[AMRadio] Important

[Jim Wilhite]

After the last disagreement it became apparent that we all should read the rules of the reflector.  

One of the cardinal rules is not to make personal attacks.

The words "personal attack" seems to have different meanings when read by different people, so let me describe what I use.

If the words are blatant then it is an attack.  

If the words sounds like a personal attack but not directly so, then it becomes an matter of what you and I think.  The standards I use in these cases is if that kind of thing happens more than one time I carefully read the second post  to determine if I think it is personal.  Should the same personal inference carry through more than one post, then  I try to stop the discussion.

The recent disagreement centered on what one person thought the other said.  I did not read the initial post to mean what the second person did so I let it go.  While not quite worded right, it was difficult for me to see a personal affront.  It, in my view, did not cross the line so I let go.  I read the post to be about the process.

The  post from the second person was obviously a personal statement about the first person, so it violated to rules.

Remember what you mean and what others read can be two different things.  Now I ask all of you to remain impartial in these cases and read your posts before sending them to be sure your meanings are clear.
  
I try to be as understanding as possible and I do that by contacting the people involved off the reflector to discuss the meaning.  If they understand what happened was an affront to the other party and show contrition, then I let it go and urge them to contact the aggrieved party directly.  Some will contact the other, some won't.

If, however, the person is argumentative and fails to cooperate, then I will place their posts on moderation till they understand.  If the violation is bad enough after a few exchanges, we will ban that person.   I do my best to be as open minded as possible on this but sometimes the person will not comprehend the problem.

So please read the rules and if something goes wrong, help me by trying to fix it rather than argue about it.  The link to the rules is at the bottom of every message.

Let's all get along and help each other.

The final say on this reflector is Brian, W5AMI.  

73 All

Jim 
W5JO
Moderator