Please take a few moments to read the following "mission statement" for the
Comments boards here, and the ground-rules that flow from it. If you
have further suggestions for ways to improve the quality of the discussions
on the comments boards, please
let me know
.
~ Helena
Mission statement and ground-rules for the JWN Comments boards
I hope that the JWN comments boards will be a place where we can all discuss
ideas, interpretations, and differences in a friendly way, realizing that
no one person has a monopoly on truth; that everyone has a portion of it;
and that we can't tell how big "our own" portion is until we test our own
interpretations in a broader and more diverse public discussion, as well
as against the facts of the situation.
I hope this can be a place where we lay down our need to change or convert
other people. It's not that change and conversion aren't both good,
but they are probably best experienced in the context of real relationships.
Following some general rules of comment etiquette will encourage and model
the kind of discursive community that we can build through the amazing capacities
of cyberspace and the blogging software we're using within it.
1. Please try to stick to the topic in the main post. In previous discussions
here many commenters, myself included, have gone off on lengthy tangents.
Let's all try to discern and remember what "the main theme" of a post
is, and keep our comments on that topic?
2. Adding additional information relevant to the topic, or voicing a request
for such information from other readers, are two particularly valuable features
of comments boards.
3. If you disagree with something that someone else has written, why not
just tell us what you believe and leave it at that? Everyone will hear your
wisdom better if you aren't wasting words trying to show that other people
are wrong.
4. If you strongly feel you need to speak directly to something that someone
else wrote, be gentle and courteous. Remember that all the people who
comtribute here are real people, not cardboard pastiches. We come from
many different cultures, with widely varying norms of what counts as polite
discussion, and what as rudeness or outright verbal bullying-- and cyberspace
is a place that lends itself particularly easily to miscommunication. When
in doubt, please err on the side of excessive courtesy.
5. Practice the valuable art of speaking across worldviews. If you want people
to read your comments with an open mind and some empathy, show that you have
read what they have previously written in that same spirit.
7. It is never courteous to hog the discourse. Please limit each comment
to 300 words. Try not to comment more than once in every five or six comments
in any single discussion. If you have more to say, post those lengthier
thoughts on your own blog or website and put in a hyperlink to them.
6. Please don't be repetitive.
* * *
My thanks to Real
Live Preacher
from whose rules the above was quite broadly adapted.
The above is the text of January 6, 2005. These guidelines may be updated
in the future. Any major changes will be signaled on the blog.