literarydiscussions.myfreeforum.org

Sitaram · Site Admin Joined: 14 Sep 2005 Posts: 1079

I regret to see that I am now banned at a forum which I very much enjoyed.

I want to make it my policy to discourage and negative criticism of other forums here. I think we should be able to participate in many different forums.

http://myfreeforums.org states in the TOS and Conditions that it will not tolerate hate sites. Certainly, using such a forum as this to air personal grievances might well constitute, in some sense a hate site, directed against other forums. Hate is a many-splendored thing, is it not?

I certainly have no commercial interest here. I do not think anyone should feel threatened by me, or the existence of this little forum.

Those of you who value their membership in other forums are perhaps well advised to exercise discretion in discussing or advertising your membership here, since it is possible that you also shall be banned.

We all have our complaints and disagreements with whatever forum we belong to. Perhaps the mods and admins of those forums have complaints regarding us, and perhaps they are justified in their complaints.

I realize that some forums depend upon a continued monthly enrollment numbering in the hundreds. I realize that my long posts and google feeds were possibly seen as threatening or intimidating by potential members. I realized the merit of one admin's position, and I changed my posting habits drastically.

When we become paranoid, and jealous and suspicious, then life become unpleasant. We are always wondering whether some new member is a secret spy.

I acknowledge that I invited a few people that you see here as mods, to join, because I admire something in each of them, and each of them seems to find some value in what I say.

I hope that various admins will reconsider such bans, and at least attempt to coexist with one another in a cordial and respectful fashion. If anyone feels slighted or bothered by something, please simply contact me privately, and tell me your concerns. I am not an unreasonable person. Banning and other actions should be a last resort, not a first action.

If we cannot learn to cordially co-exist with one another on the internet, with something as harmless as a message board, then how on earth shall we ever learn to co-exist with one another as superpowers, with weapons of mass destruction?

Those actions that we take, which are publicly visible, are a message to young people. When we deal with young people, as young as age 13, through high school and college, we should be setting examples of moderation, equanimity, and forbearance. In a sense, it is our moral, ethical responsibility to set such examples. If we fail in our opportunity as role models, then we create a future world which is a hell, when it could be a paradise.

It is never to late to become what you might have been.

This hackneyed piece of wisdom is as true for me as it is for the rest of us.

Anyone who feels anxiety about the existence of this forum of mine might be very surprised to find out that I can be more of an ally than an enemy, helping to send traffic, rather than take it away.

I think I shall choose to follow the spirit of Jesus and Gandhi, and I shall react to such banishment by redoubling my efforts to say nice things, and direct traffic to other sites, and discourage malicious gossip here.

If other forums have rules against political or religious discussions, that is their right, and I am certain that they have their good reasons.

I had my reasons for wanting a message board of my own. I hope I posses the maturity and tolerance to make this a useful place even for those who might disagree with my views, or think poorly of me.

When a government chooses to execute a dissident they often unwittingly create a martyr, and achieve very much the opposite of their original intentions, in the sense that the call attention to the ideology, and it becomes a cause. Sometimes it is wiser simply to ignore what bothers us.

I think I have demonstrated myself to be a fare and reasonable person in my posts. If I am wrong, please discuss this with me.

If my little personal forum poses a threat to a large forum, then getting rid of me or punishing me is not the solution of your problem, as long as free forums like this are available to anyone that chooses to sign up.

I had my own web site from day one that I joined the forum in question, and I do not believe that I ever used that web site as some soap box to the world to wreck vengeance upon others.

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