The Politics forum has returned. Thank you Herb.
This forum is on the forum list again so it appears we have been given one more chance. There are a lot of people who enjoy a lively exchange of views on controversial subjects. This forum seems to have a pool of smarter than average people who enjoy doing just that.
The problem arises when people attack a person not an idea. Just because someone disagrees with me (or you) doesn't make him an idiot and does not mean that he does not deserve the respect that we normally give to fellow astronomers. I don't think that any real dummy could actually become a serious amateur astronomer anyway and, as a group, the astronomers I have met have been some of the most generous, helpful people I have seen anywhere.
In my opinion, we need to attack ideas that we do not like, not the people who have them. The statement "That seems like a bad idea to me." is much different that "You are an idiot." If we keep this in mind and try to police ourselves, this forum will be a lot more interesting. It is easy to call someone a name, but it takes some work to explain the flaws in his logic.
I am guilty myself. Recently, I started calling one poster Jim Poppycock. That was wrong and I apologize, Jim. I still think many of your ideas are poppycock and I'm sure that you feel the same about many of mine.
Given the polarization of this country and the millions of dollars politicians spend on name calling, there will always be angry people who only know how to lash out with vile, slanderous rhetoric. We cannot do anything about them except to explain that kind of trash is not welcome here. The next time Herb throws more money at this site, perhaps he could ask his programmers to find a way to block a user forum using forums, or a specific forum. This would make the policeman's job a bit easier since the only choice to silence an abuser now amounts to capital punishment.
Lets remember:
Disagree with the idea, don't just attack the person who has it.
This forum is on the forum list again so it appears we have been given one more chance. There are a lot of people who enjoy a lively exchange of views on controversial subjects. This forum seems to have a pool of smarter than average people who enjoy doing just that.
The problem arises when people attack a person not an idea. Just because someone disagrees with me (or you) doesn't make him an idiot and does not mean that he does not deserve the respect that we normally give to fellow astronomers. I don't think that any real dummy could actually become a serious amateur astronomer anyway and, as a group, the astronomers I have met have been some of the most generous, helpful people I have seen anywhere.
In my opinion, we need to attack ideas that we do not like, not the people who have them. The statement "That seems like a bad idea to me." is much different that "You are an idiot." If we keep this in mind and try to police ourselves, this forum will be a lot more interesting. It is easy to call someone a name, but it takes some work to explain the flaws in his logic.
I am guilty myself. Recently, I started calling one poster Jim Poppycock. That was wrong and I apologize, Jim. I still think many of your ideas are poppycock and I'm sure that you feel the same about many of mine.
Given the polarization of this country and the millions of dollars politicians spend on name calling, there will always be angry people who only know how to lash out with vile, slanderous rhetoric. We cannot do anything about them except to explain that kind of trash is not welcome here. The next time Herb throws more money at this site, perhaps he could ask his programmers to find a way to block a user forum using forums, or a specific forum. This would make the policeman's job a bit easier since the only choice to silence an abuser now amounts to capital punishment.
Lets remember:
Disagree with the idea, don't just attack the person who has it.
There are only 10 kinds of people who understand binary - those that do and those that don't
