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No Grinity, you're not who I was referring to While I might have different views to you from time to time (rarely though) I always find your posts interesting for their breadth and the consideration you give to individuals'circumstances.

Re: irisheyes & mon
Can we have a no strawman rule? �Sometimes, even IRL, you have to think someone's being obtuse on purpose...I like�"no �strawmen" because it's pro-precision and not anti-anybody. �It's basically like writing a rule that says "you have to use your brain.". IMO, You're right. �It's just barely starting to pop up that people are hearing what they want to hear and not what you're trying to say. �Ban that before it starts! �That is another thing imo that made this place rare and special was that people only responded to what people really meant to say.
Re: correct word choice.
I've publicly been wrong, publicly chided, and publicly apologized twice already in my short time here. I don't mind.

Whatever happens, I really hope this board doesn't morph into the gifted child discussion on mothering.com. (over moderated, all about k and under, mostly about homeschooling, one upmanship on who's kid is the most gifted, censored...) I'm sorry if it seems snarky to criticize another board, but my alienation there lead me here.

I know that I often post here when I am needing support, am freaked out, or feeling alienated. I guess than I am not the only one. So I assume that many of the other people here are reading and posting when they are on edge and might be more sensitive.

My word choice is not so great today.

I have really valued my time here.

I love the way you worded this - you really captured 'GIDF magic'!
I like your idea of 'Ban the strawman' as well - although I had to look it up on wikipedia to make sure I really knew what that was:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man

Smiles,
Grinity

I could reduce the level of acrimony on this board at least a bit by never writing about the demographics of intelligence and giftedness, but I think these are important topics with big implications for educational policy, both for gifted and non-gifted children. Much public discussion about education is conducted as if we KNOW that the distribution of general intelligence and of mathematical ability is the SAME across all racial and economic groups and for both sexes. I have repeatedly challenged the assumption of equal abilities and am careful to cite my sources. I think it's mostly the substance and not the style of what I write that offends some people. Freedom of speech means that people will be exposed to ideas that they vehemently disagree with.

I understand that controversy should not crowd out the discussions of invidual childrens' circumstances and of educational resources that are the main focus of this board, and I have participated in many of those discussions.

This is very true - I feel that that whole train of thought is outside the purpose of this board. Why is it that such a high percentage of the time we talk about politics, it's this particular story? If this is an important topic (and not a great way to get people off track, as I suspect) for educational policy then post on a board where people come to discuss educational policy. I don't set the U.S. agenda for educational policy, and I don't get much say in it. For now my number one concern is my own child's eduation. Even though I vote in my local elections, it's the whole package, never line-items.

The only time I want to hear about politics here is if someone is running for office, fighting an age discrimination case, visiting their representitives to talk about giftedness, or their child is writing a letter to the editor.

But what I like is that I've noticed that when you have a 'political' topic to discuss, you start a thread about it, so that folks can choose if they want to be part of it or not. Bostonian, I notice that you are very careful to only bring up these ideas on threads that are clearly 'big ideas' thread, and I really appreciate that. Maybe you are creating a model for how to deal with difficult topics?

Thanks,
Grinity

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 second the No Converters rule!

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.

LOL! I think every single one of the half a dozen or so posts I made on mothering was deleted, then they banned me. I read a lot, and only posted when it seemed no-one else was saying what needed to be said to the OP. But I guess lots of other people were being deleted and banned too, then?