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The curious case of veiled attacks and freedom of speech

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praveen

praveen

Life is a dream
Staff member
Let me start off by quoting something that i received a few days back from elsewhere.

Recently, in one of the forums, a lot of members worried about lack of decency in the posts, complained to the police who in turn referred the matter to a judge as to whether such behavior is covered by free speech. The judge said that not all speech deserves to be protected; that people are using their anonymity provided by technology to get away with licentiousness. He said that there was nothing wrong with people wanting to interact in a decent and civil manner. In fact that was precisely why community standards (representing the will and wish of the majority) evolved everywhere.
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Over the last few days a few members (old and new) started posting irrelevant and obscene comments under the guise of free speech, their standing in the forum and because they think they know it all. Some have also taken the liberty to call other members who challenged their views by various names, many in a veiled manner.

This needs to stop.

This website provides a platform for discussion and sharing of knowledge. This website is not for those who think their point of view is only correct and trample upon on the views of others by calling them names by misusing the freedom of speech provided here.

Nobody can claim that only a particular view is correct until it has been proven and widely accepted. Likewise the vedas, upanishads are very valuable texts but nobody has the right to launch an attack if someone else questions the validity of it in today's context.

If you cannot answer him/her in a meaningful manner then do not waste everyone's time by posting silly, irrelevant and rude comments.

We attract a lot of members who are not as knowledgeable as some of us are. It is not their fault. But that does not mean one can jump on this member and ascertain our supremacy on him/her by calling him names or posting comments which deter this member from participating further. I, myself, have read a lot of emails where our readers have complained about such a welcome given to a few members.

What you post and how you post reflects the person you are in real life. It's a small world out there. We might not be discussing face to face but i am sure one day we might bump into one another and when it happens however "nice" you might be in real life what you had posted online will def be the basis on which you will be judged!

I do not want to go on and on because we are not children. Rather we are adults who know what is right and what is wrong.
All that one needs to do is take a step back, put themselves in the other persons point of view and then comment. Not to mention let go of EGO and learn to accept multiple points of views however and whatever it might be.

Just because member x says vedas a bunch of trash it is not going to make it one. Instead of jumping at the member concerned focus your energy on telling him why you think vedas are not trash material in a decent, responsible manner.

If you think that you cannot act in a decent, responsible and sensible manner then do not participate at all.

I hope i have made myself very clear. If for any reason someone does not agree to act responsibly, do us all a favor and leave the forum.

Also, please make use of the report post feature to bring such posts to my attention. I do not read all the posts all the time. So it is essential that one reports such posts instead of jumping head on into it.

One more point that i would like to mention before finishing this post:

Nobody has the right to claim ownership of a thread just because they started it. Any thread that is open can be commented on. If at all you do not want others to post comments, then ask it in a civil manner. Do not assume you own the thread and act like a politician. Or send me a message and i will close the thread.

Comments may be for or against. You cannot restrict who posts what. You can make a request in the thread, thats all.

- Have a great weekend!
 
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Dear Praveen,

Thanks for the nice post. You wrote:
We might not be discussing face to face but i am sure one day we might bump into one another and when it happens however "nice" you might be in real life what you had posted online will def be the basis on which you will be judged!
Click to expand...
The chance of meeting a person, whom one attacks, face to face is very very remote! That is why some members

are able to take two or more 'avtar's to support one another and attack many others!! May be I am wrong?? :confused:
 
Dear Shri Praveen,

I have one request/suggestion. Just as you say that—
"Over the last few days a few members (old and new) started posting irrelevant and obscene comments under the guise of free speech, their standing in the forum and because they think they know it all. Some have also taken the liberty to call other members who challenged their views by various names, many in a veiled manner.", all probably because of the veil of anonymity available in the internet, your requests for decorum such as in the present OP also get cloaked under anonymity and the real offenders do not come to light at all, except for the few who are parties to the said unpleasant exchanges or those who read all the posts, etc.

I do not generally look into some of the sections which have become sort of permanent leases to some of the members and stick to the General Discussions forum as far as possible. So, my request to you is at least try to give some direction to where the said offensive posts/exchanges are, say, by indicating the name of the forum or, if you so feel, the name of the thread itself without naming any member.
 
sangom said:
I do not generally look into some of the sections which have become sort of permanent leases to some of the members and stick to the General Discussions forum as far as possible. So, my request to you is at least try to give some direction to where the said offensive posts/exchanges are, say, by indicating the name of the forum or, if you so feel, the name of the thread itself without naming any member.
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Dear Sangom ji,

I am really smiling reading this....you know why?

