I assume this limbo thing was created after we had that person (?) posting a paragraph a day of nonsense prose with a marketing link at the end. Has the cure turned out to be more annoying than the problem, I wonder?
I think all those posts were from a bot. I can't really comment on annoyingness level because I thought those were sort of funny and amusing, and it's kind of funny and amusing that we're all hanging out in here in solidarity with a newbie who may have already given up.
It does sort of beg the question of who's in charge here and more importantly what we'd all do if the whole thing went tits up. I suspect if it were down for a day or two I'd contact Craig; I have him on Facebook. I guess that's a good reason to hold back on deleting my fb account; something I've been considering.
Tits up = belly up but sounds way better - a Britishism I picked up from watching (the hilarious) Idiot Abroad. I probably shouldn't use it because I'm not British and can't pull it off.
I contacted Craig when the site went down for a few hours recently; clearly it's the thing to do (though is also connected with knowing how to find him). I am here almost daily except when traveling; I don't mind being made an admin if that is simple and it helps/am not begging for status if it doesn't.
Does the board as a whole pass the rogue truck test? I've just been thought a series of discussions at my institution about initiatives I'm working on that in the end boiled down to "do you have a plan for what happens with these things if you get hit by a truck". Is there anyone here that if the truck took them out, nobody would be able to access the site, or is it sufficiently distributed?
Welcome Rostasi - good to see a new member joining in.
do you have a plan for what happens with these things if you get hit by a truck
That is an 'interesting' one. I've just been involved in similar discussions at a school where I am a governor. We eventually ended up with a 60 page document that basically said not a lot other than telephone a named official but fulfilled legal requirements.
I'm also happy to become an administrator or whatever as long as it involves no technical skills, but being on the eastern side of the Atlantic may be a disadvantage.
Sadly it is not emusers, but a small infant school of 180 children aged between 4 and 7, and it a volunteer role. I am not sure if you have the equivalent in the USA. GP will know!
Does the board as a whole pass the rogue truck test? I've just been thought a series of discussions at my institution about initiatives I'm working on that in the end boiled down to "do you have a plan for what happens with these things if you get hit by a truck". Is there anyone here that if the truck took them out, nobody would be able to access the site, or is it sufficiently distributed?
I've been through this sort of experience, and the simple answer is that there's no practical way to distribute domain ownership among multiple interested parties, who are not incorporated, that's completely safe.
However, there is, in theory, a way to do it if you're willing to invest in hiring an uninterested third party. You'd get a handful of trusted users together, all of whom must be identifiable, as an "informal ownership group" and draw up an agreement with someone - preferably a lawyer in a reputable firm, or a professional holdings-management company - to actually own the domain, registering it with a domain registrar that also does web hosting and, most importantly, allows for "Account Executives" or "Account Managers." (GoDaddy does this, as do many others these days.)
The lawyer sets the password for the domain itself, and is under strict contractual obligation to tell nobody, under any circumstances, what that password is. He then assigns the ownership group's members as Account Managers. Each has their own password on the registrar and hosting service. All of them must be capable of, and responsible for, taking backups of both the site's databases and the site's files on a regular basis! The group can set membership rules however they like, but if it's necessary to throw out one of the group members, it's best if unanimity is required of the other members who are trying to do it.
At that point, the domain should be fairly safe. Lawyers can be bribed, but if the law firm is large enough and the contractual penalties for failure to secure the domain account are heavy enough, that risk should be minimal. If the lawyer dies, he will supposedly have written the domain password down and put it in a safe, and someone else in the firm will have access to the contents of the safe, at which point the ownership group just has to get a new lawyer in that same firm.
Unfortunately, lawyers cost a lot of money, so nobody ever does this. But like I say... theoretically possible.
BT and others -you don't know how close that links with the UK - given that it is the Home of the Trojans. We have an on-going story about how Shia Muslims are using Trojan Horse techniques becoming governors of schools in Birmingham to influence policy to the extent that some claim a Shia take-over of those schools. See Trojan Horse: Council findings to be released
The school board has been contentious and bizarre over the last few years, including a love triangle gone wrong and a bussing scandal. Since there are education experts here, I would love your opinions on this:
The NC state legislature decided that third grade would be the cutoff point for basic literacy goals. Any child that did not pass the end of the year evaluation in reading would be required to repeat, regardless of performance in other areas.
School systems have the option of giving alternative evidence of reading achievement. At-risk kids must be identified beforehand and given thirty-six assessments, no more than one per week, of which they must pass a number I can't recall.
