Happy New Year Folks.
I hope 2009 has so far treated you with kindness and generosity :)

I have had some really great times these last few weeks myself. About a week before Christmas I had the honor and pleasure of meeting Stargate's Ben Browder. Col. Mitchell was in fine holiday form for this girl (big grin for all of Ben's Babes out there). If you haven't had a chance yet, go over to the main page and watch the Video Interview with Ben. Not only was the setting spectacular (Santa Monica beach) but Ben was in fine hilarious form.

Just recently I was given the privilege of meeting Robert Picardo, so look forward to yet another fabulous offering from GateWorld and David Read from that front.

Due to some major health issues I have been afforded the opportunity to work from home full time. In these troubled economic times, that is something I am sure many of us can see as the miracle of technology it is. Also as my Doctors work hard on things I am pleased to be able to give my employer full productivity. Something I was not able to do all the time previously.

The Christmas season also brought the joys of a 2 year old with it. :-) All to often I feel we get jaded or just take some stuff for granted as the years pass by so quickly. So having the little one in our midst has slowed it all back down and made us once again enjoy the wonder of each and every little thing. What a wonderful world we truly do reside in.

Granted there are horrific things going on around us and folks of many nations are dealing with strife and turmoil. However, there is wonder in a flower blooming to its full glory and smelling the fragrance as it drifts gently in the air. Watching a child's eyes light up when she sees you coming up the walkway. Feeling those little arms squeezing your neck with the words, "Lub you" being whispered in your hair.

Watching a cat stalk a cricket across the kitchen floor. Laughing when the cricket gets away and the cat looks annoyed. Looking across a room filled with your weird family and knowing that your heart is feeling too full of love that your eyes must leak just a bit.

We all have struggles in our daily life. The world is going to keep on having minor and major struggles daily as well. However, you can find things to uplift your heart and soul if you look and want to be uplifted. I hope you find what works for you and have a great moment, a great day and even a great week. The next thing you know it will have added up and you might even have a great year (grin)........
and that Gaterites...is Enlightenment Tame Style :-)

If you read back through my Blog you will see many posts that say the same thing in various ways

"Be Decent", "Be Respectful", "Be Civil", "Be Tolerant", "Be Constructive".
These are constant themes in my blog when I write about the Forum.
As a Moderator I have seen a lot of how folks can be the opposite of all of the above. I have also seen many that are the epitome of the above.

So now that many in the *Internet Forum World* and those that visit GateWorld as guests, or as *Lurkers* have seen a continuous down-turn in those areas instead of an up-turn we are going to be implementing some changes.

One of those changes is to ask that folks who have a "Less-than-enthusiastic" feeling any longer, for all things Stargate, is to take a bit more time and actually explain why they feel this way in a manner that keeps all of the above in mind. Decent, respectful, civil and constructive.

Another of those changes will be a crack down on all of the folks who use words as a way to circumvent the respect rules. We have always erred on the side of member and given them the benefit of the doubt that they weren't *trying* to be that rude with their choice of words. That will no longer be the case. Now we will err on the side of the Forum and hold the comment up to an overall Community feeling we want to achieve. If it adheres to that spirit then it is good to go. If not, then it will just go. Some will also get some hand slaps if they are consistent in using word play to be rude, disrespectful or demeaning.

Last, we are not a place that wants to foster hatred of anything so we won't allow it to continue to grow and feed on itself in our Community.

I have read many arguments against this thought process. Not so much the "Spirit" of it but the wording of it. In my opinion the folks that are doing so much arguing are looking for loop-holes to still do what they do and get away with something. I am reminded of how my kids would try to find the chink in the rules or in the conversation we were having so they could find a way to vindicate their actions and not get punished "IF" they did this or that. Mind you that hadn't actually done anything yet but they wanted to ensure that they had escape routes already set up. As I read through the various arguments I kept returning to this thought.

Its also a form of manipulation. A means to try and take control of a situation that you actually have no real power over. The phrase "Methinks he doth protest to much" runs through my mind repeatedly as I read argument after argument.

Logic is a great manipulator of abstract thinking. If a concept has no black and white boundaries then a logical thinker is extremely uncomfortable with it and will strive to create them. Even when they do not exist anywhere except in the Logical thinker's mind. Then once they have created them, they act as if the boundaries have always been there and were actually intended as a conspiracy since they had to find them themselves instead of us just telling them about them.
This will in turn confound the Abstract thinker since they never intended for the boundary to be there but yet they find that instead of continuing to explain how the overall plan will work. They find themselves defending against these imaginary boundaries that the Logical thinker refuses to believe are not there.
It becomes a convoluted mess and at some point it is hoped that the Abstract thinker will throw up their hands and forget the whole idea and leave things the way they are because that is just easier. Thus the Logical thinker has avoided not only the boundaries they have created in their own mind but changing altogether. Which, was the objective in the first place.

Of course what ruins everything is having Logical thinkers that can also grasp the abstract as well as Abstract thinkers that can grasp the logical. When you have a group that can do this all bets are off for the masses because most of the normal tactics won't work and they will be seen for what they are. GateWorld has been blessed with a group of Moderators that are these people. They can see the forest for the trees and in fact can keep the Big picture in mind while dealing with one tree. Not all Forums have that.

So change will be coming. For some it will be too much and we will be sad to see them leave. For others it will be a welcome breath of fresh air, they will gladly move to the community and we will welcome them with open arms.

Through it all progression will be made and we will grow and that is always a good thing :-)

Blogs are the author's personal space and represent solely the views of the author, and not necessary those of GateWorld.net and its owner. Entries are not edited or reviewed by GateWorld before publication.