I'm just one member f this forum and my contribution is modest at best, but I feel like I want to start a pledge for forum etiquette.
Kudzurunner wrote the creed and constantly refers to it. This, in my opinion, is a great way to assure some civility on this forum. That said, I believe it would be even more powerfull if we personally agreed to something.
I am going to start and if anyone wants to join me, just write something (your name perhaps, or your version of the pledge) ___________
I, Mathieu, pledge that I will not give in to negative comments regarding any subject posted on this forum.
If I ever receive such a comment, (or read that someone has posted such a comment about someone else) I will try my best to understand where my fellow forumites are coming from with these comments.
Instead of firing back, I will ask questions to try to see it their way.
(ex. instead of: you're a **!!!%& for tongue blocking. Tongue Blocking is for ***!!# players, I will ask: you seem to really believe tongue blocking is the best technique. Care to elaborate? What do you like best about it, etc...)
Promises are made to be broken. As soon as I promise something like this, someone will make me fly off the handle and post something mean spirited. I think it's better not to tempt fate.
Great Hello, Kingo!
Last Edited by on Aug 24, 2010 5:19 PM
Hi Mathieu, good idea. I won't promise anything because respect is something I really care about and I know how to conduct myself. I hope your topic gets people to think and sometimes act less silly. Now I won't tempt fate and go shave.
last time i took a pledge i ended up, 1000 miles from home, cornered by 3 drill seagents screaminin they was going to beat the shit out of me if i opened my mouth 1 more time
Last Edited by on Aug 24, 2010 5:47 PM
I pledge to not be judgemental to any in this forum-being very much left wing my right wing friends know its trying to light a candle from a star to convert me to the right,regardless we remain friends
@ groyster1 Mr. Groyster, why is being judgmental such a distasteful thing? Isn't all of life about being judged? From the time you start playing baseball, someone is always judging and either planning to beat you out of your position or take your spot or take that cheerleader you been loving on for half the night. Coaches judge you..."man, you stink...you let the ball get past you, block it with your body you dumb jackass...gimme 10 laps" Women judge you..."(while giggling) You want me to go out with you in THAT car? laugh laugh..."you must be crazy, you're so lame". Bosses judge you...."your sales quota is down, better shape up or I'm gonna replace you". Officers in the armed forces judge you..."you better shape up tiger and quit being a crybaby about your girl back home or some hotshot enemy pilot is going to flame your ass. Now shut your mouth and get to gunnery practice, you little Georgia cracker nobody". In the pool room..."ohhh you think you're a player? Well get up to the table here for a little 50 dollar nine ball, you no shooting, dogging, choking, fool. MOVE IT MAN...grab your cue and put up the money" It goes on and on...all the time. I judge people, performances, activities every day....and I expect to be judged in the same way. Rude, crude, and uncouth. Life isn't an encounter group where we all hold hands and do "touchy feely", I furthermore believe that those who proclaim to be so non-judgmental are actually (in secret) the most judgmental of all, they just don't have the stones to admit like I will. After all, it's no sin to be competitive and as the great Muhammad Ali said....."if you can do it, then it isn't bragging". In fact, I love to see someone best me in a challenge like that...shows me the guy has spirit and is someone I can really line up with and enjoy being around. I would sure rather have him with me at a knife fight than someone worried about being politically correct. Don't get mad....after all it's just my opinion and I am nobody anyway...absolutely nobody. But I sure do like this forum of harmonica players, even the ones who can blow me away. LOL Regards Joe Lee
"In fact, I love to see someone best me in a challenge like that...shows me the guy has spirit and is someone I can really line up with and enjoy being around."
I'm with Joe Lee on this one. Competition can be noble *when you put yourself at risk* and those who compete on those grounds earn a fellowship that cannot be earned any other way. That has been true throughout human history; the problem with competition in our time is that too often there is no real risk--the contest itself is unfair, or you're using other people's lives or money to compete, or you're hiding behind a keyboard instead of facing off in real life, and so on.
Human beings need hierarchy, they need to dominate or defer, and they're okay with deferring to those they respect, as Joe Lee says. Human beings need equality too, but in the form of equality of opportunity to find out where they fit in the hierarchy; they are created equal in deserving an equal opportunity to rise if they prove themselves able.
So I pledge to give everyone in this forum an equal opportunity.
If you think there's not a hierarchy around here, you're kidding yourself. There is, however, equal opportunity to say something useful, every time you hit "Post Message." And those who say useful things can rise in the hierarchy, and then you've got a pretty good system. That's what I am pledging to try to uphold.
If the above makes no sense due to being written after work but before dinner, I pledge to drop the subject :)
life is so much better when you get along with others people that exhibit themselves on this forum are asking for judgement on their ability or they would not be exhibiting themselves-BUT when it comes to opinions you are exercising your convictions regardless what others think of it-that should be an admirable trait
Last Edited by on Aug 24, 2010 9:59 PM
