Some background for the sake of proper archiving. If you haven’t witnessed the debacle at Tomorrow.sg, this was the original post, and these were the comments readers had. Kevin sums it all up quite nicely.
But this much is now evident:
James Seng (affectionately known online as Jseng) needs to step down from his position as an editor on Tomorrow.sg. He has a lot on his plate, and I’m sure he could do with more time to play his World of Warcraft game.
It is fitting that Channel NewsAsia ran a story on the recently deceased President Devan Nair, that “he once said his only regret in life was to allow himself to be persuaded to occupy a highly ceremonial office so contradicted by his temperament”. This is true of Jseng as well.
His online persona is caustic, in-your-face, inappropriate and unapologetic. Even people on his side of online arguments wished “he’d shut up”. He describes himself as “an asshat”.
All these things make for a terrible community leader. He’s probably a pretty good coder. I’ve seen his Movabletype anti-spam plugin and I must say I’m impressed. But as a moderator for Tomorrow.sg, it’s a bad fit. You don’t call your users asshats, dim wits and idiots and get away with it. He has become detrimental to the Tomorrow.sg community.
I would have left it were it not for the fact he moved all the comments from the thread regarding the Idledays fund to “C’mon Let’s All Bash Tomorrow.sg”, which he wrote.
This takes the cake. I’d have expected James Seng, of all people, to understand the tenets of data integrity. You do not change the content of a post because the comments didn’t go your way. It’s not just found in Journalism 101, it’s Common-sense 101. He single-handedly labelled everyone’s comments as Tomorrow.sg bashing because he had the power to do so.
I’m asking that he either relinquish that power, or that it be taken away from him.
There are places asshats don’t belong.
There are strange people out there, then there’s JSeng. I believe a lot of faithful readers, and even some Tomorrow editors, would share your sentiments. The common reply I get from some of the editors is that James does own Tomorrow.sg, so there’s little even they can do. Until his best friend Mr Brown take the difficult step of talking this over with James, I’m afraid the only alternative is for the rest of the SG blogosphere to start their own public forum if they’re not happy with Tomorrow.
Sidenote: I believe this was why Digg is overtaking Slashdot… because there’s less people in power (moderators) and more democracy over posted content (empowering the grassroots). I bet you it won’t be long before someone unleashes a “better tomorrow” if you get what I mean hint hint :P
Well, he’s not an elected official. How are you planning to do anything about it?
I’m actually shocked by the way the editors have responded, especially James Seng. That’s very unbecoming of them. They say power corrupts. Maybe this is one fine example?
heh … i happened to IM one of the ed there to remove my trackback which had also been conveniently shifted to the new thread. during the chat, the ed insist that its jseng’s style to talk like that and it is actually accepted by the rest of the eds as he does so with his name clearly displayed, as opposed to the rest of the “anonymous” people.
so i doubt what u proposed will happen.
“The common reply I get from some of the editors is that James does own Tomorrow.sg, so there’s little even they can do.”
I guess that kinda explains why he can act the way he does with relative impunity.
Yes, I’ve checked and James is indeed the registrant of the domain name “tomorrow.sg”. That technically makes him the owner of the domain name.
If the tomorrow.sg team allows “anonymous” posting, they have to accept them as well. What is the point of allowing and then discounting the messages posted by them? Granted that some of the comments against the tomorrow.sg team was uncalled for, it still does not warrant the type of response from some of the editors. By starting a thread “C’mon Let’s All Bash Tomorrow.sg”, it only serves to further inflame the issue unnecessarily.
It may not be necessary for James to step down as I believe he has contributed much to the building of tomorrow.sg and his continued participation will be required. However, since public relations is not his forte, he should be encouraged NOT to respond publicly in tomorrow.sg in future.
Sigh… I was really very disappointed with the way this issue was handled, to say the least.
Sorry to disagree, but without James Seng there will be no Tomorrow.sg
Why? Because he’s the one who CODED it and MADE it happen. He OWNS the right to the Tomorrow.sg domain name. Everytime you log on to Tomorrow.sg, you’re stepping on his backyard. If Tomorrow.sg is heaven, James Seng is God.
To ask James Seng to step down asTomorrow.sg editor is like banishing Lee Kuan Yew from the soil of Singapore and erasing Stamford Raffles from your history books.
Bravo, Lucian. I couldn’t have put it better.
I have just deduced that Cowboy Caleb is far worse than James. His latest entry is so wrong on so many levels that I can’t even begin to describe it in my entry.
