Disaboom disagreements !

People disagree about all sorts of things; that’s just human nature.  We should try, though, to agree on the way we’re going to disagree.  Every group has its own answer as to how that is going to work.  We have ours.  Please check out our Blogs, Chat and Discussion Board Rules.  (www.disaboom.com/.../24879.aspx).    I won’t repeat all those rules here, but will say a few things: We can’t protect people from getting hurt feelings in a situation of disagreement – that’s also the way the world is.  And you won’t get kicked out of a chat or discussion for being rude, but why would you want to be?  If you’d like to get your point across, it works better to challenge a person’s ideas rather than attacking him, or her.  Abusive language and behavior, however, won’t be tolerated at all.  That crosses a line that we’ve tried to draw very clearly.  The same goes for racism, slander and other behaviors.  Likewise, we won’t tolerate people representing themselves as having the power to discipline others whom they don’t like.  A lot of this is just common sense.  All of us should engage with each other with civility so that we can preserve our dignity.  And it might help to try treating others as we would like them to treat us.

If you have specific questions about our policy or would like to bring to our attention content that you think might violate our rules, please feel free to contact me privately or our customer service: custserv@disaboom.com.  

Norma, I think I started online in 1991, and for as long as I've been around, there have been wars, feuds, cliques, arguments and squabbles. That's human nature for you. I think it's all compounded by the fact that our communications skills are never as good as we believe (and some are downright bad), and that this is an anonymous medium which makes folks braver and more careless. At any rate, it's too much disagreement and too little humbleness. That said, there are great things about being online! I guess we ought to just give others the benefit of the doubt (does anybody remember the Golden Rule?), and if things turn ugly, to have the wisdom and greatness to simply walk away. Life is too short -- and there's a big world out there! Glad to have that met you online, and thank you for reading my blog. Abe