There's been a run of controversies over various and sundry issues lately, and terms like "troll" have been used pretty promiscuously. A few of you have wondered why we haven't banned people for touting methods and philosophies that a great many of us have great distaste for, that, don't agree with the "philosophy" here.
This is a forum.
A forum, ideally, is a place for free exchange of ideas - not for a handful of people to eschew their own philosophies to an audience of sycophants. That goes for both sides of the hot issues.
As moderators, we aren't here to "steer" things in any particular direction. Moderation is just that - we are here to moderate and keep things from escalating TOO violently.
"Steering" a forum and dictating that it have a particular philosophy is what makes a forum irrelevant and what kills a forum.
It needs to be remembered, also, that good intentions don't negate the ill effects of poor behavior. It's a real shame when the people who we condemn for their treatment of dogs - or any animal - can exhibit more self-discipline in the presentation of their arguments for their methods than those who are on the opposite side of that fence. And what is even more sad, is to observers, it tends to give more credibility to their harsher methods . . . . Damnshame, too.
This is a forum.
A forum, ideally, is a place for free exchange of ideas - not for a handful of people to eschew their own philosophies to an audience of sycophants. That goes for both sides of the hot issues.
As moderators, we aren't here to "steer" things in any particular direction. Moderation is just that - we are here to moderate and keep things from escalating TOO violently.
"Steering" a forum and dictating that it have a particular philosophy is what makes a forum irrelevant and what kills a forum.
It needs to be remembered, also, that good intentions don't negate the ill effects of poor behavior. It's a real shame when the people who we condemn for their treatment of dogs - or any animal - can exhibit more self-discipline in the presentation of their arguments for their methods than those who are on the opposite side of that fence. And what is even more sad, is to observers, it tends to give more credibility to their harsher methods . . . . Damnshame, too.