? Given your reasons;

Is Acolyte the only member who has not been putting his ring code on the blog

If not, how many people have been asked to leave the ring as a result (statistics are important)

How best can you dismiss Acolyte’s claims that he is not in terms with one of the admin members

Did the post on Kikwete aggravate the fact that Acolyte was to be kicked out of the ring? Or were there any other considerations to his removal from membership

If today Acolyte put the code on his blog (that been his cause for dismissal) will you allow him back to KBW

Once a membership of a member is revoked, how can the member regain the membership and if so, have you advised Acolyte of the probabilitie or lack thereof.

I will and have always been supporter of KBW, i am not taking sides. I would be glad to hear the responses

P/s As one of KBW members, i appreciate the time and ideas, thoughts and resources you put into KBW. Nobody can underestimate the importance of the ring.

In the interests of transparency can you then tell us:

1) What criteria are there to qualify to be on the aggregator
2) Are these published anywhere?
3) If not, why not?

I for one do not know that being a KBW member does not mean you qualify to be on the aggregator. If anything, being on the aggregator is an implied benefit of being on KBW and as far as i know this impression has never be corrected. As a matter of fact an excerpt of Acolyte’s email says:

The KBW aggregator is one of a variety of fora where we are working very hard to ensure the promotion of KBW blogs and Kenyan voices and is an add-on to the benefits of being a KBW member

sO WH

In the interests of transparency can you then tell us:

1) What criteria are there to qualify to be on the aggregator
2) Are these published anywhere?
3) If not, why not?

I for one do not know that being a KBW member does not mean you qualify to be on the aggregator. If anything, being on the aggregator is an implied benefit of being on KBW and as far as i know this impression has never be corrected. As a matter of fact an excerpt of Acolyte’s email says:

The KBW aggregator is one of a variety of fora where we are working very hard to ensure the promotion of KBW blogs and Kenyan voices and is an add-on to the benefits of being a KBW member

So which is it?

It would help if we were informed that there was criteria of some sort when the aggregator was set up and since that wasn’t the case, can the criteria be published now? Your comment above is news (at least to me) and seems to be more of an afterthought… Also why two different sorts of criteria as far as who can be a member and who can get listed on the aggregator, if the argument ior removing someone from the aggregator is that someone’s posts are offensive to the objectives or “contrary to the aims” of KBW, whatever those objectives may be…why retain them on the webring? Doesn’t seem logical to me.

I agree with Ory. I didn’t know being a member of KBW and having your blog on the aggregator were mutually exclusive. Even if it was never implied, it was also not implicitly confirmed that this wasn’t the case.

Can an ex member be accepted back again ! i want back in mental can i join or should i submit a fresh application and await approval.

Clearly removing Acolyte from the aggregator, whatever he did or didn’t do, was solely intended to exclude that blogger from KBW membership. There is some rather visible displays of intolerance which, in my view, seriously undermine the credibility of the webring. The KBW webring, I must add, is the members, the community.
I am not taking sides here, as I commented on Acolyte’s post, but dragging a personal difference into the KBW has made the position of the members of Admin who did so untenable. The Admin has done a brilliant job in starting and building KBW into a vibrant blogosphere and in the interests of the ring, they should resign. May be the time is right to separate ownership and administration of the ring.

i think with all that has come to terms even i deserve to have my blog reinstated into the blog ring .I know some may want to say that this is not the time but since acolytes association with myself and the comments posted on my blog sometime ago have everything”though privately ” to do with this whole issue i think KBW has come to the maturing age where differences with administrtors have to set aside ,if the true objectives of KBW is to promote Kenyan blogs.Now i dont want to go back digging into the past but i think my being reinstated also will go along way in clearing and showing a good gesture of the administration

@PG: This is sermonizing…

“Clearly removing Acolyte… was solely intended to exclude that blogger from KBW membership” and
“dragging a personal difference into the KBW has made the position of the members of Admin who did so untenable. ”

and again, does absolutely nothing to further the discussion. It’s only muddying the waters.

@Joe: I beg to differ. This is not about you at all! It’s even only marginally to do with Aco. It’s about defining what rules we’re operating under and reaching consensus on what we expect from KBW and what KBW expects from its members.

@Mental- is not my blog I know, I’ma step out now

@M
There was controversy/ conflict/ misunderstanding/ misreading/ whatever here. But what is new under the sun? Such is the fate of man.

Aco has removed the objectionable post, so we should let bygones be bygones and we welcome him back and we move on.

censure in the aggregator should be no more than removing objectionable post.
Or maybe maybe the reason was NOT the post???!!!

Sorry guys
i think my post above should be addressed to Mentalacrobatics

@Mutumia; I didn’t just ‘muddy the waters’, I made some suggestions (the last two sentences of my comment)

Mutumia i know its not about me but the circumstances and the sequence of events are rather familar. the only difference is Acolyte is liked by those standing up for him .unlike me who has raffled many a feathers.

The principle is the same .My views no matter how outlandish or provocative should not mean that i should be excluded simply because of like or dislike. If this is really a matter of principle .my troubles began when i raised issues of simmilar concern as acolyte has. now maybe in stating my case i was not able to seperate my personal attack and my grivances like acolyte but with all due respect the same concerns that acolyte is raising are the same that i was raising.

it was because bloggers turned a blind eye against injustices against me that this problem has festered.i wont even go into the provocative emails that some admin members sent me but i think not only do i deserve reinstatement i should get an apology too

KBW is the best “community” of bloggers in Africa, this is due in no small part to the efforts of the admin team, AfroM and the ability of Kenyan bloggers to partake in debates with a certain level of maturity. In short, you rarely see the flame wars here that you do in other parts of the blogosphere - people generally do seem to care.

My only comment on this drama is to remember that KBW is a platform propped up by its membership. Platforms are at their best when they are agnostic and operate free of subjective thought towards the member base.

Here’s a thought, that might or might not be worth considering in the future. Empower the member base to decide the outcome of important decisions, make it a true community where the members have influence (see Digg as an example of user-based moderation).

By the way I will say this again, we have seen some very constructive discussions in the blogosphere in the past weeks. It has even transformed me into an active commenter. Hell I read some blogs before the online papers bwana. One thing I can say is that most of those issues we raise get ignored by our media at home or so it seems to me. Only foreign journalists syndicated on our local papers are the ones who cite some of these blogs and their influence on the blogosphere. I hope that this fire will not destroy us but necessitate our coming of age and even going mainstream.