Hello, I just thought I'd make a comment in a new thread on what happened in that Afghanistan thread. I'm one of the longest members on this mailing list, having been here over 7 years, a very lengthy time by any account for participation in an online community.
Over this time I've contributed to countless discussions, and seen a number of people come and go from the lists. The new batch of regular posters are an almost completely different group of people from the list 7 years ago. During my tenure on this list, I have almost never seen any attempts from the list owners about moderating any comments, or any posts by any members. I have seen discussions that have gone way overboard and have caused members to leave and/or stop posting, I have seen racist comments posted to this list that would have been patently offensive in any forum not get as much as a slap on the wrist.There have been arguments between people that devolve into a series of ugly personal attacks. Indeed, to participate here now, you need to have a thick skin and a slightly aggressive personality (or online persona at least). The meek probably won't survive posting their opinions if they aren't able to take vicious retorts and aggressive dissection of their points of view if they differ from the majority. So in the past we have had a completely hands off approach on just about everything. Some may say this was good, others may think not. However in that last thread I see someone stepping in and attempting to exert some measure of authority and urging moderation, calming discussion etc. Which is all well and good. But what I find a bit uncomfortable is that this should happen in this manner for what, to my memory, is the first time ever because of a perceived personal attack against one of the list owners. I suppose my question is, does this represent some sort of new list policy? Or was it just because Michael was having a rough time? Because I'm sure sometimes Sam has had depressed days, as has Maureen...Larry probably has his down times,Robert seems just fine always but you never know ;-);Gruss may have an off day... Erika may not be chipper 24/7, I'm going through a rough patch...I'm sure everyone on the list who's been at the receiving or giving end of a personal attack or an egregious disparaging comment has had bad days. Maybe at the time those comments were being made. So I'm curious, given that thread and the responses by Judah that he felt he had to make because of who was posting, if we're developing a new policy of dealing with list discussion, and if so what is that policy and its associated procedures? 2009/3/9 Judith Dinowitz <[email protected]>: > How can you not see that as a personal attack? There is nothing > constructive in the way you're saying this. Did you think there would > be any positive reaction to the words "You know fuck all about the > situation"? > > LRS Scout did something similar to you by saying "See now I know you > don't know shit." That, too, was a personal attack. And every now and > then, we get so passionate about what we're saying that we speak from > the gut and these personal attacks slip in. But I honestly think that > they undermine our arguments. There's no need for them. And rather > than degrading the person we are attacking, they degrade us more. > > Judith ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:291078 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
