Few things that need to be said...
I'm going to mention the hairfail discussion and related topics, so if you don't care about all of this, please just skip this post. It doesn't hurt, promised.
Firstly, I wanted to apologise to afro_dyte and to everyone who didn't feel comfortable (to say the least) with how we handled (or tried to) the hairfail discussion. There was clearly lots of misunderstandings and I'm really sorry because we fucked up, clear and simple. If I didn't post anything before, it's because we already had a "sorry" post and I thought it was obvious those apologies were shared with the other mods, I took that for granted and I was wrong - again. I want to let you know that I'm SORRY for what happened with afro_dyte and with everyone of you who felt uncomfortable with each race fail post/thread/topic we had here. Someone suggested we should just avoid such topics on the comm, but I think confronting our opinions is always useful and I really don't want to choose the easy way. I really want this place to be as FOC-friendly as possible - alas, I'm DEEPLY ignorant on the matter (on so are other people who *tried* to voice their opinions in such threads) and I sometimes read only without commenting or anything because I'm afraid to say something that sounds right to me, but horribly wrong to those who know what they're talking about.
Which brings me to the second apology I owe - to cleojones because I left the race discussions *control* all to her. She really helped out in the last months (I hope she'll stay, despite all the crap she's experienced) and I just realised I left her alone without even knowing it. I read every single discussion post related to race and racism that we had here at spock_uhura and sometimes I don't even realise that something that has been said was hurtful - that's the very first thing someone made me notice (it was about the beije babies thing) and I really hope it's clear that I don't read and pass on because I think it's right to hurt other people's feelings; my perspective is TOTALLY different and even when I'm trying to do right, I don't realise that's wrong. I've been reading lots of discussions and useful posts some of you gave us in race topics, and I will keep doing that to help cleojones and anyone of you.
I also need to say that I didn't expect people to think that, since I made cleojones mod, everything was okay for FOC here. I'm not that stupid and I perfectly know that no one so stupid to think that. I didn't want a FOC to show people how good I am, that wasn't my intention at all. As I said, I needed someone who KNOWS what she/he was talking about when it comes to race in that position. I didn't chose her because she's a FOC, I chose her because she knows plenty on the matter and she always participates in discussions like that. I had no subtle *second* aim asking her to be a moderator. I needed help, and then I left her alone and again, I'm really, really sorry for that.
Plus, I didn't like the way some people treated her in the last post about the hairfail. I don't care what's the subject of the discussion - when a person makes such a heartfelt apology SHOW SOME RESPECT. And if you have nothing polite to say (it may also be constructive criticism - I don't expect people to shut up when they don't agree with me or anyone else, just please say what you want to say in a polite way, nasty comments aren't fun) then don't say anything at all.
AGAIN, sorry afro_dyte & cleojones and anyone else I hurt with my wrong choices/behaviour. I'm really gonna try to make this right.
Thanks for your time :)
Firstly, I wanted to apologise to afro_dyte and to everyone who didn't feel comfortable (to say the least) with how we handled (or tried to) the hairfail discussion. There was clearly lots of misunderstandings and I'm really sorry because we fucked up, clear and simple. If I didn't post anything before, it's because we already had a "sorry" post and I thought it was obvious those apologies were shared with the other mods, I took that for granted and I was wrong - again. I want to let you know that I'm SORRY for what happened with afro_dyte and with everyone of you who felt uncomfortable with each race fail post/thread/topic we had here. Someone suggested we should just avoid such topics on the comm, but I think confronting our opinions is always useful and I really don't want to choose the easy way. I really want this place to be as FOC-friendly as possible - alas, I'm DEEPLY ignorant on the matter (on so are other people who *tried* to voice their opinions in such threads) and I sometimes read only without commenting or anything because I'm afraid to say something that sounds right to me, but horribly wrong to those who know what they're talking about.
Which brings me to the second apology I owe - to cleojones because I left the race discussions *control* all to her. She really helped out in the last months (I hope she'll stay, despite all the crap she's experienced) and I just realised I left her alone without even knowing it. I read every single discussion post related to race and racism that we had here at spock_uhura and sometimes I don't even realise that something that has been said was hurtful - that's the very first thing someone made me notice (it was about the beije babies thing) and I really hope it's clear that I don't read and pass on because I think it's right to hurt other people's feelings; my perspective is TOTALLY different and even when I'm trying to do right, I don't realise that's wrong. I've been reading lots of discussions and useful posts some of you gave us in race topics, and I will keep doing that to help cleojones and anyone of you.
I also need to say that I didn't expect people to think that, since I made cleojones mod, everything was okay for FOC here. I'm not that stupid and I perfectly know that no one so stupid to think that. I didn't want a FOC to show people how good I am, that wasn't my intention at all. As I said, I needed someone who KNOWS what she/he was talking about when it comes to race in that position. I didn't chose her because she's a FOC, I chose her because she knows plenty on the matter and she always participates in discussions like that. I had no subtle *second* aim asking her to be a moderator. I needed help, and then I left her alone and again, I'm really, really sorry for that.
Plus, I didn't like the way some people treated her in the last post about the hairfail. I don't care what's the subject of the discussion - when a person makes such a heartfelt apology SHOW SOME RESPECT. And if you have nothing polite to say (it may also be constructive criticism - I don't expect people to shut up when they don't agree with me or anyone else, just please say what you want to say in a polite way, nasty comments aren't fun) then don't say anything at all.
AGAIN, sorry afro_dyte & cleojones and anyone else I hurt with my wrong choices/behaviour. I'm really gonna try to make this right.
Thanks for your time :)