I’ve been struggling with the Comments boards here on JWN for some time now. Yesterday, I felt I learned something new about what’s been going on.
As someone who works hard to put my own thoughts into words on the main post, I have tended to feel a rather strong sense of attachment to the result and so to act excessively defensively when people jump in with comments that criticize it. And thus, by firing off my own defensively-motivated ripostes, I have actually been contributing to the “problem” I’ve been sensing, and struggling to define, on the Comments boards for some time now: namely, that some of the discussion there has developed a snarky, combative tone…
Which is not how I want the discussions on the Comments boards here to be, at all.
Acting defensively is never a good place to act from. Over the years I’ve come to see the great value of the Buddhist practice of “non-attachment to the fruits of one’s labors.” Basically what this teaches is that you do the very best you can on any particular particular project; and once it’s done you let go of it.
(This teaching is particularly useful in parenting, I can tell you.)
So I started to think that the best way for me, and us all, not to get trapped in the problem of comment-board snarkiness is for me to do two things:
- (1) Actively cultivate an attitude of “non-attachment” to the texts of my posts on the blog. It’s an incredible blessing and privilege for me that I can have them out there! I must let them stand on their own. (Just like my kids.)
(2) Invest a bit of time in producing a “Mission statement” for the Comments boards here that will define “rules of the game” with which I and all other commenters here are all expected equally to comply.
I thank commenters Dutchmarbel and Dave for replying to the request I voiced earlier for links to similar sets of guidelines produced by other bloggers. It really is awesome to be able to network the energy and creativity of others in cyberspace so that each of us here doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel each time!
As it turned out, it was the guidelines that Dave pointed me to that spoke most strongly to me as providing a good starting point for what I wanted to do. Dave’s suggestion sent me to a blog called– I kid you not– “Real Live Preacher”; and I ended up really enjoying not just the post where the RLP laid out his hopes for his Comments boards and then set some gentle ground-rules for them, but also kicking around other areas of his blog as well.
It also got me to thinking that clearly, what I need to do on this blog is try to be a “Real Live Quaker”. Well, I’m not entirely sure what-all that might entail. But I can tell you one thing it would rule out, and that would be me making snarky, combative comments on my own Comments boards here.
So firstly, I’d like to apologize to everyone to whom I made snarky or combative comments yesterday, or on previous posts. I take responsibility for, and am very sorry about, any hurt that I caused.
Secondly, I’d like to announce my intention that today we all of us start a new day on JWN. From here on forward, I get to post my posts (or perhaps, as I’ve done here before, texts from specially invited “guest posters”); and then afterwards we all try to abide by a single set of ground-rules that, I hope, will lead to a more courteous, friendly, and productive atmosphere there on the Comments boards.
And thirdly, I want to be quite clear that I strongly do not want the promulgation of these ground-rules to discourage anyone at all from posting their comments, including comments that express views very different from or critical of my own. On the contrary, I hope that general observance of these rules will lead to discussions on the boards that are less prickly and inhospitable, more generative of fresh and productive insights, and thus altogether more welcoming to potential participants than what we have sometimes seen previously.
I invite you all to join me in ushering in this new day here on JWN.
I invite you all– and especially anyone who’s planning to post a comment on any of the Comments boards here– to take a couple of minutes to read the new guidelines. And then, when you’ve done so, to join me in trying in trying to honor them.
I’ve thought pretty hard about these points over the past week or so. But I’m sure that many of you readers also have thoughts on this issue that could make what I’m trying to do here more effective.
If you do, or if you have thoughts on “discourse guidelines” in general, please post those comments here!
Thank you Helena, and I will reciprocate an apology.
I’ll abide by any new guidelines. But right now your link doesn’t work.
The snark was a boojum, you see.
God bless you, my darling.
Joshua, thanks both for the gracious apology and for the helpful info re the nonworking link.
The link has now been fixed!
Helena, you do not post positions of the ‘party line’. Because of this you will be a target, just like Juan Cole. You have to be careful, because the goal of some is to STOP discussion, not join it. They do this by seeding chaos on boards with obviously misleading and false posts. That is why they are called trolls.
Warren
Good going, Helena. For me as a buddhist, the advice of “non-attachment to the fruits of one’s labor” is apt, and I will try to put it into practice.
Joshua, while I don’t share your view of the Middle East I appreciate the fact that you present it cleanly. I would say that our exchange was combative, but not too snarky. Though I was edging in that direction.
I like the rules a lot.
I would make a direct link to them in the top of your linkcolumn, easy to spot for newcomers and easy to find for people who feel they need a reminder 😉
Try not to comment more than once in every five or six comments in any single discussion.
Seems rather restrictive; on a relatively low – comment – volume blog like this, it effectively rules out two – way conversations beyond the opening statements.
Maybe you don’t like the conversations you’ve been getting.
Best of luck with implementing your rules. I think that your outstanding blog deserves only similarly thoughtful and genuine, constructive comments.
Thanks, all, for the feedback so far. Abu Frank, I think you’re probably right. (I had to check back up thru the comments to see if the guidelines would allow me to post this comment!). I did put some elasticity in there by saying “try to”. I could either put in a lower suggested “interval” between posts, or find another way to prevent discourse hogging. A suggested time interval might work?
Or maybe, just let the two-ways evolve so long as they comply w/ the other guidelines? (She scratches her head thoughtfully.)
I will of course respect any rules you make on this blog, but I have some reservations about the 300-word guideline. Your essays are typically thoughtful and involved, and they generate responses in kind (both from those who agree with you and those who don’t). I think a little more leeway is necessary to allow serious conversations to develop regarding the ideas you put out. I also think that making longer comments on one’s own blog isn’t a solution; not everyone has a blog, and carrying on a conversation this way would require readers to go all over the place rather than being able to follow the discussion in a single thread. I’m not asking that you give up the idea of a word limit, but you might want to consider maintaining some flexibility in practice.
I agree with the reservations raised by Jonathan and Abu Frank, while strongly supporting your effort to maintain civility on the blog.
NO HIDING PLACE
Most of the problems of the comment threads will be reduced or eliminated when there is more of it.
Helena, glad the Real Live Preacher’s guidelines proved useful. One other blog I’d recommend as a model of interesting, free-wheeling, yet nearly always respectful exchanges is the Cassandra Pages, http://cassandrapages.blogspot.com. Beth is a lifelong activist with views similar to your own, but she started the blog a couple years ago to help herself recover from activism burnout. Thus she writes mostly about culture, nature, religion, and sometimes also politics, and sees the sparking of good conversation – on her comment boards and elsewhere – as her chief purpose. Do check it out.