You see I also was wondering today why suddenly this thread by Praveen..cos all war and battles were over sometime last week so which new fight I missed?

I was looking through General discussion and was looking "where is any new controversy..I can't find any..may be the Brahmamuhurta thread or Pili Soonyam Evil thread could have been some slight problem but members are not really fighting too..no Jalra is commenting too..so where is the trouble?"

I thought I was the only one who was thinking that "did I miss anything" now when I read what you wrote I thought OMG even you want to know where is the trouble brewing!LOL

Welcome aboard..I am sure other members too would be wondering where the problem was?LOL
 
Dear Sri. Praveen, Greetings.

It is very nice to see you putting your foot down. I welcome this. I am guilty of posting many naughty messages. But I never hurt any members feeling just for the sake of it. If I had to say something slightly harsh, which is not very often, I backed it with relevant evidences. ( If I have to give an example, I can think of Sri. Nara who was a gentleman with me all along, although I drew sword against him so many times). Thank you for this nice message!

Cheers!
 
Raji Ram said:
Really, Renu?
But I am able to :spy: because I read many threads! :ranger:
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Dear RR ji,

There is no acute problem off late(the last major fight was the Jalra Vs Jalra!)

Forum has been benign for the past 10 days or more.

I myself never got any "I love you" PM from people having a delusions.

So I wonder what is the problem?

You do this..you spy and then you write all your findings.
 
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You see I also was wondering today why suddenly this thread by Praveen..cos all war and battles were over sometime last week so which new fight I missed?
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That's because i came home only today and was infront of a pc for a good few hours. In a way this message was long pending, so i wanted to tick off my list.

So, my request to you is at least try to give some direction to where the said offensive posts/exchanges are, say, by indicating the name of the forum or, if you so feel, the name of the thread itself without naming any member.
Click to expand...

Most of these discussions happen in the Customs and Traditions area. If i be more specific then it does not take long for one to figure out who, what etc... Rather than being specific, i prefer to post this as a general message. Instead of pulling up people one by one (for which i have no time for now), i prefer to post a general message through which my point is made.

The chance of meeting a person, whom one attacks, face to face is very very remote! That is why some members

are able to take two or more 'avtar's to support one another and attack many others!! May be I am wrong?? :confused:
Click to expand...

You would be surprised to know that there are cases where two people have met face to face in different scenarios without even realizing at first. Infact in an another forum (non-religious) i have had a few heated exchanges with some people and they infact turned out to my future employers/clients.

If we employ a mechanism through which we can verify every single registered member's identity, then our memberbase would be just 25% of what it is now. People are scared they might be typecast if they reveal their identity..

In a country like ours where the IP address keep changing every single day it is rather not possible to allow one ip per member. The only thing we can do is one email per id. But then this is not a fool-proof way. And thats the sad part.
Hence this
 

Dear Praveen,

When we registered in this forum, my sister and I had given all details like official date of birth, gOthram, address etc.

But, to my surprise, I was told by one of my friends that even if the blanks are filled by '0's, the computer treats it as

a filled up application - 100%! It is a very tough job for the moderators to find out if the number of registered members
is the same as the number of living members! May be some members think: 'After all it is only a cyber world - MAyA'!! :decision:
 
praveen said:
......... You would be surprised to know that there are cases where two people have met face to face in different scenarios without even realizing at first.......
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I remember to have read a post by our pattar friend from Canada that he became a good friend of a person with whom
he often had heated exchange of arguments, in another forum and later on, attended his family function also! :grouphug:
 
You would be surprised to know when the gothrams, address etc were made mandatory, nearly 90% of those who tried to register entered "don't know or n/a" for the fields. I used to receive almost 40 to 50 emails every day saying they want to register but they dont kknow the gothrams etc...

hence they were made optional.

Evn the address, ppl fill up abc or xyz...
 
Shri Praveen,

That opening post is very nice. Once I made a comment in the forum which was seen as rude. I am sorry. I did not intent to offend anyone. I even thought I was only using an anatomical term. In the hindsight I am not very proud of my message. I request the forum to kindly pardon my language at that instance.

Unfortunately at that time I was very angry. I run my own clinic at times. After a busy day I logged in the forum only to find people targeting me and writing very rude innuendos which lasted for few days. I did not offend anybody and the targeting was unprovoked. I found so many messages posted just for sole purpose of hurting my feelings. Since the messages numbered over 10 to 15 at times, I got baffled and did not even feel like reporting so many posts. I did not bargain for this kind of welcome when I was invited to join this forum. One day I snapped. I am sorry. Since the aggressors have admitted about targeting me, members would know I am not making this up.


