Posted by Mitchell on January 19, 2003, at 22:04:56
In reply to Re: Please don't ban people, posted by shar on January 19, 2003, at 20:19:47
> ......Are you using "publicly scolding" to refer to issuing a "please be civil" request? Is saying "please don't say things that might make others feel put down" a public scolding?
>
> I'm wondering specifically what constitutes a "scolding."
>
> SharPBC's are at best conditional requests. There is always an "or else" involved, and the "or else" always asks another to do something Hsuing could do himself - to control the content of his web site. PBC's more often than not imply "you should have known better" with "better" meaning Hsuing's personal values.
Webster supports my understanding of the word scold as meaning to find fault noisily.
The cosmic truth is science can't determine who is responsible for whose feelings. Hsuing has no academic or professional authority to find fault in who caused who to feel what. Writers to this site often seem suprised that Hsuing presents as an arbiter of universal human values. People visiting his site routinely feel hurt after encountering his personal preferences offered as one-size-fits-all rules for human interaction. People are often hurt when others try to impose values.
Hsuing is the author of a web site whose authority extends to what he will allow on his web site. If he does not want to allow posts that he feels might provoke some feeling or the other, that is his choice and he might do well take responsibility for his own boundaries. He could as well say the only thing he really knows about it, which is that he, Bob Hsuing, has chosen not to allow certain comments on his site.
When Hsuing goes beyond enforcing his own preferences for what is allowed at his site and attempts to affect what group members believe to be proper, he is violating his self-described role as administrator and not therapist. An administrator enforces rules related to a particular organization. A behavioral therapist more often appeals to universal human values or local cultural mores.
poster:Mitchell
thread:8860
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20021128/msgs/8890.html