A word about Safe Haven Groups [View all]

[cbayer]

I'm going to propose something here that may or may not be acceptable, and as I don't participate much, I can understand if it is rejected.

The SOP of this group is the following:

A safe haven that provides opportunities for people of all faiths, spiritual leanings and non-belief to discuss religious topics and events in a positive and civil manner, with an emphasis on tolerance. Criticisms of individual beliefs or non-belief, or debates about the existence of higher power(s) are not appropriate in this group.

And for the most part, that is how it functions.

But there has been a growing tendency to use it as a platform to discuss other members that do not participate in this group, to discuss another safe haven group and to sometimes to just blow off steam in terms of interactions with other members.

While i fully understand the degree of frustration and anger that some members feel, this "us vs. them" position solves nothing and actually just deepens the divide and causes increased animosity.

Is that what the regular participants of this group want?

While not in any way advocating for the DU2 moderator system, there were some good things about it. One of those things was the approach to safe havens.

There was a pretty strict set of rules about these groups. Call outs of other members were prohibited and they were not to be used as places to trash other groups, members or to rally the troops.

The aim of this site is clear and things that divide or cause increased hostilities between groups of members do nothing to accomplish that goal.

Actually, they do exactly the opposite.

I would like to propose that the hosts of this group solicit feedback and consider developing a set of guidelines that would prohibit meta type discussions about other members, groups of members or safe haven groups, unless it is to say something that is positive. In short, I propose that the SOP be rather more strictly interpreted.

If the regular participants have no interest in going in that direction, so be it. But can we at least talk about it? Could we consider taking the higher road?

FTR, if this thread devolves into exactly what I am decrying, I am not going to hesitate to delete it. I have no interest in participating or being responsible for such a thread and it was not my intent to go there.