Re: [asa] ASA discussion protocol

On Feb 5, 2008 2:37 AM, Randy Isaac <randyisaac@comcast.net> wrote:
>
>
> Many of you have expressed concern about the gap between the tone that often
> characterizes this list and the official ASA policy that "As an
> organization, the ASA does not take a position when there is honest
> disagreement between Christians on an issue. We are committed to providing
> an open forum where controversies can be discussed without fear of unjust
> condemnation. Legitimate differences of opinion among Christians who have
> studied both the Bible and science are freely expressed within the
> Affiliation in a context of Christian love and concern for truth."
>
> We have preferred to minimize constraints on our discussion in order to
> foster a lively and effective dialog with diversity. However, the
> all-too-frequent use of ridicule and personal attacks is in direct
> contradiction to the notion of a context of Christian love and concern for
> truth. We have heard your concerns and have decided to be more aggressive in
> enforcing compliance with our policy. This is an ASA list, and, though we do
> not restrict participation to ASA members, we do want to ensure adherence to
> our policies.
>
> This will necessarily be a subjective judgment call, generally made jointly
> by Ted (or another council member), Terry, and me. We will give a private
> warning to those who flagrantly abuse those policies. If those warnings are
> not heeded, we will switch that person's status to "read-only." We have
> switched Janice Matchett to that status today.
>
> I urge all of you to think carefully about your notes and to avoid ridicule
> and personal attacks of any kind. Such an approach never helps make your
> point. Rather, take the time to consider whether your note will be viewed by
> those who disagree with you as being in a "context of Christian love and
> concern for truth."
>
> Randy

Randy,

I have only just seen this today and the decision is greatly to be
applauded. I had set up an email filter that not only moved posts by
Janice directly to the Trash folder, but also any containing her name
(e.g. when people had responded to her). This was to remove the
temptation for me to get annoyed and respond to her inflammatory
material in kind. Unfortunately your post had the name "Janice
Matchett" in it, so ended up in the folder.

As you know, for a long time I have argued that more respect needs to
be shown, and that rudeness and vitriol should be curbed. I have been
ridiculed for it, and called variously a "sanctimonious prig", "St.
Iain", and (offlist from someone I shan't name) "hypersensitive and
manipulative". It is good, therefore, to see that something has been
done about this.

The last time I peeked in the Trash folder at one of Janice's posts, I
found that it was a completely unprovoked personal attack on me,
casting apparent aspersions on my "maturity" as a Christian, followed
by a puerile and unfunny parody of my posting, attempting to hi-jack
the thread onto Janice's personal favourite hobby-horse - climate
change; which had nothing whatever to do with the subject of the
thread (though admittedly my post didn't have much to do with it
either, though it was a response).

While it is good to know that action has been taken on this matter, a
serious concern comes to mind. People that post excessive amounts of
material, often inflammatory in nature, are, it seems to me, in the
grip of an unhealthy obsession - possibly a form of Obsessive
Compulsive Disorder - and they surely deserve our sympathy and some
prayer that they seek appropriate psychiatric help (for example
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy), in order to be able to contribute more
reasonably. There are a number of email lists I belong to, and there
is always someone like that, who is determined to be extremely
obnoxious - and this behaviour seems to me to be highly irrational,
and indicative of an unhealthy mental state.

Iain

-- 
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