Hi Mike,


A few thought directed at nobody in particular.

For me I have no problem that Michel and the Sysops as surrogates have any particular set of rules or not. Why? Well, if they make them too restrictive then folks will leave. If they make them too liberal then things get out of control anf folks leave.

The Problem: Finding the correct and proper balance and doing so in such a fashion that it is logical, consistent and, in my mind, most importantly as open for examination as is possible. In other words propose the standards then work through them. Kind of like an online Robert's Rules of Order.

>>Don't censure the potential, respond to the act.
>
>Good plan, lets tell this to all the victim's families of those school shootings.

Those two really aren't related. It's equally silly to use the grief of those parents to insist on your course of action as any other. They just aren't related.

>
>I'm sorry, but the Chatter doesn't mean "Anything you want", it means "Something related to what normally goes on here that doesn't fit better in another category". Maybe some light hearted comedy, or the typical "Hey, here's a cool website" post fits.

Says who? You? Me? Actually, Michel is the one here in my mind who has that right. We still have the choice to abide or not by those decisions.

>
>But why should we be allowed to post anything? Why should I login from a public school to a computer forum, and have everyone tell me how unsafe I am? While we're at, I want to see more of is threads like "Hey guys, remember that Holocaust thing?" Gimme a break.

That's reaching a little. *s* Like Jim said we can ..er.. encourage *g* those who abuse the general sensibilities of the members to modify their behavior. From everything I've seen in over 13 years online this has never been a problem. Honest, I'm not making this up. *bg*

>
>Think if this was your forum, you having people paying for memberships and ads. As new memberes log on and check out what people are talking about, they get pleasatly greeted by a link describing why we should be terrified of school yards. I sure want to advertise that.

Thing is Mike is that this IS Michel's forum. He sets the rules and that's fine by me. It has to be a tough job to satisfy everyone. From everything I've seen he's done a pretty good job. I'm really not too worried.


>
>By avoiding one major catastrophe in the old thread, another one was created. But why was the first one closed? To censor? No; it was froze because it doesn't belong here. Was the message deleted? No, its remains unedited as it did before hand.

This thread hasn't been a "catastrophe". It's actually dealt pretty responsibly with a few issues that need to be dealt with anyway. At some point we really can't remove honest responses from folks who had VERY REAL and most likely VERY PAINFUL reactions to a horrible horrible situation.

Let's not add to that pain unnecessarily.

Thanks for listening..

Best,

DD