Augie,
I appreciate the openness of your response. Please take the following as “constructive” criticism.
Thank you for explaining that your post “KILL THEM ALL AND LET G*D SORT IT OUT!” was made in jest. It is because your post was ambiguous as to “THEM” and addressed to no one in particular that I found it in poor taste, especially in these highly politically and religiously charged times. I found the post to be provocative and did not see how it could be used to stimulate a discussion germane to the thread header; actually, I still don’t, but I accept your explanation at face value. (I will grant you, not everyone appreciates what I try to pass off as humor too.)
You went on to say,
"So far, the only type of posts which I find myself unable to tolerate are those along the lines of:
You hold position "a," therefore you are an ignorant and/or stupid person.
... or ...
You disagree with my view on "a," therefore you are an ignorant and/or stupid person.
... or ...
Your mother holds position "a," therefore she is an an ignorant and/or stupid person.”
I’m not suggesting you should like “personal attack” posts such as you have illustrated, but it is my opinion that as the thread moderator you have an obligation to tolerate some of them in furtherance of the thread’s purpose. It is an especially difficult task when one is the subject of those attacks, or even worse, when you feel your family attacked, even if you did leave yourself open by posting a letter “from your mother” without comment.
My concern is that by quickly deleting posts that you have personalized you deprive other readers from forming their own opinion of the person who has made the mistake of poorly choosing their words. I would like the opportunity to read those posts and make up my own mind, and then have a chance to agree/disagree, or engage that poster. By your quick reaction you deprive me and others of that opportunity, to the detriment of the board IMO.
By saying in your post to me “Please, feel free to question anything I say, or anything I do, for that matter” you have left the door open to further dialogue, clarification or an apology. I’m pleased you have said that to me, but why could you not have said something similar to the two posters whose posts you deleted, and suggest to them that you would like a discussion but without “personal attack” language. Wouldn’t that at least allow the opportunity to get a dialogue going?
I found some language used in another thread header. Perhaps you will consider adding it, or some modification of it, to the thread header as a guidepost to all who post here.
There is only one rule here: NO PERSONAL ATTACKS. Those who engage in personal attacks will be warned. If they persist, future posts which contain personal attacks may be deleted.
In fact, perhaps this would be the only rule the thread would need.
With all of this said, I again request that you restore the deleted posts and in addition, as the thread moderator, respond to the posters giving them a warning about their personal attacks, and give them the opportunity to be contributors to the thread. Of course maybe they cannot be civil, but maybe they personalized the posts they were responding to, just as you have.
Please understand I mean all of this constructively, and I believe a thread such as this can be a vehicle to contributing to mutual understanding. I just think everyone should know what the posting rules are ahead of time.
Regards,
AK
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