ron2
Posted : 12/14/2007 7:23:16 PM
amstaffy
This forum will be moderated to stay within the guidelines of an all ages forum
Good enough for me.
I joined this forum in Sept. 2005. I tend to write as I would speak. But the printed word can't convey tone or a twinkle in the eye, or even dead-pan delivery of dark humor. So, I probably came off as a bit of a smart-aleck, but I was never interested in character-assassination or debating just for the sake of winning a debate. I was always interested in the idea, especially the science behind the idea. I'm not the smartest person in the world but I have a predilection for science and math.
There was not a lot of editing back then. And some people posted to me in strong terms or directly challenged my assumptions or thoughts. And rather than assume that they didn't like me or that the whole world must believe my way, I would consider what they had to say. And I am better for the challenges. For me, it was not about arguing with a person because I don't like the person or what they believe, it was about the science, and particular to this forum, it has always been about the dog.
OTOH, I can understand the admin and mod needing to edit if people are not going to abide by the rules. And the red ink is being lenient. They could very well decide that if a poster has a habit of needing red ink, maybe that poster needs to be somewhere else. Some may think that sounds dictatorial. Well, welcome to a privately owned forum. And I can say that even though I finally received some red ink. Now, I'm one of the "in crowd." Sometimes, a person may get red-inked if they were responding to something else that got red-inked. I think this meant to reduce confusion so that the response that also got red-inked doesn't seem like a non-sequitur from nowhere.
But I do agree, that it gets tiresome to see the pointed questions or statements that call into question anothers' integrity, etc., when it should be about opinions and/or science involved in a topic.
I also think that being a member here is a privilege, not a right. We agree to a certain decorum to become a member. And, just like a restaraunt or pub, management can refuse service to anyone.