Small Rule

 

 

Everything related to the threat of an avian flu pandemic seems to be somewhat confusing at times.  This situation has attracted people to this forum from all walks of life.   This makes it important for us to respect ones beliefs and individuality no matter how unique they may appear.  

 

Having said all of that, we need to add another small rule.  Members will no longer be allowed to use usernames that contain a biblical theme, such as:  Son of Man,  Man of Man, 666!,  etc ....   If somebody truly thinks that they are something that they are not, we don't want to inadvertently encourage that type of behavior.  The other reason for someone to create a username like that would be for the sole purpose of causing problems.  Therefore, if you see a new member appear, and their username is later changed to Guest, they have not been banned.  They just simply need to choose a different handle.

 

 

 

 

 

A warning system that somebody needs help, maybe.   I will admit, 99% of the time, it's because somebody wants to cause problems.  However, we don't want to be too incenctive just in case the person falls into the  .01% category.  So yes, this approach will somehow be taken advantage of by the "trolls", as we call them.   

Thanks you..... Now about those signatures........

I think the main thing we should want to do is to INFORM people about what we think is reliable information, and PERSUADE them to make their OWN informed decisions helpful to their health and well being.  Certainly the main focus are things we can most easily agree that they need discussing, but spiritual health should not be ruled out, since that can be impacted negatively by widespread suffering.

OH PLEEEEASSEE! Are you serious?!?!?!?

I agree with Albert on this. I found the username Son of Man both offensive, and disturbing on a psychological level, as I would any username that indicates somebody thinks s/he is someone s/he isn't, or makes light of any religious belief or figure.

I am a Christian, but I would be just as upset if someone called themself Buddha, Allah, Mohammed, Yahweh, or something that is to indicate evil. Whether I am upset or not is only part of the issue. Others will be too, especially if they are new to the site. We don't want to send people away; one of our purposes, I understood, was to encourage people to take the threat of a pandemic seriously and to show them how to prepare for it. This is a very serious purpose; we are trying to save lives and that must take precedence over some other disagreements.

Albert, what happened to your post about Readymom?  It dissappeared...Is she okay now?

I am glad I didn't pick 'Paul Revere'!

Thanks for the support.... 

Religion has a rather large role in all of this.  We will never exclude it from the forums.   

Although we prefer for most religious discussion to be in the Religion Room, it will always pop up in the main forums at times, which is fine. Just be sure to use your best judgment if you find yourself starting new religious topics - in the main forums. 

 

We are not getting rid of religion discussion. I personally would not want that myself.   We are just trying to structure it better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't have a problem with anyone having a name that is obviously offensive and combative...where do you draw the line?

At some point, we all have to take responsibility for what we read, think and who we choose to engage in conversation with. Nawty Bits, for instance, could be offensive taken the wrong (or right?) way. StandingFirm may sound offensively arrogant unless you know the rest of the story. 2ifbyC can be evocative depending on your point of view.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and taking offense is too...just another way of looking at it.

I honestly cringed at some of the names I saw on here but I just overlooked them, same with signatures. I like them because they are like the eyes...windows to the soul.

Religious points of view are important. I would love to know how people of other faiths view this, and comfort their people through this. Why are we so afraid of thought, difference and faith. Haven't we "evolved" enough as a species to be able to learn from all types of people whether we agree with them or not.

Personally, if a record of what has occured in this pandemic is taken, in order that we may gain wisdom for future generations, all manner of human interaction should be available for reference.

Also, what if the helping hand that you may need comes from a Christian, a Jew, a Buddhist or Muslim, will you bat that hand away?

Things will all work out just fine if we all just remember human kindness and respect goes a long way and we all have a job to do to prepare people to endure.

Blessings!

SF

SF- Your name is fine.  I don't want to make more out of this than what it is.  The three examples of names that I gave earlier is what I am talking about.   It's really not that big of a problem.  Only on occasion.

StandingFirm,

SF - Nobody will ever get the boot for expressing their beliefs.  We might move a post, but that's it.  

   
Albert:   Where is ReadyMom's post? Is she still on the forum? I've read the whole thread twice and haven't seen an answer to that question. I probably went right by it, not unusual for me! LOL

and then when it arrives, and the clusters are our neighborhoods, friends and family..we will be struggling to cope...we will need support...it is just time to start that now so people know where to turn when it happens.

Albert, I don't have an opinion on this, it's your forum. But I would ask, pretty please, can we have PM's back??????????????????

Sand wrote: Yeah, but Readymom??  Are we talking about the one who's been here forever??   Say it isn't so...

    
Sand, what was the post by ReadyMom that got deleted and seems to have caused so much trouble? It seems she has been banned from the forum. Can you respond? Thanks. Ruth

Hi rutsuyasun, truthfully, I have no idea what is going on. I had a similar problem the other day. I emailed Albert and a couple of other people and after several hours of the same thing you described everything went back to normal.

    
Mary Kay, I want to add my wish to yours about PM's. It would also save a lot of room on the threads when people are trying to discuss something together, and have no other option than an open thread. Why don't we have them anymore? Anybody know? Most forums do hmmmmm...

PS-  That is no SMALL rule.   That´s an attack on our  freedom of speech.

Cocktail, maybe there is more to the picture than you know, maybe Albert cannot go into it. Sometimes you just have to trust. I think the main thing here is that Albert is responsible for keeping the threads on track. That may not be as easy a task as you might think. If you are here looking for news and discussion of the news do you really want the thread to drift away from the topic?

Just my personal opinion here, but what has happened with the Iran thread over on the news side? Last time I looked at it there was discussion over recipes or something. I can't remember now but the point is that the thread is no longer about the original news item. It has now become a disscusion that maybe should be over on this side of the forum. When new people come to this site looking for sound information about avian flu, what would they think if they started reading that thread? I think the pupose of this forum is for open discussion and sharing of important infomation regarding avian influenza and it's potential threat to our lives and way of life. That's pretty important to me. 

I don't have an opinion on the banning of certain people, I don't have enough information on those people to make any kind of judgement, but I think it's possible that Albert does, so I'm just going to trust him on it.

That's my two cents with a nickle thrown in.

It tickles the hell out of me to read posts about freedom of speech. THIS IS NOT A PUBLIC FORUM OR A STREET CORNER. This forum exists at the whim of the people who pay the bills. If you want 100% freedom of speech, YOU can pay the bills. For me, I'm not going to mess with it any more. I don't need the extra aggrivation. Will a moderator please cancel my Login? Thanks