Posted on: 23-06-05 01:28:11
I have given this a little bit of thought.. and the civil liberties advocate in me is coming out.. trust me .. it takes a lot of bring it out..
as much as I can see why the hindu/muslim discussion thread was locked.. I am not sure that it is the right thing to do. Perhaps.. this will spawn a discussion on free speech and the need to have it.
No offence.. BlueLobster or other moderators but I am not sure that I really want you to decided what I should discuss or read and what I should not on a public discussion board.
If I was paying for this service then I can see it .. but I don't and now with the thread locked ,a potentially insightfull discussion has been killed in its tracks. A moderator has decided that people are not mature enough to handel it. I ask.. by whose standards? and is there such lack of faith in the other members that a discussion that ignites hate would not be put down anyway.
I say.. let the discussion be.. let people express themselves and let the others decide if the discussion is worthy of participation and not a moderator who may be forcing their views of what is right and what is wrong on others..by having the power to lock a discussion thread.
Quote:
Orginally posted by bxmca
I have given this a little bit of thought.. and the civil liberties advocate in me is coming out.. trust me .. it takes a lot of bring it out..
as much as I can see why the hindu/muslim discussion thread was locked.. I am not sure that it is the right thing to do. Perhaps.. this will spawn a discussion on free speech and the need to have it.
No offence.. BlueLobster or other moderators but I am not sure that I really want you to decided what I should discuss or read and what I should not on a public discussion board.
When you say public dicussion board, what do you mean? Because this is a privately owned forum with some specific goals and the rules are set up to satisfy those goals, not my opinions.
Even in free state, there are some laws. And these laws don't come out nowhere, they are made by people. Not everyone likes or agrees, but everyone has to abide.
Quote:
I ask.. by whose standards? and is there such lack of faith in the other members that a discussion that ignites hate would not be put down anyway.
Yes there is a lack of faith. And it comes from past experiences from elsewhere and this forum too.
As an example, visit this forum http://www.echarcha.com." rel="nofollow">LINK Its another excellent forum started by someonw with the goal of bringing together the desi community. But there are several instances where threads have degenerated to hindu-this muslim-that, your God this - my God that, India this - Pakistan that nonsense.
Our purpose is not to have this forum exclusively for people of one religion or nationality. Its an open forum where we want to make everyone feel welcome. And that's the idea behind locking or editing some discussions which would be clearly offensive to a specific religion or nationality.
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Are you there?
I shall not go into explaining why a thread is locked - BL has done it wonderfull and succintly.
However, my question to bxmca is : what in your opinion is a moderator's role? may be that might help you or us in changing your or our thoughts, and that is one thing we as moderators are always open to - feedback and suggestions!
Chandresh
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Chandresh
Advice is free – lessons I charge for!!
When you say public dicussion board, what do you mean? Because this is a privately owned forum with some specific goals and the rules are set up to satisfy those goals, not my opinions.
Even in free state, there are some laws. And these laws don't come out nowhere, they are made by people. Not everyone likes or agrees, but everyone has to abide.
Yes there is a lack of faith. And it comes from past experiences from elsewhere and this forum too.
As an example, visit this forum http://www.echarcha.com." rel="nofollow">LINK Its another excellent forum started by someonw with the goal of bringing together the desi community. But there are several instances where threads have degenerated to hindu-this muslim-that, your God this - my God that, India this - Pakistan that nonsense.
Our purpose is not to have this forum exclusively for people of one religion or nationality. Its an open forum where we want to make everyone feel welcome. And that's the idea behind locking or editing some discussions which would be clearly offensive to a specific religion or nationality.
What are the specific goals? and the board may be privatly owned.. but it is in a public place(the internet) and it is free access. I think by comparing this forum to a state with laws is a stretch and even in a free state there is freedom of speech. The KKK has the right to speak its mind.. and it is for the public to judge their importance.. not for the government to tell the public .. what is important to them.
I suppose, my issue is that.. your lack of faith should not translate into you making decisions on who you contribute to what. You have just hit the nail on the head.. it is YOUR view.. and not mine or of perhaps many other people on this forum.
