M.C. Steenberg
08-06-2007, 03:04 PM
Dear friends,
In a few threads over the past weeks, tempers have flared and people grown frustrated. I am aware of this less from the posts in the threads than from the no-less than 87 Private Messages and forwards I've received from various members over the past two days (!) informing me of them. There has apparently been a tremendous amount of behind-the-scenes discussion of these issues in Private Messages / e-mail, etc., of which I've been made aware by individuals have forwarded me questions based on those notes, some of which contain much deeply inaccurate information. I've spent the better part of this morning reading through these.
For the sake of clarification to all, I would like to speak to three of the specific issues about which I've been asked:
Firstly, there is no policy on Monachos.net's forum of censoring a member's thought. Posts that meet with the Terms of Use of the forum are allowed automatically by the system. The *only* posts that are removed from the system or un-approved are those which breech the Terms of Use of the forum. The most common two 'breaches' of the terms that result in posts not being approved, are messages that address topics that are not part of the purview of the forum, and messages which address other individuals in an aggressive manner. But apart from responding to violations of the Terms of Use, no censorship ever takes place of member’s messages or thoughts.
Secondly, some members have asked about the freedom to identify and deal with heretical opinions as such. Of course a heresy can be identified as a heresy, and often has been (and is) in the forum. What is not permissible is the direct personal confrontation of individual persons in an aggressive manner, on these grounds or any others.
Thirdly, all members of the forum are welcome to ask their questions and state their thoughts in the openness of the community. No one should be made to feel intimidated by others. If someone says a thing that is considered errant, heretical, etc., the appropriate response is to respond to the thing said – as directly as one wishes – but not to make the other person feel demeaned or intimidated away from the forum for it.
Finally, I would point out that hurt feelings and misunderstandings are a necessary risk of the on-line medium. Let us all exercise patience when we feel we personally have been affronted, or another member has caused affront to another. Most often this is unintentional; and if intentional, can often be resolved with calm words rather than heated.
One of the extreme dangers of an on-line community is ‘behind-the-scenes’ discussion of others, that influences the way people behave towards those on the forum in the public discussions. I realize a great deal of this has gone on here, since, as I mentioned above, several of you have forwarded to me messages, or portions of messages, that have been exchanged and which caused you great concern. I can only say that I have found some of the personalizing characterizations in these messages incredible and deeply saddening.
To address a few specific questions that have been asked of me through individuals in these forwards, that are more on a technical front:
1) Yes, it is possible for you to configure your account so that you cannot receive Private Messages from others. This setting is found under Edit Options in your User Control Panel.
2) Yes, messages sent to you are also covered by the Terms of Use, inasmuch as they state that members cannot harass one another by any portion of the system.
3) Yes, Private Messaging on the system is exactly that: private. As such, comments in Private Messages are not moderated, since they are never seen by the moderators (and there is no means of the moderators to do so, even if you request it: the system does not allow access to Private Messages by anyone other than the individual user—i.e. asking me, ‘Is what so-and-so said in my last PM right?’ isn’t a question I can answer!). If you wish to report something relating to a PM, you must forward the text to a moderator.
4) Yes, the Terms of Use are updated from time to time. The current version is always available from the link on every page in the forum.
If you have any questions or concerns about these points, or others, please do feel free to contact me directly at any time. I might only ask that questions be asked before relating false information about the forum's operation, etc., to others, to save a great deal of time and effort on everyone's part.
INXC, Matthew Steenberg
In a few threads over the past weeks, tempers have flared and people grown frustrated. I am aware of this less from the posts in the threads than from the no-less than 87 Private Messages and forwards I've received from various members over the past two days (!) informing me of them. There has apparently been a tremendous amount of behind-the-scenes discussion of these issues in Private Messages / e-mail, etc., of which I've been made aware by individuals have forwarded me questions based on those notes, some of which contain much deeply inaccurate information. I've spent the better part of this morning reading through these.
For the sake of clarification to all, I would like to speak to three of the specific issues about which I've been asked:
Firstly, there is no policy on Monachos.net's forum of censoring a member's thought. Posts that meet with the Terms of Use of the forum are allowed automatically by the system. The *only* posts that are removed from the system or un-approved are those which breech the Terms of Use of the forum. The most common two 'breaches' of the terms that result in posts not being approved, are messages that address topics that are not part of the purview of the forum, and messages which address other individuals in an aggressive manner. But apart from responding to violations of the Terms of Use, no censorship ever takes place of member’s messages or thoughts.
Secondly, some members have asked about the freedom to identify and deal with heretical opinions as such. Of course a heresy can be identified as a heresy, and often has been (and is) in the forum. What is not permissible is the direct personal confrontation of individual persons in an aggressive manner, on these grounds or any others.
Thirdly, all members of the forum are welcome to ask their questions and state their thoughts in the openness of the community. No one should be made to feel intimidated by others. If someone says a thing that is considered errant, heretical, etc., the appropriate response is to respond to the thing said – as directly as one wishes – but not to make the other person feel demeaned or intimidated away from the forum for it.
Finally, I would point out that hurt feelings and misunderstandings are a necessary risk of the on-line medium. Let us all exercise patience when we feel we personally have been affronted, or another member has caused affront to another. Most often this is unintentional; and if intentional, can often be resolved with calm words rather than heated.
One of the extreme dangers of an on-line community is ‘behind-the-scenes’ discussion of others, that influences the way people behave towards those on the forum in the public discussions. I realize a great deal of this has gone on here, since, as I mentioned above, several of you have forwarded to me messages, or portions of messages, that have been exchanged and which caused you great concern. I can only say that I have found some of the personalizing characterizations in these messages incredible and deeply saddening.
To address a few specific questions that have been asked of me through individuals in these forwards, that are more on a technical front:
1) Yes, it is possible for you to configure your account so that you cannot receive Private Messages from others. This setting is found under Edit Options in your User Control Panel.
2) Yes, messages sent to you are also covered by the Terms of Use, inasmuch as they state that members cannot harass one another by any portion of the system.
3) Yes, Private Messaging on the system is exactly that: private. As such, comments in Private Messages are not moderated, since they are never seen by the moderators (and there is no means of the moderators to do so, even if you request it: the system does not allow access to Private Messages by anyone other than the individual user—i.e. asking me, ‘Is what so-and-so said in my last PM right?’ isn’t a question I can answer!). If you wish to report something relating to a PM, you must forward the text to a moderator.
4) Yes, the Terms of Use are updated from time to time. The current version is always available from the link on every page in the forum.
If you have any questions or concerns about these points, or others, please do feel free to contact me directly at any time. I might only ask that questions be asked before relating false information about the forum's operation, etc., to others, to save a great deal of time and effort on everyone's part.
INXC, Matthew Steenberg