Even though student has indicated that he will not be back to this thread I feel that there is some discrepencies in expectations and also some misunderstandings that I should clarify.
What could Astin have done? CS policy of members sorting out their problems in private is logical and totally reasonable. But I was talking about a situation that was not yet solved by the proposed mechanisms.
So I look for guidelines from the admin to deal with this.
I believe it is beyond the job scope of the admins and mods to deal with "this", if "this" refers to personal disputes between CS members in general. Our policy is simple. Settle private issues in private.
As stated earlier if Astin had simply posted a thread asking for Bobman to contact him without spilling out the details of the dispute in public, we would have left that thread alone.
We are not in the position to propose any specific mechanism for CS members to settle their private disputes. We do offer a PM system as an alternative for members to communicate and settle private issues, but there is never any intent to offer that as a guaranteed workable means of settling an issue. It is entirely the choice of the members to use it, as long as they do not try to settle such issues in public.
student said:
You have now clarified that it is not wrong for one to post in public to draw attention to an issue - as long as lurid details are not played out as a soap opera (Ok, I am exaggerating a bit!).
I said that it is OK to use the forum to get the attention of the party one is trying to get in touch with. I did not say it is OK to post in public to draw attention to an issue, if by "drawing attention" student is referring to "drawing the public's attention".
To elaborate further, it is OK to post a thread saying "So-and-so please contact me by phone/PM/email/SMS to discuss a matter between us". A member posting this is trying to get the attention of the party he/she is trying to get a response from. What the member has done to try to get in touch outside if CS is irrelevant.
It is not OK to post a thread saying "So-and-so please contact me as I want you to return the $x you still owe me." By posting this the member has drawn the public's attention to the issue.
student said:
You mentioned that your policy is "unconditional". I am not sure I got you right. Perhaps you meant that the number of tries is "irrelevant"..
Yes, that the right interpretation.
student said:
But there is of course a "limit" to patience. And when one has run out of patience and/time, then I take it that to write in public to draw attention is not inappropiate.
I did not say or indicate that. It is not appropriate for anyone to violate an established rule out of frustration. Again, student's words are kind of vague. I wished he had defined "draw attention" more clearly.
What Astin and student did to "draw attention" was deemed inappropriate under the CS policy.