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| = Missing Stair =
| | #REDIRECT [[Excellent Hacker Fallacy]] |
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| == Routing Around Damage ==
| | {{R from alternative name}} |
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| "The Internet interprets censorship as damage and routes around it." - John Gilmore
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| When a network node fails or a connection is censored, packets automatically reroute through working paths. No central authority decides this - it's distributed, automatic, resilient. The network keeps functioning.
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| Community social routing works this way too -- but at a huge cost.
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| == The Missing Stair Metaphor ==
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| Imagine a house with a broken stair. Everyone who lives there knows about it. They've learned to step over it automatically. They warn newcomers: "watch out for that step." But nobody fixes it.
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| '''A missing stair is a person in a community whose harmful behavior is worked around rather than addressed.'''
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| The term originated in a 2012 blog post describing known sexual predators in social communities - people everyone knew were dangerous, but instead of removing them, the community developed workarounds:
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| * Don't let new women be alone with him
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| * Warn people privately at events
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| * Create buddy systems
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| * Just avoid him if you can
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| The metaphor has since been generalized to describe anyone whose repeated harmful behavior is tolerated and routed around rather than confronted.
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| == The Range of Harm ==
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| Missing stairs exist on a spectrum:
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| '''SEVERE HARM''' (original usage)
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| * Sexual harassment or assault
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| * Physical violence or threats
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| * Predatory behavior toward vulnerable people
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| * Targeted harassment campaigns
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| * Stalking
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| '''PERSISTENT HARM'''
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| * Bullying or intimidation patterns
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| * Discriminatory behavior
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| * Abuse of power or authority
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| * Weaponizing community processes
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| * Monopolizing resources/spaces to exclude others
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| '''CHRONIC DYSFUNCTION'''
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| * Repeated conflict escalation
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| * Inability to collaborate constructively
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| * Consistent boundary violations
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| * Draining disproportionate community resources
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| The severity varies, but the pattern is the same: the community routes around the person instead of addressing the harm.
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| == Why Routing Happens Instead of Fixing ==
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| '''FEAR OF CONSEQUENCES'''
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| * The person might retaliate
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| * The person might claim victimhood
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| * The confrontation could split the community
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| * Legal concerns (defamation, liability)
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| * The person is "useful" in other ways
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| '''DIFFUSION OF RESPONSIBILITY'''
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| No single person feels responsible for addressing it. Everyone assumes:
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| * Someone else will handle it
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| * Someone with more authority should act
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| * It's not bad enough for me to say something
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| * Other people seem okay with it
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| '''NORMALIZATION'''
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| The longer the routing continues:
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| * The behavior becomes "just how they are"
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| * New people learn the workarounds without questioning them
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| * The routing becomes invisible infrastructure
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| * Addressing it feels like making a big deal out of nothing
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