I haven’t been a poster for long, but I was aghast yesterday by the lack of tolerance for certain line of debate that dealt with the philosophy of survival. It culminated in the closing of two engaging posts and ended an intriguing dialogue.
NS1 – at 22:37 said:
“Although…has closed the thread on ‘Will a Pandemic Solve Any Problems’ due to an unpopular opinion being discussed, I intervene in the normal spirit of expression on the FluWiki and answer a question posed…so that fairness and equity will also have their day and voice…accuracy may be found on careful discussion and careful examination of facts.”
I must say that I agree. Discussion is the finest wine of civilized society. Without it, we are merely existing. It seems a shame that a forum like Flu Wiki only concerns itself with the actual act of survival and not the philosophy of survival.
The mandate for this forum is the discussion of avian influenza, the possibility of a pandemic and the ways we can cope with that. General discussions about politics, religion, world affairs, philosophy, etc. while interesting, can be had at any number of forums on the internet. We’ve specialized and that’s not going to change.
There are also practical considerations: we’re operating with limited resources both financially and in human terms (and at the moment we’re more short-handed than usual). We can try and be all things to all people and do it badly or we can stay focused and try and do one thing well. We’ve opted for the latter.
“We can try and be all things to all people and do it badly or we can stay focused and try and do one thing well. We’ve opted for the latter.”
Well said…
Also, there have been many previous debates that simply got out of control and certain people turned them into personal attacks against other posters. Such discussions get us nowhere and that’s not what this particular board is about. Persoanlly, I’d like it to stay that way. Thanks mods!
Closed to maintain server speed