Posted by fallsfall on October 24, 2003, at 10:50:25
I haven't been here forever (though it sometimes seems that way), I came to the board just after the suicide post incident.
This board is important to me because it is full of intellegent, funny, caring people. And when I'm spazzing out I can come here and get grounded (and I don't have to wait for my next session). The amount of help that people get on this board is substantial, and I truly think that this board helps to change lives.
BUT
If we spend our time on Babble poking at each other for ANY reason (either because we like to be mean, or because we are mad, or because we think we need to make a point and think that sarcasm is the only way), we are not supporting each other. Now, some people on this board have some problems. OK, all of the people on these boards have problems, we each have our own special kind. If you see someone acting out their problem, don't goad them on, that doesn't help them. And it spoils the supportive attitude on the board. If their goal is to make you mad, then ignore them.
I believe (I really do) that if those of us who spend time here behave with less of a reactionary attitude that things could be better here. It isn't the new people who are engaged in this fight, they just suffer from it.
There are a finite number of troublemakers. If we were to limit their damage to only what they put themselves in to their own posts, I think that things would be calmer. We can suffocate the bad posts with good posts. Don't let the troublemakers run you off.
Dr. Bob. You have a hard job. There are a couple of modifications that I would like to suggest:
1. Be consistent always
2. The triple blocks seem too long to me. When someone gets a block that is unreasonable it makes me feel more like saying things that would hurt the board.
3. There is a difference between swears, inadvertantly "putting someone down", purposefully being mean, and purposefully causing significant pain (particularly to more than one person). I think that the blocking rules should reflect this. It would require a judgement call as to whether the poster intends to hurt someone, but I think that in most cases it is clear. In the other cases, we use this board with the agreement that your judgement is final (though we can discuss it). I'm not trying to make things difficult, but "a**" is not the same species as the suicide incident - they should be handled differently.
We have to stop the bleeding
Fallsfall
(who hopes this is civil)
poster:fallsfall
thread:272709
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20031008/msgs/272709.html