Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Rules

[Wayne Tyson (landrest]

Moz and CoHo:

THANK you, Moz. You came up with a suscinct statement that exemplifies my main 
point better than I could--"That also makes it easier to see when the reasons 
change or are not applicable. "no unsupervised kids in the great hall" makes 
perfect sense when all the kids are under 10, but when does a teenager stop 
being a kid? Now we need a new rule:

WT


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <list [at] moz.geek.nz>
To: "Cohousing-L" <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2011 5:57 PM
Subject: Re: [C-L]_ Rules


> 
> Kay said:
>> The only thing that posting agreements (rules, laws, manners) assumes is
>> that people's memories aren't perfect.
> 
> Indeed. I often struggle even to find things that I've written down,
> which is why I'm a big fan of putting it online and using search. There
> is a balance though, of trying to keep everything compact and readable
> so people don't have to spend ages reading through rambling notes.
> 
>> I think people who are rule-shy have had experience of rules that
>> combined two at-best marginally related traits - they were formalized
>> and they were coercive
> 
> I think this also ties into the idea that consensus means no rules -
> everyone agrees so why do we need a rule? But as you say, we need a rule
> because some of us forget what we agreed. And because it's so much easier
> to remember a clearly written rule than recall what the outcome of a long
> discussion was. With the bonus that if you write it down anyone who didn't
> realise they disagree can often point that out now rather than later when
> it becomes obvious.
> 
> I often find that the recorded discussion also reminds me of things that
> led into the rule. Sure, it seems obvious now that we can allow kids to
> play in the great lounge unsupervised, but 10 years ago there were those
> problems and ... we made a rule. So I like to record *why* we made
> decisions, as well as what we decided. That also makes it easier to see
> when the reasons change or are not applicable. "no unsupervised kids in
> the great hall" makes perfect sense when all the kids are under 10, but
> when does a teenager stop being a kid? Now we need a new rule :)
> 
> Moz
> 
> 
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