[Winona Online Democracy] Thanks, Ed for the candid and honest reminder that all of us have been on both the receiving and sending end of personal attacks. It's hard to define exactly what a personal attack is but to paraphase a famous quote personal attacks are like pornography, you "know it when you see it".
Email is such a wonderful form of communication, a real enhancement to civil discourse when used thoughtfully. However, all of us know the feeling when our perfectly crafted email ends up sounding a little more personal than we intended it to. Unfortunately, we typically realize this about 2 seconds after we send the email. All we can do is continue the discourse and listen, moderate, and apologize when necessary. As someone else famous once said "let he who is without sin throw the first stone". None of us are blameless when it comes to emails we could have changed. So Ed, you are correct that sometimes the best solution is to just "put down the email" and not respond. Saying all this Kathy does an excellent job as moderator in meeting the intent of the term "moderation". Rather than being "Big Brother", imposing rules and regulations, the role of the moderator is to facilitate discussion while being the conscience of WOD and reminding all of us of the joys of democratic conversation, creating our solutions through interaction with each other. Thanks, Kathy for all of your hard work! A few other wonderful books on the creative art of conversation and discourse: "Turning To One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future" by Margaret Wheatley "Calling the Circle: The First and Future Culture" by Christina Baldwin Dave Derks ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ed Thompson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2004 4:28 PM Subject: Re: [Winona] Re: The Never Ending Rules Debate > [Winona Online Democracy] > > At 11:45 AM 7/15/04 -0500, Kathy wrote: > >[Winona Online Democracy] > > From my end it is hard for me to accept that an assessment that the rules > > are "arbitrarily enforced" has nothing to do with me personally, since I > > am the one who makes that call for our forum. I've been reading a lot of > > messages from folks who are unhappy about my judgement from those who > > believe that the discussion should be literally moderated (edited before > > being sent to the members) to those like Spencer or David who seem to > > conclude that my efforts to facilitate are analagous to the world of > > Orwell's 1984. > >As a group, how can we decide how to address such issues? As the > >facilitator, I go back to re-read the rules and my archived responses to > >members in order to gain perspective and act consistently. I am happy to > >share the facilitator role with another individual in order to assist with > >these judgement calls, but I don't think it is constructive for me to > >change my standards each time a member disagrees with my judgement. That > >would, indeed, be arbitrary enforcement. > >I am happy to take cues from the membership as to how to address the issue > >of rule enforcement, but I think it is wise that the membership define the > >process for establishing the procedures. Isn't that the democratic thing > >to do? > > > Members of the Forum, > > I, for one, have been pleased with Kathy's actions and reactions in this > regard. I think she has done her best to keep the discussion focussed on > issues rather than personalities. Her comments merely reflect what we all > agreed to when we voluntarily joined this online discussion forum. These > "rules" are nothing more than common sense ways to keep the discussions > open and fair. > > There will, sadly, always be individuals who view a forum such as this as > yet another venue to blow off steam, push personal agendas, score political > points, etc. Also, again sadly, there will always be individuals who are > unable to engage in what Aristotle and John Adams referred to as "civil > discourse". Even worse, there will always be people to are simply > unwilling to do so. I've certainly been quilty of this myself more than > once (attacks on politicians can be downright fun sometimes! Especially > after being on the receiving end myself for many years). At least one > previous thread on this forum brought this up in the decline of local > political rhetoric. > > Kathy has no effective means of stopping this, other than appealing to our > better judgement. Nor should she. The only effective response is in the > hands of the rest of us as forum members: Silence. As soon as a writer > gets negative or begins personal attacks, simply stop reading and hit the > "delete" button. If the rest of us don't respond in any way, PARTICULARLY > to remind them they are out of line, we will deprive these individuals of > the controversy they seek. They will have two choices: shape up and act as > polite members of society, or know that their ideas and opinions > (regardless of how good they might otherwise be) are being sent unread to > the garbage. They do indeed have a "right" to express their > opinions. They do not have a right to expect me to read it. > > Here is your first opportunity. DON'T respond to this message (thus > further inflamming the controversy). Let it go and lets be done with this, > or correspond with me privately if you wish. > > Ed Thompson > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > This message was posted to Winona Online Democracy > All messages must be signed by the senders actual name. > No commercial solicitations are allowed on this list. > To manage your subscription or view the message archives, please visit > http://mapnp.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/winona > Any problems or suggestions can be directed to > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > If you want help on how to contact elected officials, go to the Contact page at > http://www.winonaonlinedemocracy.org _______________________________________________ This message was posted to Winona Online Democracy All messages must be signed by the senders actual name. No commercial solicitations are allowed on this list. To manage your subscription or view the message archives, please visit http://mapnp.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/winona Any problems or suggestions can be directed to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] If you want help on how to contact elected officials, go to the Contact page at http://www.winonaonlinedemocracy.org