Tomorrow.sg is JSeng’s baby all the way. He simply latched on to a bunch of bloggers who were more than happy to buy into the project and become the select few. I can’t help but get the impression that the other editors aren’t able to get JSeng to clean up/wise up because they themselves are too hung up on being part of the ‘elite’ group.
Ironically, only Sondra/La Idler had the guts to take a stand and quit the team. Only to be coralled back shortly after. A lot of positive changes came about as a result, though things kind went back to status quo after a while. Even though I didn’t find her blog very interesting, I think from that act alone, she’s made the biggest contribution so far - actually making a difference.
Hi Kenny,
there is no need to apologise for disagreeing with what I say. That’s the beauty of it all.
That being said, people make a community. Users make an application. Singaporeans make Singapore. Tomorrow.sg without any users is nothing but a bunch of 1s and 0s, just as Singapore without Singaporeans may as well be a landfill. Every community owner needs to be aware of that.
I will not discount James’ work on Tomorrow. I am not asking him to get out of the community, but to cease being the public voice of Tomorrow. He shines as an initiator. Development-wise there are many things that could improve Tomorrow.sg. Many of us would have been more than happy to help in whatever we can.
Btw, who’s Stamford Raffles?
I jest, of course.
Jseng is not even Singaporean. Ask him to show you his passport. He is foreign talent.
Dear Anon,
I really do not care if Jseng is Singaporean or Swahili. It is not his nationality that is the issue, but rather the mismatch of task and personality / skillset.
“Why? Because he’s the one who CODED it and MADE it happen. He OWNS the right to the Tomorrow.sg domain name.”
So i guess Jseng has every Tomorrow.sg by their balls…
I guess if I coded the whole damn thing, and own the domain name, it gives me the right to act like an asshole.
I hope everyone here understands, from the comments in the Tomorrow threads, and from one comment above, that while there certainly are legitimate concerns amongst some people who knew La Idler, it should also be clear that there are some people who appear to have a personal vendetta against James.
No one is disputing that James is not good at dealing with certain issues. Even he acknowledges it himself. But I can vouch that his heart is in the right place.
I think the biggest problem he faces is that even if he thinks he is baiting the trolls, the end result is that he comes out looking the worse for it.
You also cannot however, ignore the fact that there are truly nasty and hurtful attacks directed at us. I believe it is only fair when this part of the equation is also taken into consideration when criticising the behaviour of James, or any of us who have replied.
As I have said before, at least one of our critics have admitted that he/she is not La Idlers friend. And yet that person had persistently tried to create trouble in the comments.
What this suggests to me, is that the vast majority of the criticisms do not come in good faith. They are merely opportunistic potshots from those who, for some reason, are unhappy with us.
Of course, I acknowledge that there are dangers in groupthink if ell the editors try to follow each other’s thoughts. Rest assured that is a very remote possibility.
I would like to add, lastly, that the value of criticisms can be seen from within its content. I believe any logical and rational person will be able to tell that the vast majority of comments directed at us were not of the type that displayed legitimate concerns.
Han,
do bear in mind that this post proffers no opinion whatsoever on La Idler’s passing or any judgements on the printing of her blog or the sustaining of her site.
Any comments pertaining to that subject should easily find a more relevant forum elsewhere. I will not taint what should have been a private and sacred affair.
Like you said, no one disputes the fact that James isn’t good at manning the mouthpiece. I’m just asking that he doesn’t.
Some of the comments were nasty and hurtful. It is to be expected in any community, more so one that allows anonymous participation. Community leaders need to be prepared for these things.
There has always been, and always will be a class divide. What makes it worse is stereotyping the “rest of us”. In your comment here you have given the example of one critic who isn’t a friend, and extrapolated it to “a vast majority”. There is a very strong sense of us versus them, which makes it worse.
I look forward to a more inclusive Singapore blogosphere. An environment where we celebrate intelligent discourse as well as innane ramblings because it is the discordant harmony of what makes Singapore unique. I’m sure many, if not all Tomorrow.sg’s editors feel the same.
James’ heart is in the right place - that I have no doubt. So is yours, mine and many, many others.
I speak on the behalf of all the rest of us. We wish we didn’t have to call ourselves the rest of us.
Lucian:
I agree with you that there is much for us to do to improve in what we are doing.
I hope people will be kind, and give us a chance to continue to learn how to get things right.
If you had know about JSeng back when he was still in NUS, you would have known what kind of person he was, and judging from it now, still is.
Those people from HOTL will know.
he just post what is good to him n ban something bad on him .