Responsibility and negativism
 | By Tayler Mayer Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 |
These last few days have been heart-wrenching. We want you to know that it hasn’t been fun for us. We are feeling torn by what has been going on.
Whose responsibility is it to ensure that DeafRead continues as a healthy system? I say all of us, the stakeholders of DeafRead. The bloggers, vloggers, commenters, readers and the DeafRead team.
We believe that, by accepting responsibility, each stakeholder of DeafRead can do their part to maintain a healthy blogosphere. Empowering all to speak out, we wish that the truth is told, but in a constructive and positive way. It’s all in the presentation: it’s not what is said, but how it is said.
This goes for commenters too. Further, once posts are published, we have no control over the blog comments. Editorial responsibility is the blogger’s alone.
The DeafRead team’s responsibility will be to ensure that the Guidelines are followed to the best of our ability.
DeafRead is filled with people of differing opinions, sprouting from unique backgrounds. It’s up to you to harness this diversity and yet still find common ground in making our lives better. We must find it in ourselves to respect each other, and if it is at all possible, to work together.
Below I am opening a dialogue and for the sake of starting off on the right foot, be mature and respectful. I will be responsible for the comments below.
July 16th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
Agreed. The bottom line is that the “Oralism vs. ASL” battle has never stopped and it probably lasts much longer than the Hundred Years War between England and France. It is just that we can express our risky opinions easier on blogs, vlogs or other type of media than in person. We can zap our thoughts much faster so our discussions become much more intense. I think it is probably best to continue and let us learn and heal ourselves. I won’t be surpised if a battle will happen again and again. It is just NOTHING new! It will probably fall on our generations’ shoulders and it may be up to us to stop the vicious cycle by practicing to respect each other.
On the positive side, I learned a whole lot, lot, lot from DeafRead. Thanks to you and your team! Kudos!
July 16th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Hi -
I would like to see one day close down DR once a while.
I think that doing ‘one day close down’ DR will keep us all on the ground and allow us to do other things.
What do you think?
Kathryn
July 16th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
I felt your pain.
I would suggest that you do not change anything til the storm is over or the last smoke from the burned forest.
I have some issues with DeafRead and I rather to wait for the dust to settle down. I will share my thoughts about it this week with you.
One thing for sure is that the bloggers are responsible for the comments in their blogs. They could delete the harsh comments in their blogs not you or DeafRead.
Remember the movie A Few Good Men, Jack Nicholson as army capt yelled at Tom Cruise as lawyer in Court Martial “you can’t handle the truth!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hGvQtumNAY
(will email you on what I mean with this story)
Your friend,
Ecnarb
July 17th, 2008 at 6:06 am
It is always a good idea to hear comments from devoted DR customers of how they “feel” about the DR postings that seem to be going out of control these days. The DR Editorals in turn can “read” us out and possibility make some modification changes to their DR site. It is also a good idea to make changes to improve the DR site. What is there to improve? I have only one to recommend. I have no control here but I suggest DR Editorals get together and work it out.
Take for example, “CI” issues, I have no interest in that posting. I have nothing against CI but it is not my perspective area to read. I have seen it getting alot of this on the DR postings. Perhaps for that purpose, it falls under the category Audiologist or a wording that best describe CI. Perhaps, DR Editorals can modify their DR site by adding some TAB sites that customer can select and browse through and read their areas of interests. If you can come up with TABS in all category that best fit their postings that would reduce this “opening” posting problems. It is up to the DR Editorals to decide on this modifications. You are correct there is no way can you “stop” this problems as it falls within the commentors decision to post it or delete it due to uncomfortable remark comments.
I have always love “The Apprentice” show. Donald Trump as he put into his motto “Nothing Personal – It just Business”. It should be followed. That way posting commentors can just “fire” the “uncomfortable” remark commentors without posting it. Afterall it just business-nothing personal.
Best rule of thumb to follow is “Once you set up something – never back down”. In term to this meaning, You have set up DeafRead – No point to shut it down.
If people want to quit your DR site, so be it, DR has not control over their decisions. There no point why I should back out because of an issues that surfaces and has been uncomfortable. DR Editorals, there will always be a Negative comments and a Postive comments. That is how it goes throughout other areas of websites that people leave comments. Merely just do not read or respone to the issues that you are not comfortable with.
In closing, I just recommend that DR Editorals come up with a better modification site to suit everyone s interests.
If DR Editorals decided to “thumb “down my recommendation I understand, no hard feelings. Afterall its your site and I have no control.
Good luck!
July 20th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
Tayler,
thanks for being willing to listen to us. First though, I agree with moi– any way that Open ID or another method of logging in to leave comments could be installed? I think that’s part of why not too many people have commented here.
I have a couple of questions. First, quite a few people have concerns the rules and guidelines set up at Deaf Read aren’t being applied fairly. Do you think the Deaf Read team would be open to revisiting these rules/guidelines? If the rules/guidelines are open to change, will the Deaf Read community have a chance to participate in determining them?
What obligations do you think Deaf Read and the Deaf Read team has to the online deaf community? If your judgment is questioned, and you find you made an error, how will you prevent that error from occurring again?
Now, I do agree with you that comments within blog posts are NOT the responsibility of the Deaf Read team or yourself for many reasons, some of which I’ve outlined at my blog. This is where calls for Deaf Read to step in are unreasonable.
Thanks again for being willing to take this first step. I agree with ecnarb; once things settle down a bit, perhaps a real dialogue can take place.
Finally, thanks to you and Jared for setting this site up. Regardless of the criticism you’ve gotten, I think people sometimes forget that establishing and operating Deaf Read was not something you were required to do.