I Need to Apologize Once Again
Dear Gedolim,
You were right and I was wrong. Please accept my apologies. Your followers should stay far away from the evil tumah that is the internet.
With Much Love, OSM.
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In other news, reading the YWN ( Read more... )
At least with imamother, this information is pretty clear.
I'm only wondering if this is an inherent problem with internet boards. [Maybe your suggestion should be serious, and these people should stay offline.] You can make certain clear-cut rules, but it's harder to censor people for simply being nutty or putting forward really unpopular views. I remember my moderating stint on the Controversial Topics board - the board owner would get offended by some of the content, and I found myself butting heads and saying "but it's the Controversial section...if it follows the basic rules of no swearing, no personal attacks, no copyright violations, nothing illegal, then I'm not going to censor it and will argue against it in my own posts instead." You know that I allowed plenty of posts from someone that I considered to hold nutty/offensive views, but she was good at following the rules of the debate. I wouldn't have removed those comments that you cited. If you look at the threads, they were isolated, and there were plenty of more normal folks.
Moderating rules can also distort debate. I left a circumcision debate board because religious debate was banned, transferring issues to and from other boards was banned, but having guys living in their basement posting 24/7 about mutilation was just fine. IRL, I could just say "issue not up for discussion", discuss freedom of religion and constitutional issues with those who understand the concepts, have people see the larger context of my life and fact that my kids are doing great, or share the fact that I know a vocal opponent isn't mother of the year but has stated elsewhere that she's a neo-Nazi or a teen mom who already hates her unborn boy.
It's an entirely different world than print media, where resources are limited and everything is edited. The online comments section of most major newspapers, for example, is always far more extreme and less thoughtful than the letters to the editor that appears in the print edition.
JRKmommy
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