> >From: "Santosh Helekar" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Miguel: > > > >I wish you could change your mind and continue posting on Goanet. > >Outspoken original views such as yours, sincerely and fearlessly > >expressed, are infinitely more valuable than recycled chain letters, > >personal attacks, troll messages, gratuitous advice and blessings, > >and cut and paste jobs. The latter are a staple of all internet > >forums - not just Goanet. It is generally a good idea to ignore them, > >and the posters who habitually resort to them. > > > >Cheers, > > > >Santosh
Santosh, IMHO the problem starts when people respond to a set of views they don't like by attacking the person posting it, sending in troll posts, baiting that person and getting him or her caught up in personal abuse and a whole lot of controversy. On Goanet, we have a handful -- maybe two or three persons -- who are notorious for this, and have subjected Miguel too to a similar treatment. This results in not just bitterness, but the unnecessary clogging of the bandwidth with 'I-said, you-said, I-didn't-say' type of postings. There are some who will also send in personal abuse, via private mail, long after the debate is over. Issues are not seen as being meant to be debated honestly, but as a means for settling scores for the real or imaginary crossing of swords earlier. On an open forum like this, it's more than obvious who's playing what role. Even a feature on translating Camoes into Konkani can become opportunity enough to curse those who don't share a barely-concealed colonialist perspective, and seek to provoke another endless row about how my-side-of-1961-is-better-than-your-side-of-1961. Are we Goans condemned to live in the past? How is all this relevant to our present (and future)? Those (again just a tiny minority) masquerading under fake identities, and using bogus IP addresses, are among the worst offenders. They probably get the Dutch courage to argue their well-known perspectives in an even more shrill tone, hiding under the safety of fake identities. As a member of Goanet-Admin, I could say that we have the worst of all worlds. On the one hand, we're blamed for not keeping in check the debate from transgressing the bounds of decency. On the other, attempts to keep out clear trolls is portrayed as 'censorship' by those who don't know the difference between 'moderating' and 'censorship'. This is an appeal to right-thinking people to (i) not fall prey to the trolls (ii) understand the agendas of those who have been persistently trying to derail decent and logical discussion on this list, sometimes using more than one identity and (iii) take a more active stance to speak out against those who seek to manipulate and twist issues, rather than have a fair and balanced discussion. Let me appeal to Miguel not to get trapped in by those who have scores of whatever sort to settle, or suffer from unhealed wounds of the past, and instead carry on with the interesting inputs he has been giving us from his ear-to-the-ground position. Goa (and Goanet too) needs people like you to move ahead. FN ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################