To begin with, I believe Will has shown a lot of courage raising this series of emotive issues, even in a rather protracted way, but hey, they like things big in America :-). Never mind, for the best part the majority of us would agree with Will’s remarks, it just remains to tease out each issue and debate them separately if that is the purpose of his post, and if there is anyone out there who wants to go down this route. So perhaps we could do this in chapters. But what is the objective of this discussion? Is it merely to air some views, get something of our chest, share a piece of insight or is it to find a solution a problem? I would suggest that before starting on a long and winding discussion we need to decide where we want to be by the end of it. Finding an objective is always a good start in my view. If the purpose of the discussion is merely to pass a comment on Will’s article then it is way too long and what follows is superfluous. Keep it in perspective. Bonsai is our leisure pursuit, most of us who visit these forums do not earn our living by it, if they do then I might suggest that another form of marketing is in order, one that is likely to have a wider audience perhaps. That aside let’s lighten up but remain enthusiastic. Since on-line censorship by overzealous moderators has already been raised perhaps this is a good a place to start as any. I do not wish to monopolise the discussion but perhaps an objective here might be to agree some forum etiquette to which each of works in the future. It is unlikely that we will ever change the behaviour of most folks on-line but we can at least change our own approach and this itself must eventually have an impact. Moderators In Wills article this is covered in his section called ‘Moderation, although there are other comments throughout. In his response to some initial replies, I think Will would be the first to agree that he might have shot himself in the foot in this respect, a bit like flying Airforce 1 around New York escorted by a fighter without telling anyone:-). Will is human too I suppose...I think. Forum etiquette When does a discussion Forum become a Blog? Probably when there is only one viewpoint, I suppose. When this viewpoint is given greater weight by poor moderation then the of course the forum loses credibility. There is indeed enormous power given to a moderator whose actions can misrepresent the wider view by censoring posts that do not agree with their own view of the world. It takes great patience, broad mindedness, transparency, openness, impartiality, wisdom and understanding to become a good moderator. They are the chair person who is charged with encouraging the timid while restraining the vociferous. When contributing to discussions, there is a duty on us all to treat each other with respect especially during the times of inevitable disagreement. This does not mean that there cannot be blunt, honest, open discussions but one must accept that on occasions there might be strong disagreement that bruises ones feelings. It is after all a discussion forum otherwise it would be a Blog, Twitter or merely a library. Good posting begins with good manners; good moderation begins with integrity.
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