I have not argued stating that this forum should be made exclusive.. the fact that it is open is great.. but is appears to me that it is only as OPEN as the moderators want it.. not as it should be. If the intent is to make everyone feel welcome.. then welcome EVERYONE and let the discussion and debate determine the fate of the individual threads.. not a moderators view on what is right and wrong.
The concept of moderating in such fashion.. is a easy way out it is NOT the right way out.
Quote:
Orginally posted by chandresh
I shall not go into explaining why a thread is locked - BL has done it wonderfull and succintly.
However, my question to bxmca is : what in your opinion is a moderator's role? may be that might help you or us in changing your or our thoughts, and that is one thing we as moderators are always open to - feedback and suggestions!
Chandresh
Chandresh,
The fact that you say that BL has done it well, perhaps already taints your judegement. You have already decided that what has been done is the right thing to do.
I would argue that the role of a moderator is to facilitate discussion and not to kill it when the topics are difficult to deal with. Clearly, if someone is planning to kill someone.. makes threats..those are the times I expect a moderator to step in.
Isnt the intent of public discussion to highlight the inconsistencies that exist in people arguments and come to understanding. By loacking a thread you have made sure that no discussion on topics that are difficult are dealt with. communities and socities are constantly faced with the very same dicussions that you are now locking.
No doubt... this forum has moderators and they serve a purpose as I have indicated before.. but I think there is something wrong at the core when moderators have the ultimate say on what is being discussed and what is appropriate and what is not. If moderators are not able to take dicussions and shape and facilitate them to bring out better understanding and/or highlighting contradcitions and engaging more and more people in those discussions then I seriously question their ability to moderate.
If you truly believe in free discussion then you cannot get that by locking threads.. you can only get that from engaging people and debating issues.
What I find interesting is that there have been many posts on this forum when people have said several ignorant and hateful things about canada and canadians, yet.. I have never seen those threads locked..
That is a contradiction.. that is my issue. Moderators
BXMCA
Without going into details, let me tell you some of the things we have DECIDED will not be encouraged on this forum - and since that is in our unwritten charter, we shall follow it. This shall be followed, even when we the moderators, as a member alone, support one view and would like to express it - but WILL NOT, since that does not flow with our mission.
Some of the things (and the list is not exhaustive) that we will NOT encourage here (since they do not gell well with our purpose of having this site - the reason is as simple as that) are:
a) religious discussions which start calling something in one religion as bad - however, if members wanted to discuss topics of religion which increases their knowledge of the religion - without any value judgements, is definitely encouraged.
b) advertising of one's business through a post in charcha - they are free to advertise through free classifieds, but NOT thru Charcha.
c) Offensive language - language that seems offensive to we as moderators, even something any member might find non-offensive.
d) explicit discussions on sex (and since I am using a subjective word as 'explicit' - we the moderators have the responsibility to decide what could be termed as explicit)
ETC. ETC. ETC...........
And once again let me spell it out - this site is created and maintained voluntarily for the sole purpose of helping immigrants in their lives and knowledge about Canada, which can take many dimensions, including some of the topics listed above, but specifically excluded/prohibited.
Yes this is a public forum and the public at large is free to discuss most of the things in life on this forum. However, they are also free to join and leave whenever they want to, and make their own decision whether or not the restrictions placed on this public forum are consistent with their personal beliefs.
I hope I have been able to explain the reasons behind the locking of thread responsibility/power. However, if you still feel you would like to express more and discuss - we are available and willing to discuss and implement changes that we as a group might feel will make this site better.
Chandresh
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Chandresh
Advice is free – lessons I charge for!!
Its a fine balance, and I think the mods have done a good job so far.
I particularly note the potshots often aimed at BL, by a cpl of other members, who are just trying to provoke. They are still around.
Ofcourse its possible that some people see some actions of the mods as unwarranted while others see it as too lax(and have complained so, just like you are doing). This difference in perception is inevitable in an open(within limits 
) forum. I think the few guidelines in the post by Chandresh are reasonable enough. Note that all the mods are volunteering their time.
I also think its a good thing that you BXMCA question the mods actions. Its probably not about 'right' and 'wrong' as much as about maintaining that fine balance, you are now helping with, by starting this thread. Thanks for the same.
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