Guidelines:
In my opinion the most important aspect of this board is that no matter the variety of opinions and life experiences represented by the members all are treated with respect. I greatly value the diverse views presented and have learned an amazing amount by taking a bit of advice from here and a suggestion from there.
As a guideline, I think that persuasive language is not intrinsically useful in this forum. A statement of position or opinion without attempt to persuade others to your viewpoint keeps most ego out of the posts looking for help. Maybe we could have a topic for posts asking for debate.
I do not want this forum to become bland. over the years, this site has provided so much more honest shoot from the hip information that I have not found on any other forum. My child may not be Davidson Institute level of gifted, but I've never been made to feel that my concerns and questions were out of place. Also, I've been extremely grateful that again rarely does oneupmanship become an issue. IQ scores are tossed around but not in a my child is better than yours but more as a reference point.
Due to the business of our lives right now, I'm not on often but I credit this board and its members with saving my sanity and my hair on a regular basis!
I have been away quite a bit over the last few months as well, but I have to say I agree with ELH's post. I would hate to see any squelching of discussion, but it does seem that more people lately have been willing to offend without caring that they did so on the one hand, and willing to assume a person meant offense without giving the poster a chance to explain on the other.
One of my earliest posts on this forum involved me repeating a gifted myth as a fact (at that point, I didn't know it was a myth at all). Grinity very gently smacked me down - and I was able to both admit that I didn't know it was a myth and also explain more fully my concern. I think about what it might have meant if she had just attacked me, and others had joined it, and I likely would have just slunk away and never returned.
On another topic, I strongly disagree with Bostonian on a number of points, and a couple of times I believe his (her?) posts have crossed a line involving racial stereotyping that I believe is unwarranted. That being said, I am a grown up, and if I feel I want to engage on that particular topic (I rarely do, as it isn't why I am here) I will post, and if not, I will ignore the thread. If I really felt a post was racist, I would report it, but by and large I chalk it up to very different worldviews, and I also believe that much of what Bostonian posts is interesting, and worth noting, even if I disagree with the position.
Just a couple wandering thoughts.
