Thinking of Leaving

[Father Bill]

Seems like an intelligent, thoughtful, and helpful thread to me. I'm a priest and formerly principal of a school for 3 -12 year olds. You'd think I'd be easily offended. The closest I've come to it is to raise an eyebrow and think "Oh, oh, I'll bet this one gets closed soon... but it hadn't offended me or worried me anyway. In each case I was right.

I think that the argument I'm hearing is for just a tetch more, a shade more, a weentie bit more lenience before pulling the trigger.

[mookien]

IMHO this thread does not qualify for adjudication under Rule 7, as I understand it. Perhaps, being relatively new, I don't.

The OP, biblemonkey, did not say he was leaving. He did not write a "farewell message". He said he was thinking about leaving. That's a significant difference. As I read it, disappointment was certainly in the message, but little or no bitterness.

The thread then blossomed into a discussion of the role of the moderators, individuals who are offended by comments in a thread, and the decision process by which a thread is closed. That seems like fertile ground for planting the seeds for improvement in these areas, as long as posters provide constructive comments pro and con, which by and large they seemed to have done.

I say, keep the thread open (unless it degenerates into something offensive). That, of course and at the moment, is exactly what is being done. And that is a good thing.

[Steve Ashton]

No one reported or accused Biblemonkey, or this thread as a whole, of violating anything.

[Failed God]

No one reported or accused Biblemonkey of violating anything.

i may have misunderstood something. so i am just asking for clarification i guess. But didn't you say there were 2 reports of rule 7 violations. But you asked the mods to leave the thread open and not put it in the cooling off corner. If the complaints were not to the original poster why would they close the thread anyway ? wouldn't the course of action be to instead delete the posts of the offending party rather then close what the majority deem a good thread?

[Highlander31]

Just to keep everyone informed.

This thread has now been reported to the Moderators as containing 2 violations of Rule # 7.

But to keep the Moderators from any further accusations I am asking them not to move it to The Cooling Off Corner while they deliberate and vote on the rule.

If anyone would like to add their comments to the Moderators discussions I am sure they would welcome hearing from you.

Steve, I don't believe this falls under rule 7. This thread is not bitter. The OP is explaining why he is frustrated and deciding to take a break. The resulting posts are a discussion of what seems to be turning into a pattern on the forum. I vote to keep it open, for now.

[Duke of Delrio]

I wish I had something profound, or even just pithy to add to what is an extremely interesting thread. I don't. I only offer back something of how I have come to regard this forum.

If I see a new thread started, and if it invites my interest I often catch myself thinking . . . "I wonder what____________ might have to say about this?" If you are a frequent poster of reasoned opinion, you can probably fill that blank in with your own screen name. I would hate to miss seeing the posts of any whose opinions and viewpoints I have come to appreciate in ways I cannot even begin to adequately express.

I fully appreciate the position in which the Moderators are required to function. I would not have their jobs for love nor money, which is suitable in that I have discovered they get very little of the former and none of the latter. Still, they do the job, and for that they have my thanks.

Now, for those who are seemingly offended by the presence of robust debate, GET A LIFE, and since rules are rules, take pictures of it!

[Tony]

eh, post #11 by Frank is much more Rule 7ish than biblemonkey's and I suspect is the reported post in question.

Threads like this can either be cathartic or divisive. I'm thinking the former right now, but it might only be the people who agree who are posting.....

[mookien]

Tony: I agree. I read some bitterness in Frank's comments and he did say "I bid you all adieu" and "See ya down the road".

But, I still don't regard his post as a "farewell message". I think he was saying "farewell" to the thread, not the blog. He also wrote, "A lot of times, I just move on, ...", which I also thinks supports my supposition. Maybe, he'll weigh in and clarify his post.

[Ryan Ross]

I tend to agree, but does it apply here? and is it offensive?

The OP didn't say he was done with X-Marks, simply that there have been some events occurring lately that made him feel the need for a break.

I see this thread not as a "goodbye, you stink :P" but a "guys, I feel frustrated by this and may need a break", one is simply airing the laundry, the other was approached in a way as to be constructive - it opened this dialog, after all.

The fact that there have been reports to the mods about trigger-happy reporting to mods should highlight the problem. Especially when everyone has been perfectly civil in the discussion.

Again, I think the question should be asked of the reportee: Is it offensive, or did you just not like/agree with it?

ith:

The fact is the OP was not giving a farewell message.He was indicating his frustration that threads were being closed, unnecessarily in his opinion, due to complaints he - and others - considered unjustified.
Only at the end did he state that he was "thinking" of taking a break. That seems to me neither final nor indicative of necessary action.

I very much agree, too.

[Woodsheal]

Very few - if any! - members here purposely give offense. But apparently there IS a small minority who are all too quick to TAKE offense. The onus is on the latter group, in my opinion. The thin-skinned hand-wringers ought to pause and "get a grip" before diving for the "report post" button. Dynamic conversations that are proceeding in a mature fashion should not trouble any "adult" here....