AnnaS, Jackie, Max and you-all, sorry to come late to this discussion – catches me at an incredibly busy time too. I believe I am only likely to have something useful to say in so far as my misdemeanours probably echo many others’ experience of this board – I have talked too much at times, laughed too much at other times, cried too much on more than one occasion. I have berated others, sometimes unfairly or too grumpily, and sometimes kept silent when perhaps I should have spoken. Bless you for out speaking, AnnaS – and let us use this positively to help us further our sense of community.

Taking a fine nugget of wisdom from Jackie, let us first of all turn away from personal criticism real or imagined, and start by accentuating the positive features of what we share.

One of the things about this forum that fascinates me is that it is, in microcosm, the formation of a whole new speech community. Like a group of people staggering ashore on a desert island we are making it up as we go along. We are self-selecting, self-regulating – and a natural and important part of that process seems to be an occasional re-examination of what our common values are, and how we can collectively agree things work. In other words, a discourse of what we are doing here and how we do it is a natural part of our meta-language and social bonding. In this new virtual community we are all newcomers.

This process leads me to observe some shared values emerging over time, which will doubtless be an evolving and constantly moving target. The key feature of what we do here is a celebration and exploration of language by use (and abuse!). We try to do this in a diverse manner of ways, some of which range from the highly intellectual to the deeply scatological. The boundaries of taste have to be defined by our collective sense of comfort and humour – I think Max’s tap on the shoulder is an effective model, personally, but we have to remember the sensitivity of shoulders also varies! We operate this process by a general sense of shared inquiry, with contributions from a wide and diverse range of backgrounds and expertise allowing our discussions some true hybrid vigour. We govern our proceedings in a companionable spirit of banter, with all newcomers made to feel welcome as far as we are humanly able – I do not believe we need feel over-sensitive on this spot since it is a commonly remarked feature that people feed back they have been made to feel positively welcomed here in sharp contrast to many other e-forums. They are soon treated like family members – a certain rough and tumble of humorous criticism given and taken in good spirit is assumed. I note, however, the points made by Faldage and others – if a joking insider code like YART is not handled with sensitivity then misunderstandings can occur very easily. We can also perhaps all recognise the over-enthusiastic posting when newcomers first come aboard, which normally settles as a newly-adjusted camaraderie is established. When any one voice hogs the board, it can make it uncomfortable for all, no matter what the interest of the posts.

If I try to sum up in one word what I believe to be the unique and endearing quality of this board, it would be this:

DIVERSITY

I have grown in a few short months to count some real fellow feelings and friendships here, and would not willingly lose one single voice – nor lose a single post to deletion.


FWIW, my personal opinions in this ongoing debate:
I have no interest in discussions robbed, on principle, of humour; this would be like fire without oxygen.
I have no interest in either vulgar or prurient discussions unless the blade of humour is flickering wickedly sharp around the campfire.
I recognise my sense of humour may differ from others, and if caused offence is noted, will always try to moderate accordingly.
I am at varying times equally interested in serious and frivolous matters, and particularly enjoy it when these are discussed with a sharp mind, a feeling heart, and above all an obvious love of language.
I recognise that others’ take on these and other matters will be different, and will try to quietly pass these by, unless they so offend a deep-seated part of my mind as to force a moral betrayal by so doing. Oh, but maybe sometimes a little wicked tease, too

Finally, a big <sorry> to Jazzo for an excessively long post – practically a whole o-fence!