[bloghounds] things moving along

We can say the steering committee is almost in place and will be calling for members in the next few days, once the infrastructure [mailing list, site etc.] is in place.

Some quite legitimate questions have arisen and need to be answered. These are my answers on my site but there will be a group statement on the actual site later.

[Speaking for myself, there was and is no intention of taking over BP though it would have been good to have been one of the steering committee and then retire. As someone said, it was testing the climate of opinion only.]

Purpose - the reason we felt that this group was needed was, roughly speaking, that people have demonstrated that they do like to be part of a respected group identity - there is resistance to losing that, they do like a happy, cheerful environment and one other thing...

As one of the founder members of BP, I can say there were errors made. The membership intake was indiscriminate in the middle of 2007 and that's where the problems sprang from [BNP issue etc].

The only way to overcome problems of that kind is to legislate, create a plethora of rules, rewrite them to meet changed circumstances etc. Someone within BP said that it could all have been prevented by firm but friendly entry requirements in the first place, where everyone both knew and accepted the few rules [see the criteria here]then it becomes relatively smooth sailing, give or take diversity of opinion from then on.

It does appear that already, in one day, people are seeing that there need not be a conflict of interest here.

In the end, whichever way you cut and dice it, it comes down to two choices - completely unfettered entry and then there is no way various people can be prevented from acting as they wish or else you run with restriction at entry point, after which it is just as unfettered and anyone can say anything but being of a certain nature, it's probably going to be a good atmosphere in a boisterous way.

The notion of carefully reviewing membership at point of entry meaning dull membership without spine is really rubbish. The names I've seen so far are not noted for their compliance and would reject any sort of control as anathema. Yet they're great bloggers.

And there are eight members of a blog-diverse steering committee all giving their opinions. There is a lot of give and take in that and certainly my own feelings and prejudices form only one eighth part of the total opinion and I know that at least three of these would be averse to anyone riding over the top of them.

Also, the message coming through loud and clear from the e-mails is that patient and sure is the way to go.

That's as it should be.