I was thus apprehensive about Jerome's apparent attempt to define some as perhaps being beyond the pale of what ET is truly about, and which could become a precursor to them being asked to consider curbing their contributions or taking their talents elsewhere.
You mistake my intent. I'm not worried about differences - I'm worried about differences becoming irreconciliable - or some of us making them so. I noted my positions/preferences/attitudes notto say they are better, but just to note what they are, and acknowledge (some of) the different views of others, and to some extent, express wonderment that they are here - and also the fear that this could lead to conflict. This is not an encouragement to push other opinions away, just a request that these differences be accepted and not a cause for damage to one another. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
I agree with your statement (that many here have echoed) about differences being good, positive and a learning opportunity, and share your concerns of what can happen when those difference turn sour for some reason - some of which I have tried to analyse above.
Conflict is endemic in all organisations - the more dynamic the organisation, often the more virile the conflict. However there are methods and processes for channelling that conflict in more creative and less damaging ways, and that is the discussion I am attempting to foster.
This isn't intended as a critique of frontpagers - I would never criticise people doing a job I am not prepared to do my self. What I did do - for context - was relay some of the criticisms I have read and heard, and which appear to lie behind some of the animus displayed earlier.
I don't have a view on whether they are justified or not, because I wasn't party to many of the discussions and don't know a lot of the context. I would merely note that the animus appears to be there, is real, and thus, in an ideal world, is a reality we should try to deal with in a positive and constructive way (off-line) between the parties concerned.
Some have expressed the view that their enjoyment of and participation on the site has been effected by these unresolved tensions. That alone should be a signal that we should try to act. But ultimately its your call. notes from no w here
we should try to deal with in a positive and constructive way (off-line)
tried....stalled, then rebuffed... ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
It shouldn't be cause for wonderment if you acknowledge that our divides on different issues aren't along the same fronts. Everyone joined afer fiding some overlap with some of the existing users; and just two steps are enough for a new member to join with completely different views from yours. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