Wake County, where I live, has decided to take no chances. All third graders--my son included--will do the weekly assessments.
Weekly assessments! Now that's the way to instill a lifelong love of reading! But wait! for an added bonus, the schools will teach to the tests, which should assure that no child accidentally reads anything remotely interesting.
When I first went to school the teachers were upset with my mother because I could already read. They wanted to teach me to read their way with their stupefying graded reader books. I used to read them upside down to keep from being distracted by something more interesting, like dust settling on the windowsill.
A colleague mentioned to me just the other day a review of empirical research that suggested high stakes testing was having no effect on overall attainment levels. Have not read it myself yet, but that would not surprise me. So it may be doing other kinds of harm for no gain.
I wish someone would send that piece of research to our new Education Secretary here in the UK, GP!!! If you are able to get the title, author etc I'd be interested in reading it.
Comments
The Vainglories - Solace
I assume this limbo thing was created after we had that person (?) posting a paragraph a day of nonsense prose with a marketing link at the end. Has the cure turned out to be more annoying than the problem, I wonder?
I think all those posts were from a bot. I can't really comment on annoyingness level because I thought those were sort of funny and amusing, and it's kind of funny and amusing that we're all hanging out in here in solidarity with a newbie who may have already given up.
It does sort of beg the question of who's in charge here and more importantly what we'd all do if the whole thing went tits up. I suspect if it were down for a day or two I'd contact Craig; I have him on Facebook. I guess that's a good reason to hold back on deleting my fb account; something I've been considering.
"Tits up?"
Whenever this gets sorted out, we need to get someone who is here daily as a moderator.
Craig
John Martyn - Solid Air
- There's an email, perhaps someone could send him a mail ?
- Sublime experimental stuff . . .
Craig
Craig
Does the board as a whole pass the rogue truck test? I've just been thought a series of discussions at my institution about initiatives I'm working on that in the end boiled down to "do you have a plan for what happens with these things if you get hit by a truck". Is there anyone here that if the truck took them out, nobody would be able to access the site, or is it sufficiently distributed?
That is an 'interesting' one. I've just been involved in similar discussions at a school where I am a governor. We eventually ended up with a 60 page document that basically said not a lot other than telephone a named official but fulfilled legal requirements.
I'm also happy to become an administrator or whatever as long as it involves no technical skills, but being on the eastern side of the Atlantic may be a disadvantage.
Craig
However, there is, in theory, a way to do it if you're willing to invest in hiring an uninterested third party. You'd get a handful of trusted users together, all of whom must be identifiable, as an "informal ownership group" and draw up an agreement with someone - preferably a lawyer in a reputable firm, or a professional holdings-management company - to actually own the domain, registering it with a domain registrar that also does web hosting and, most importantly, allows for "Account Executives" or "Account Managers." (GoDaddy does this, as do many others these days.)
The lawyer sets the password for the domain itself, and is under strict contractual obligation to tell nobody, under any circumstances, what that password is. He then assigns the ownership group's members as Account Managers. Each has their own password on the registrar and hosting service. All of them must be capable of, and responsible for, taking backups of both the site's databases and the site's files on a regular basis! The group can set membership rules however they like, but if it's necessary to throw out one of the group members, it's best if unanimity is required of the other members who are trying to do it.
At that point, the domain should be fairly safe. Lawyers can be bribed, but if the law firm is large enough and the contractual penalties for failure to secure the domain account are heavy enough, that risk should be minimal. If the lawyer dies, he will supposedly have written the domain password down and put it in a safe, and someone else in the firm will have access to the contents of the safe, at which point the ownership group just has to get a new lawyer in that same firm.
Unfortunately, lawyers cost a lot of money, so nobody ever does this. But like I say... theoretically possible.
No, no, that sounds like this site, just bigger. I want to be Governor of eMusers.
The NC state legislature decided that third grade would be the cutoff point for basic literacy goals. Any child that did not pass the end of the year evaluation in reading would be required to repeat, regardless of performance in other areas.
School systems have the option of giving alternative evidence of reading achievement. At-risk kids must be identified beforehand and given thirty-six assessments, no more than one per week, of which they must pass a number I can't recall.
Wake County, where I live, has decided to take no chances. All third graders--my son included--will do the weekly assessments.
When I first went to school the teachers were upset with my mother because I could already read. They wanted to teach me to read their way with their stupefying graded reader books. I used to read them upside down to keep from being distracted by something more interesting, like dust settling on the windowsill.