Keys for putting in practice the 10 principles of humane technology

[patm]

Dear @ALFREDO and @aschrijver,

Thanks for this conversation. It’s good to read. Allow me to add a few things in response to these comments:

@aschrijver

while many people read messages from others (and this is made clear to the sender by e.g. a read flag, like the ones you see on Whatsapp), oftentimes they do not take the effort to respond, not even a ‘Seen it’, ‘Not interested’ or smiley reply. Imagine doing that in real life.

@aschrijver

people should be made more aware of their behaviour. So awareness is one. And then you have the term ‘netiquette’… a word you rarely hear about anymore these days. Netiquette is just a commitment to civil online behaviour. And maybe that is what should be updated and advertised as part of CHT efforts.

@ALFREDO

Instead of civil on line behavior, I propose social-health behavior, and this topic I think is nowadays an issue of continuous investigation.

1. I would like there to be an icon—other than a heart—that would allow us to acknowledge posts and comments. Sometimes I read something and appreciate the information, but I hesitate to click on the heart. @metasj, is it possible to have a eye–or something similar–to indicate that we’ve read a post or comment?

2. I’m not sure if the silence of the majority of the membership indicates that they haven’t read comments or posts or that they aren’t checking in. I have noticed that many introductions say something like “Let me know how I can help,” but there is little engagement beyond that. That is, there are few or no comments or posts beyond the initial introduction and offer of help. Could it be that the shape or structure of the forum is daunting? Or that us frequent posters are discouraging others from speaking?

3. I was very surprised to discover that the forum keeps track of whose posts I’ve liked and who has liked my posts. Even though this is nothing more than a calculation, the data can be interpreted in ways that are not good. For example, it could appear that I’m part of a small group of members who like each other’s posts. This impression of cliquishness makes me cringe. Is it possible to hide this information—i.e., allow only administrators to see it—so that such impressions aren’t created?

Aloha from Hawaii (where, yes, the volcano on the Big Island is erupting).