I just like to share my knowledge, thoughts and enjoy myself in this forum. I request the forum to pardon my outburst and include me in the forum, please. Thank you.

Kind regards
 
sangom said:
........... I do not generally look into some of the sections which have become sort of permanent leases to some of the members and stick to the General Discussions forum as far as possible.............
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Dear Sangom Sir,

If you meant about the sticky threads, I would like to tell you how a thread becomes sticky!

A thread which has maximum number of views (posts read or unread!!) is included in the list of hottest threads.

And when the traffic exceeds a particular limit, it gets 'stuck' to the opening page of that particular forum! All the
settings are fully automatic. The computer can not show any favoritism. It can't be a jAlrA to any member! :drum:
Those who wish to possess 'permanent lease' in any forum (GD included) may keep these points in mind! :decision:


BTW Sir, why did you choose the mirror image of the same avtar picture of Prasad Sir? If you don't mind, please change it.

Thanks....

Tagore222.gif
. . . . . . .
avatar13168_6.gif
 
Dear Praveen,

Some members will never learn anything. It is a congenital deficiency. It is good that you keep reminding them once in a while. You are doing a great job.

Cheers.
 
suraju06 said:
Dear Praveen,

Some members will never learn anything. It is a congenital deficiency. It is good that you keep reminding them once in a while. You are doing a great job.

Cheers.
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Sri. Raju, Greetings.

That is a good observation. Only people who write something rude by mistake feel bad about it and seek apology. But people who enjoy hurting others won't even feel any remorse. Chances are in real life too such persons would seek methods to hurt others.

Cheers!
 
Raji Ram said:
Dear Sangom Sir,

If you meant about the sticky threads, I would like to tell you how a thread becomes sticky!

A thread which has maximum number of views (posts read or unread!!) is included in the list of hottest threads.

And when the traffic exceeds a particular limit, it gets 'stuck' to the opening page of that particular forum! All the
settings are fully automatic. The computer can not show any favoritism. It can't be a jAlrA to any member!
Those who wish to possess 'permanent lease' in any forum (GD included) may keep these points in mind!


BTW Sir, why did you choose the mirror image of the same avtar picture of Prasad Sir? If you don't mind, please change it.

Thanks....

. . . . . . .
Click to expand...

Raji Ram said:
Dear Sangom Sir,

If you meant about the sticky threads, I would like to tell you how a thread becomes sticky!

A thread which has maximum number of views (posts read or unread!!) is included in the list of hottest threads.

And when the traffic exceeds a particular limit, it gets 'stuck' to the opening page of that particular forum! All the
settings are fully automatic. The computer can not show any favoritism. It can't be a jAlrA to any member! :drum:
Those who wish to possess 'permanent lease' in any forum (GD included) may keep these points in mind! :decision:


BTW Sir, why did you choose the mirror image of the same avtar picture of Prasad Sir? If you don't mind, please change it.

Thanks....

Tagore222.gif
. . . . . . .
avatar13168_6.gif
Click to expand...

Thank you, smt. RR, for the clarification. But I feel threads can also be made sticky by the forum owner and moderators. Kindly get this confirmed by Shri Praveen. I felt that the purpose (of making a thread sticky) was to ensure that it appeared among the first threads listed irrespective of how you want then arranged. May be you are right.

When I used the term "permanent lease" what I had in mind was the sheer intelligence which made some threads in this Forum (TBF) absolutely overpopulated; I am now wondering whether one post per one nāmam of our sahasranāmams may not be a grand idea to increase my number of posts scores! Under such an arrangement almost the entire thread will consist of the thread-starter's posts and the rest will most likely be Jalra posts singing paeans of one aspect or another, you see. I am only glad that many members have not taken to this trick. (I remember one young member, Ramanujam, posting single line posts several times over, just to harass Shri Praveen and the then moderator KRS. But it looks like nobody found out the goldmine which lay behind this method !!)

As to my new avatar, you are right, this was an avatar which I produced and used some time ago and then changed it. But when I found that Shri Prasad's avatar was just the same, with two corners chopped off, I did some search and found that it is one of the avatars supplied by TBF, as of now (ID - Tagore 229). I therefore thought of flipping it and using the flipped image as my avatar. If it is a breach of Forum rules, I shall change it readily.
 

Dear Sangom Sir,

Thanks for your post. The forum rules are not set by me; they are set by Sri. Praveen! :typing:

Since your avtar picture reminded me of Sri. Prasad's avtar (unless noted carefully for the mirror image) I suggested to

change it. Of course it is your wish, Sir! The avtar picture could be anything we like and mine is a photo of the sunrise,

taken at Kanyakumari, adding my name, using Picasa software. This is just for info. :)
 
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