Thanks to everyone for their ideas and opinions and helpful advice. We?ve read all the posts, and as the thread progressed I think we found ourselves going back and forth on which way to go; so many of the points that were presented on both sides were valid, reasonable, and considered.
After reading through the thread, and after much of the discussion among the moderators, Mica stated ?I think it?s about balance?. For me, this tied everything together; and I had to smile at how beautifully that one word summarized the whole discussion.
Several members mentioned that they had noticed that moderating had perhaps increased a little too much. We agree; we?re thinking that perhaps with the increase in the numbers of moderators and the ?learning curve? that the new moderators faced, we may have been a little too exuberant in our efforts. We have been reviewing some of our past decisions and reexamining where the ?line? is in different types of situations.
There was something close to an even split among members responding to the thread between those who wanted to loosen up and expand allowable areas of discussion and those who wanted things to stay the same as they are now. Both sides presented good reasons for their positions. There were also a significant number of comments, sometimes from those who didn?t express a preference for one side or the other, that stressed the importance of maintaining harmony and of maintaining and enforcing the rules related to sexism, racism, personal attacks, etc. In fact it does seem that pretty much everyone agrees on those points; there was not much in the way of suggestions that such rules be abandoned.
After it was initially suggested, there were several good points both for and against a separate section that would to some degree or other be less restrictive on politics and similar discussions. The moderators had some back and forth on that as well.
The many people that wanted to keep things the way they are now were passionate in their feelings that it was important to do so, and set forth good reasons why we shouldn?t change. And the many people that wanted to loosen things up were equally persuasive in their reasoning and in their feelings on the importance of doing so. In my view, neither side on this issue is ?wrong?.
But of course we can?t both change the rules and not change the rules; and if we choose one side over the other, a number of people will be, to one degree or another, disappointed.
So here?s what I?m thinking. First, the moderators will try to be a little less exuberant in their moderating; we?ll try to be a little more mindful of cutting some slack, giving a thread a little more time to calm down, and giving the members a bit more of a chance to self moderate. Second, when an existing thread in the misc. section starts veering off into ?politics?, we will, depending on the topic, try to take more of a wait and see approach. However, in my view, for this to work, given the feelings expressed by so many of our community, when a member ventures off into ?politics? they should only do so after giving due consideration to how others in the community might react. I think it important that, for each of us, respect for all of our fellow club members should be something that we never lose sight of.
The separate section idea was a good one, and the moderators did talk about how we could set it up. But considering the opinions expressed by the group as a whole, I?m thinking that?s too big of a move from where we are now. I?m also a bit wary of new threads being started specifically on ?political? issues, although there I can see where some small amount of leeway on the part of the moderators may be prudent.
I admit where it is difficult for me to see how this will play out, and it does seem to me that there will be many topics that, when we first consider how others in the community will feel to their being broached on our board, should never be introduced.
A few things to keep in mind;
- This is Alembic?s place of business, and it is an extension of the Wickersham?s home. What we write here reflects on the company and the family.
- There are politicians, commentators, radio personalities, reporters, news anchors, news networks, political parties, ideologies, grassroots organizations, etc. that some of us may highly respect, the same ones of which others of us may think are completely nuts. Because some of us tend to be passionate about these things, I think it important to keep in mind that if you write that a certain cable commentator is insane, there will be others in our community that will take that as a personal attack.
- This is a global community. In the spirit of treating each other with respect we should be mindful when writing about other countries, other world leaders, other regions, etc. that our fellow members come from countries all over the world.
On the idea of staying out of a thread if you find it offensive, I would offer this. If someone is passionate in their views of say global warming, and that person knows that there is a thread in the misc. section wherein their views are being trashed by some of their fellow members, even if that person elects to stay out of the thread, it still hurts.
Finally, one thing that we noticed when reading through the responses to the thread; we have a really great group here. When reading through this thread, I don?t think you can help but come to the conclusion that this is just a great group of people. For the moderators this, unexpectedly, was the big ?take away? from the discussion. And for that, we would like to thank all of you.
