Hello Linda, Back again. There is one other point that is worth noting on the subject of personal attacks. The terms of membership make it very clear that abuse is not permitted, as are false accusations, promotion of illegal programmes and false identies amongst other things. We are adults and should remember what we agreed to contractually when we joined. We agreed to a code of conduct and that the rules dont change because we have a "bad hair day". Saludos Jenny

Hi Jenny, You are so right. If all respect each other, we will be better off.

Hello Linda.

The worst thing that happened because of these personal actacks were all the business relations that were lost.

Hundreds of us used to correspond with each other daily in Carl's and Mike's forums.  We had got to know each other fairly well.

Whan Carl and Mike decided to move to another forum because of the personal attacks, many did not follow.

I'm a member of the new forum, but it it's not like it was here at AdlandPro.

So what did the personal attacks achieve?  Carl, who was a staple here and POTW, is now gone for good.  And many of his friends are left with a bad taste in their mouth. 

And because of this, the AdlandPro networking community has strunk .

I truly hope that the damage can be repaired. And I hope that people will think before they attack people personally.

Your friend,

Lloyd Cope

http://www3.telus.net/rmc/64760.htm ($7 Miracle Matrix)
http://bringyourbuddy.net/?id=64719 (Bring Your Buddy)
http://www.bigdaddypays.com/lloydanthony111 (Big Daddy Pays)
http://www.lloydsgourmetfoods.com
http://www.trafficswarm.com/go.cgi?448261

Hello Jenny,

I'm posting again because I have to tell you that I agree with everything you posted here! I couldn't say it as well as you did.

With friendship,
Anamaria

Hi!

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The terms of membership make it very clear that abuse is not permitted, as are false accusations, promotion of illegal programmes and false identies amongst other things.
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I agree in theory. In practice, it's another story. Here's an analogy. A teacher tells her students that if she catches anyone cheating on an exam, they will get zero and will be expelled. Except, when she sees students blatantly cheating right in front of her face, she does nothing and lets it continue. What do the students learn? Cheating is permitted.

It does not matter what the terms of membership say if they are not enforced.

The terms say promotion of illegal programmes is prohibited, yet for months after 12DP was publicly exposed as illegal, we still saw banners & posts for 12DP. The terms say abuse is not permitted, but when people post abuse, it is allowed to stay on the board. And not just at the "mass" unknown forums - it happens on power member forums, too, and is allowed to stay. I read the whole Mike debacle a week after it was posted - and it was still there.

Winston pointed out that I have had 2 rules since I started this forum, and they work. There is a reason they work. Because I enforce them.

If every forum member, from regular members to power members to group leaders and ambassadors and interviewers and everyone else here enforced the terms and conditions, the problems would not exist. Abuse is the easiest to control. Delete it. Immediately. No wavering. No bending the rules. If a personal attack is posted, it should not stay up longer than it takes the forum owner to see it and delete it. Period.

If the terms and conditions aren't enforced, they don't mean anything.

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We are adults and should remember what we agreed to contractually when we joined.
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I wonder how many people bother to read them. I'm going to guess less than 40%. Maybe less than 20% would be more realistic.

: )
Linda