Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Civility & inclusiveness on HoL
I had a message passed on to me this morning from someone who's relatively new to the site. She felt uncertain about the robustness of some of the debate and felt a bit put off from contributing by that.
I know what she means. Sometimes things do get a bit tinged with the feel of a just-before-closing-time discussion. So whilst a certain amount of rough and tumble is part and parcel of democratic debate (as we know from watching Westminster), let's bear in mind that when the line is crossed it makes some people feel excluded.
Any thoughts?
I know what she means. Sometimes things do get a bit tinged with the feel of a just-before-closing-time discussion. So whilst a certain amount of rough and tumble is part and parcel of democratic debate (as we know from watching Westminster), let's bear in mind that when the line is crossed it makes some people feel excluded.
Any thoughts?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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If someone is going to slag off someone else and spell their slagging wrong then I WILL correct their spelling.
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Permalink Reply by Ruth on
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On the gender issue, most studies so far have found that cyber space reproduces gender divisions in the 'real' world unfortunately as it does ethnic/racial differences. I wont go into lecture mode and give details here- you probably can all guess them anyway as you are all an intelligent lot. If civility and inclusiveness involve some active gender consciousness raising and promoting more women to have their say on HoL, then we need to be clear about that and what that might involve and what might be the implications. Clearly a lot of issues have been raised here in a short space of time.
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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Well I suppose I jumped down the throat of a new contributor the other day but based on this and her other posts she seemed to be merely a publicist for the Farmers' Market movement. If I was out of line, I apologise.
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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John, frankly I agreed with the comments you made 100%. They were relevant, pertinent, apposite.
If people write stuff where little thought has gone into it (or even nonsensical), they must expect to be challenged. That is the essence of free speech and a free press. I expect whoever is criticised to argue back if they think they've got a case, or accept graciously that their critic has a point. Likewise, I expect to be held to the same standard.
Truth is achieved not by an assertion but by a process of thesis, antithesis and synthesis, or less grandly, open debate.
The few things I wouldn't want to see in HoL discussions are ad hominen attack, profanity and troll activity and we've seen some of that recently, hopefully the last ...
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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It's ad hominem actually...............
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I stand corrected sir! I gratefully acknowledge and appreciate your kind attention, Mr Anderson!
Civil. Inclusive.
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Spoken like a true gentleman.
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Permalink Reply by matt on
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It's not a gender issue. I'm told that contributors to Mumsnet (99% female membership) discuss this topic regularly. Getting new members to contribute is obviously important.
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Permalink Reply by james walsh on
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I joined a well known site 10 years ago that was fun and vibrant and full of interesting discussions. The site was slowly and incrementely taken over by people who inherited the admin spaces when someone moved on. As it happened these people were all Extreme born again christians who would, as a matter of principal, automatically nuke (exclude you from the discussion board) you if you used profanities. Eventually there was a critical mass, enough of them to take complete control so people like me drifted away. Those profanities included words like God, damn, bloody and other words that you or i would not think of as profanities. The site became sterile, bland and BORING.
The admin people here like Hugh and Liz do a good. There is still a spirit of freedom yet tempered with the idea that anyone can come join in including the lesser intellectual heavyweights. At first i was bothered by what i thought was over zealous admin which reminded me of my bad experience before, but when it was explained to me where this site was going with regard its target community, i felt better.
There will always be a struggle running a site like this one and i think Hugh etc have it just right. After all we are having this discussion aren't we ?
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I'm just going through the process of gender reassignation at the moment so I find myself becoming gradually more sensitive to the feelings of the newcomer, the reticent and the marginalised. Someone asked for examples. Yesterday I found myself helping a new member who is so reticent that they call themselves don't want to give my name or even their gender. I hope he/she found their shower curtains and fleece-zip and enjoyed their first incursion into Harringay from the safer havens of Stroud green and Crouch End as a result of my damascene conversion from my heretofore more off-putting sarko-satirical knockabout demeanour.
Like John D, I shall continue to work on this self-moderating project to the point, perhaps, when Essexgirl next attempts to so yummily entice us to the mouthwatering delights and aromas of her FarmersMarketConsortium, I shall immediately arrange to spend my Sundays with her in Colchester, Chelmsford or Billericay.
Edwina
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Permalink Reply by StephenBln on
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and while we're at it.. how are we expected to communicate with the politicians here?
My opinion, for what it's worth, is that anybody who puts her/himself up for election, by their own free will and then proceeds 'to politic' - should expect and accept 'civil' derision and rejection of their policies without calling 'foul'. (I do have experience of this)..
Are there any HoL guidelines on this?
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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Soon to be tackled. See last minutes for HOL group for details.
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