brahmtewatia
August 7th, 2009, 03:03 PM
civilized discussion guidelines at JATland.
in my opinion, it is very rare to find a public platform which is absolutely perfect per-se. everyone has a different set of knowledge, experience, a different mindset and different perceptions. and ones beliefs will be based on these underlying elements. people with different sets of knowledge and experience can logically come to different conclusions based on the same evidence cos their perceptions differ. recognize that it is impossible to change another person's belief… and/or that person may or may not choose to change his beliefs… that’s my personal experience on JATland.
what i am trying to elaborate further is something close to near perfection… something very righteous... i mean a perfect community forum. please do not conceive me to be such a person, cos i am not. just few thoughts, which i feel would make JATland a better place to visit.
when some member challenges a statement, use that as a chance to understand one's own beliefs. try to justify why one believes something to be true… not in order to prove the other person wrong, but to understand why one believes it to be true. having said that realize, also, there will come a point where one reaches his fundamental beliefs and one will not be able to justify a statement. have the courage to say "i cannot justify this statement, i merely believe it to be true." at this point, one should walk away from the discussion. finally, when one walks away, accept that one may not have the last word in the discussion. leave any further questions unanswered, one has no more to say on the subject at this time and assume others will follow this approach.
misread any accusations as merely questions and feel free to edit the accusations into answerable questions. more often than not, replying in a dispassionate manner will raise the level of discussion. also recognize that everyone has a bad day where he might state something in a poor taste (<<< important, please note). look for the underlying logic in the statement and ignore the emotional wording. feel free to edit emotional wording to raise the level of discussion… guess our mods can once again bring it to a 24 hour time-frame as existed earlier on JL.
this might be a boring discussion for many and the thread may not see the dawn of light next day… just thoughts inspired from a recent thread - "internet troll", as I go further in suggesting few civility guidelines…
1. remember, people take offense at different things.
2. try not to assume the worse when a post makes you hurt or annoyed.
3. keep a sense of humor.
4. consider others may hold opinions which are dramatically different from your own.
5. consider you might be wrong.
6. consider there might be some truth in what the other person is saying.
7. wait a few hours before responding to a post which has upset you.
8. you are as much responsible for your reaction as the supposed offender is responsible for the offense.
9. consider how your words might be received.
10. consider whether you'd say your message face-to-face.
11. the offended party decides what is offensive.
12. apologies are best. however, if you wish not to apologize, consider clarifying your statement to better explain the intent behind an offending post.
13. be as direct as possible when responding to someone who has been offended by your post.
14. when offended, write off-list to the person saying… “when you said xxx i understood yyy. is that what you meant” ?
15. write off-list to the moderator(s) explaining how you felt/perceived the message, and ask the moderator to deal with it off-list.
16. don’t get disheartened if mods don’t reply/take appropriate action.
17. if all else fails, attempt to ignore someone, who is especially irritating you.
+++ last, but not the least…
A. debate ideas, not persons.
B. make a clear distinction between objective information and subjective information.
C. avoid guessing a person's negative motive(s) for having a certain opinion(s)
D. agree to disagree when appropriate without hard feelings.
E. most difficult part, but very important - don’t keep an attitude… we all are JAT’s… fellow brothers, sisters and deviyan.
easy said then done… members (esp. seniors), please share your views... seriously or in good humour, but please make the discussion worth a READ.
in my opinion, it is very rare to find a public platform which is absolutely perfect per-se. everyone has a different set of knowledge, experience, a different mindset and different perceptions. and ones beliefs will be based on these underlying elements. people with different sets of knowledge and experience can logically come to different conclusions based on the same evidence cos their perceptions differ. recognize that it is impossible to change another person's belief… and/or that person may or may not choose to change his beliefs… that’s my personal experience on JATland.
what i am trying to elaborate further is something close to near perfection… something very righteous... i mean a perfect community forum. please do not conceive me to be such a person, cos i am not. just few thoughts, which i feel would make JATland a better place to visit.
when some member challenges a statement, use that as a chance to understand one's own beliefs. try to justify why one believes something to be true… not in order to prove the other person wrong, but to understand why one believes it to be true. having said that realize, also, there will come a point where one reaches his fundamental beliefs and one will not be able to justify a statement. have the courage to say "i cannot justify this statement, i merely believe it to be true." at this point, one should walk away from the discussion. finally, when one walks away, accept that one may not have the last word in the discussion. leave any further questions unanswered, one has no more to say on the subject at this time and assume others will follow this approach.
misread any accusations as merely questions and feel free to edit the accusations into answerable questions. more often than not, replying in a dispassionate manner will raise the level of discussion. also recognize that everyone has a bad day where he might state something in a poor taste (<<< important, please note). look for the underlying logic in the statement and ignore the emotional wording. feel free to edit emotional wording to raise the level of discussion… guess our mods can once again bring it to a 24 hour time-frame as existed earlier on JL.
this might be a boring discussion for many and the thread may not see the dawn of light next day… just thoughts inspired from a recent thread - "internet troll", as I go further in suggesting few civility guidelines…
1. remember, people take offense at different things.
2. try not to assume the worse when a post makes you hurt or annoyed.
3. keep a sense of humor.
4. consider others may hold opinions which are dramatically different from your own.
5. consider you might be wrong.
6. consider there might be some truth in what the other person is saying.
7. wait a few hours before responding to a post which has upset you.
8. you are as much responsible for your reaction as the supposed offender is responsible for the offense.
9. consider how your words might be received.
10. consider whether you'd say your message face-to-face.
11. the offended party decides what is offensive.
12. apologies are best. however, if you wish not to apologize, consider clarifying your statement to better explain the intent behind an offending post.
13. be as direct as possible when responding to someone who has been offended by your post.
14. when offended, write off-list to the person saying… “when you said xxx i understood yyy. is that what you meant” ?
15. write off-list to the moderator(s) explaining how you felt/perceived the message, and ask the moderator to deal with it off-list.
16. don’t get disheartened if mods don’t reply/take appropriate action.
17. if all else fails, attempt to ignore someone, who is especially irritating you.
+++ last, but not the least…
A. debate ideas, not persons.
B. make a clear distinction between objective information and subjective information.
C. avoid guessing a person's negative motive(s) for having a certain opinion(s)
D. agree to disagree when appropriate without hard feelings.
E. most difficult part, but very important - don’t keep an attitude… we all are JAT’s… fellow brothers, sisters and deviyan.
easy said then done… members (esp. seniors), please share your views... seriously or in good humour, but please make the discussion worth a READ.