onefreeman: I would take exception to the comment "so does the community". I think MANY of us care about the makeup of this community and how it behaves. However, I would point out that other than self-discipline, we functionally have no control. And too many of us lack consistent degrees of self-control - especially the individual or friends of the individual under attack.

Someone does own this board after all. So how exactly is it that we would remove a destructive force without the participation of that ownership? I say that not sarcastically, but honestly.

I think we have to move out of fantasy land here. By that I mean:

* We don't expect self-discipline that could effectively shun the offender.
* We don't expect reason from the unreasonable.
* We don't wait for the offender to have an epiphany that would change the way he views himself.
* We don't expect that Randy is going to give us the authority to vote someone off the island.
* We don't expect that Randy really wants to get into reacting to an ad hoc subset's opinion of who disrupts the homogeneity the community.

So what is a realistic, creative solution that can

* protect our community spirit,
* protect our ability to participate in information sharing without ongoing vicious attack?
* protect our members from themselves when they both don't want this kind of thing on the boards and can't keep themselves from fueling it ( and I don't intend to make this a disparaging characterization.. it's HARD to "turn the other cheek").

I'm serious. The old adage "if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem" I think is particularly germane.

There are a couple of ideas being floated elsewhere on the board. Certainly there are good ideas yet to be expressed. There's a ton of IQ power in a variety of forms here. We have conflict resolution experts, senior experienced managers, and loads of life experience where we have all had to deal with irritants where we have limited control.

We've all responded in the past 48 hours with sadness, anger, bitterness, attempts at levity, but predominately genuine dismay that this fine community is being scarred. I would like to see some serious and thoughtful suggestions as to policy and procedureal changes that could create a long-lasting positive impact and perhaps inspire our departing members to reconsider. I believe Randy would be responsive to a well-formulated and professional approach to this problem. I don't claim to be the source of this idea mill, but I would certainly welcome the opportunity to participate.


[This message has been edited by svpii (edited 03-04-2001).]