The following recommendation was submitted by St. George”s Dragon for discussion.
BU needs to consider adopting a set of rules in respect of posts which are vicious or hostile. I believe this is important in order to be able to demonstrate to those who are starting to make noises about banning Barbados Blogs that there is a degree of editorial control over what is posted. If done in the right way this would not be censorship, just make the Blog a more responsible place and elevate the discussion. Apologies to other websites from which I have borrowed wording but as a start, what about:
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BU promotes a receptive, transparent and civil atmosphere for comments and users. Critical, in-depth and intelligent discussions and debates are encouraged. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to voice their opinion regardless of identity, politics, ideology, religion or agreement with other community members, as long as those opinions are respectful and constructively add to the conversation. However, this community does not tolerate direct or indirect attacks, name-calling or insults, nor does it tolerate intentional attempts to derail, hijack, troll or bait others into an emotional response. These types of comments will be removed from the community. Individuals who consistently or intentionally post these types of comments will be warned and, if necessary, excluded from the community.
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If your comments consistently or intentionally make this community a less civil and enjoyable place to be, you and your comments will be excluded from it.
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Vicious, violent and hostile language are not welcome here. If you use this type of language, you will be removed immediately.
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Comments which are extremely abusive, off-topic, use excessive foul language, or include an attack on another contributor will be deleted.
Any other thoughts or suggestions?
I would like to thank everyone for their contributions to this post and sum up the overall response.
15 people responded (including BU/David).
Excluding David, 10 said don’t change things; 2 said that there might be some merit in the idea but to be careful not to destroy BU in the process; I couldn’t work out what the other 2 were saying – sorry.
The answer then is clear – there is no support for greater editorial control.
By the way, for clarity:
- I have no designs to take over BU and am not sure where that idea came from
- The suggestion was nothing to do with politics – of either persuasion
Finally, I note from the thread “The C&E Lacks Balls!” that @ Look’s post was deleted. No comment.
@St.George’s Dragon
Deleting Look’s comment fell into the discretion BU mentioned. LOOK has an agenda of pushing Plantation Deeds’ and we did what we had to do. An example is now unfolding on the Church blog with Miller and Baffy. If it continues we will have to repeat.If commenters have no interest in a particular blog they should consider that others may.