Dear Members:
I let the last forum run for a number of years and only chucked a couple of shills off it during that time. They were incredibly disruptive and members were pleased to see them go. To say they were a distraction and a waste of time is an understatement. However, it was an experiment and I told members that. It led me to create this forum. I learned a good deal and can now smell the shills a long way off. I have already removed one member from here because of it.
The purpose of opening up the Rant threads is to offer a place to share your experiences, and for that matter also your arguments etc. WITH ME, but only as it relates to that specific topic. If you don't think Buddha existed, or don't like what I say, feel free to express it BUT, only in the context that you and I are the ones talking. I don't mind that at all as along as it relates to the thread and your experiences.
Forums are like gardens. They require continuous weeding or they, sometimes at an alarming speed, degenerate into 'he said, she said' child's play. You can find this strange mechanism just about anywhere that a forum opens up and it's unmoderated. Of course, the more contested the subject the quicker the degrading.
We are playing a game here. Even though some of you may not think so. All games have three things, boundaries, rules and a goal. The boundaries are the context, i.e., the forum. The goal is T/R or whatever you wish to call it, but please stick with T/R for consistency. Then there are the rules:
1.) No posting of more that 250 words, less is always better. It makes you think hard about what you are saying. I prefer that.
2.) No comments about other's posts. You are not posting your experiences to get attention, acceptance or a declaration of 'done', etc. You and I are in a conversation. I am only interested in your experiences, preferably in the more or less present as that's where the greatest value is to be found.
3.) No cross-talk. Such things as telling another members that you had a similar experience, that they should write or post a certain way, or that they need to do 'X'. Mind your own store, no one else's.
4.) No extraneous content, links, photos, etc. Smileys only if you wish.
5.) NEW RULE... one that I can't enforce, but I ask that you be in a sober state when writing here. Other than perhaps, a caffeine buzz, please don't write stoned... you know who I mean...
Some of you would like a more open thread so that you can communicate with each other. There are hundreds of thousands of venues available for all the babble you wish to engage in. The internet age has opened up some amazing doors, but for all it's opportunities I don't know that communication quality has gone up. My take is that it has gone down. More mindless babble-crap doesn't mean high quality communications are taking place. In fact, it feeds Maya very well... plays right into here hands. It takes people away from where they are and who/what is in front of them right now.
So the tone of this forum is it's being run by me, you might see me as a benevolent dictator.. yeh, I like one... and the sole purpose is a conversation between you and I. You are not here for attention or approval, even mine, you and I are here in order to hold hands while you jump from the burning building.
The discipline I espouse is counter to what some of you might want, but T/R is highly unlikely to show up in your world if you don't exhibit some discipline.
If you don't understand any rule, please ask me about it. If you don't think you can follow them, then either suck it up and make yourself follow them or perhaps leave.
Love ya, Jed.
P.S. Members are doing a truly wonderful job of sticking to the program and I do appreciate it.
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