DBP
I’ll take this one on, Jo. I think I have a right to speak on this, as someone who’s had whole threads flagged and removed, not because of anything I’ve said, but because of what SOMEONE ELSE said about a THIRD PARTY . . . on a thread that I started (and put a lot of work into, too).*
I think personal attacks are bad, and we should avoid them. However, I think we can, and should, handle these attacks by ourselves and not appeal to the forum moderators to intervene every time we have a squabble.
I think we should strive to create a culture on this blog where people are allowed to occasionally say outrageous things . . . but when they do, others will come on and say, “Hey. That’s outrageous. Nobody believes you.” Just like the thread you posted on the restaurant, where someone trashed you and then a bunch of other people came to your defense. I thought that was pretty cool how people defended you . . .
With a culture like that, hard-core outrageous commenters will either be discouraged and leave, or they’ll shape up. In either case, a lesson will have been learned and a better outcome will result.
I certainly don’t favor the approach of people flagging a post (and getting it removed) just because they feel like someone’s put them down. Or put one of their friends down.
That encourages a culture of tattling.
Granted, it’s a fine line that the moderator has to walk here. But mistakes in judgment have been made recently, and that has diminished the utility of this Blog as a true-blue community forum.
What we are heading toward now, I’m afraid, is more of a community bulletin board, where, if you wanna tell everyone that you’ve got a lost cat, or you want someone to mow your yard, it’s fine. But if you wanna talk about politics or other matters of substance, forget about it. That’s just NSFWSB.
* * * * *
*I also wanna note for the record that the forum moderators have been very tolerant of me and my oddball personality. But I’ve always seen it as a symbiotic relationship: They tolerate my antics, and in return I pull readers to the site.
But perhaps those days are over.