I Will Be Restricting Access To Vocation Station

[dUSt]

It has been brought to my attention that certain members make Vocation Station a rather hostile place to be. This is unacceptable. This board is not the Debate Table. This board is suppose to be a holy place people come to discern and discuss vocations.

 

Therefore, I will be speaking to my mods and various members to get a good sense of who needs their Vocation Station access revoked. They will be welcome to debate and participate on other parts of the phorum, just not here.

 

God bless you guys!

[Lilllabettt]

thank you!

[cmaD2006]

Thank you as well!

[EmilyAnn]

Thank you dUSt!

 

It has greatly saddened me to watch as VS has changed so negatively, and I truly hope that the atmosphere that was once so helpful and welcoming returns. 

[Nunsense]

Not a moment too soon dUSt. Thank you, thank you. This was always such a loving place before and it would be beautiful if it could be that way again. :pray:

[dUSt]

I welcome everyone to IM me with suggestions on how the Vocation Station can be improved.

[AnneLine]

Thank you, dUSt, and praying for all who frequent VS and the rest of Phatmass....

[Nunsense]

I welcome everyone to IM me with suggestions on how the Vocation Station can be improved.

 

 

dUSt - I am not quite sure how to IM you. I can't seem to access the PM facility on phatmass to send a message, and I don't know what IM you are referring to  ....  is there an email address I could use?

[Antigonos]

As the resident non-discerning, non-Christian [hopefully] journeying toward a spiritual goal in life I have found many of the discussions here to be extremely interesting and often uplifting.  For those who do enter religious life, even temporarily, I have great respect, even though the Christian way is very different from the Jewish.

 

That being said, it's August, it's hot, and there's a certain testiness present; it's not unusual.  dUSt is to be commended for stepping in to remind us that courtesy is never amiss.

 

The following is an anecdote about a Sage who was an approximate contemporary of Jesus, Rabban Yochanan, said: 

 

"Go out and discern which is the proper way to which a man should cling"

Rabbi Eliezer said: "A good eye."

Rabbi Yehoshua said: "A good friend."

Rabbi Yossi said: "A good neighbor".

Rabbi Shimon said: "One who considers the outcome of a deed."

Rabbi Elazar said: "A good heart."

 

Rabbi Yochanan said: "I prefer the words of Rabbi Elazar to the words of all the rest of you, because your words are included in his words".  

[Pirke Avot -- The Ethics of the Fathers -- Chapter 1]

 

Quite coincidentally, this is the time of year when Jews offer prayers of repentance prior to the High Holy Days, which begin at the beginning of the second week of September this year.  One of the biggies we repent is the sin of loose or slanderous speech.

 

[Nunsense]

dUSt - I figured out how to send a PM even with the restrictions, so I hope you get it.

[Lil'Nun]

Thank you. It's sad, but I think this is a very well-considered move.

 

[veritasop1206]

Thank you! Hopefully the many who have stopped using Vocation Station as a help in their discernment process will now return. Blessings!

[abrideofChrist]

Good idea.  You used to restrict Vocation Station to those with a certain post count.  Part of the recent troubles were caused by people with no previous post counts who jumped in only to create personal attacks.

Edited August 21, 2013 by abrideofChrist

[Lilllabettt]

the post count thing is a good idea, but its really designed to root out trolls and spammers. That kind of activity is responsible for only a small fraction of the recent unpleasantness.

[Spem in alium]

Thanks dUSt. 

[Feankie]

Whew!  I was about to fold up my tent and leave....

[PhuturePriest]

Thank you! I might consider actually visiting here more often...

[abrideofChrist]

Just for your consideration, dUSt, it might be helpful in implementing whatever restrictions you may impose on people to hear them out or warn them first.  I have seen situations in real life where drastic measures were taken before consulting the people involved because the mob was calling for blood and authorities felt it was more expedient to agree.  Part of having a healthy phamily dynamic is to foster a sense of fairness which is equally applied and according to recognized standards. Perhaps it would be a good idea to create some special rules for the Vocation Station so that people are not in the dark as far as your expectations go, and then you have a transparent standard by which you can apply future warnings and suspensions.

[ChristinaTherese]

And building on ABC's suggestion of clear rules, it would be good to have a pinned post to state them. I know that there's one pinned, but it seems like I've heard tell of other rules and not been sure what they were or what was going on when I'd first joined almost a year ago. So for the sake of newbies, it seems like a wise measure.

 

As far as post counts, I know I only joined because I wanted to post on VS. I branched out to other parts of the phorum later. It seems like we should be able to deal with trolls who come to VS only to start being obnoxious quite quickly by just moderating the first post and reporting posts that break phorum rules.

 

Thanks for all you do, dUSt!

[Lilllabettt]

I don't know if special rules are necessary. Honestly, lots of rules are kind of a wet blanket.  This community functioned alright for a long time without special rules. There was that one incident that required the rule about new communities, but that's all I can think of.  In this situation, a number of people were upfront about what behavior was a violation of VS community norms. But the behavior persisted in spite of those warnings. Maybe just the threat of intervention from a higher authority will be enough to make people take this more seriously?

Edited August 21, 2013 by Lilllabettt