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Old 09-19-2004, 07:32 PM   #1
Neil Mick
Dojo: Aikido of Santa Cruz
Location: Santa Cruz, CA
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 225
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Exclamation Moderating Politics

OK, check this out, in response to a thread closed a few weeks ago (the title of the thread, listed in bold):

Quote:
Re: Why does it matter?

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Hi folks,

SInce I can't say I've ever seen a political discussion in an aikido discussion group on the Internet not create divisive rifts among people, I'm going to close this thread before it goes that far.

-- Jun
I'll grant you that Jun may have had good reason to close the discussion. It hadn't quite gotten to the point of acrimony, but it was about 2 posts away, from it.

Actually, tho: the acrimony pretty much came from one post-er.

So, here's my issue: Jun says that he's "never seen a political discussion" that doesn't "create divisive rifts." But if you look closely: it's not 10 ppl all quibbling, it's one or two bad-apples who refuse to practice good netiquette.

Sure, if Jun doesn't want to spend some of his time moderating the political discussions more carefully: that's his issue. Respectfully, however: it is an oversimplification to suggest that ALL political discussion results in rifts, to ALL parties involved. Personally, I've had discussions that were quite positive on this website, with ppl with whom I disagree.

Can't there be an alternative to simply allowing the trolls to "win" all the time, perhaps giving them a little private "encouragement" to stop their antics, rather than shutting down, wholesale, a topic under discussion?

(To me: this is equivalent to closing an Aikido dojo, because 2 or 3 ppl were abusive, in their training: it's overkill).

Just a thought...

Last edited by Neil Mick : 09-19-2004 at 07:36 PM.
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