Kristopher, Imagine if you will, walking into a very large meeting room in your local community with many of your neighbors, friends, co workers, family etc to discuss topics that either have or can adversely affect how you live your life in your own community. This meeting room is organized in a way where several meetings are going on, each meeting with a sign indicating to you what each meeting topic is about. There is no time limit on the meeting, the meeting will not be over till EVERYONE has had their say. Even after one seems like it is over you can come back days and years later and add something, and also get caught up on what anyone else has said. You can pick and choose which meetings you want to attend as well as your level of involvement. You are free to roam and pop in on any meeting that you choose, and the way the meetings are set up, you will not miss a single word, whether you were there or not. If you like the meeting and have something to share, you are free to do that, the only rule is that you can not attack someone on a personal level. If you do, you will be warned not to do it again. If you can not keep from doing it again, you may be asked to leave, but the people that manage the meeting are strongly encouraged to allow people to speak their mind on the ISSUES of the subject of each meeting. When and if a meeting seems to get out of hand, then one of these managers will stand up and make a public announcement or may pull you aside privately and discuss with you how some of your comments may be out of line. But in any case, great leniency is given so that EVERYONE, no matter their status is given an opportunity to speak their mind. Agreeing with individual speakers is not a requirement nor is it even encouraged. The great thing about how this meeting is set up is that you can pick and choose which meetings and subjects that you want to hear and or participate in, as well as pop back in on any meeting that was held in years past, replay everything that was said, and comment if you choose. If there was a meeting that you attended and you did not like the way it was presented, some of the commentators, OR some of the Comments, you never have to return to that meeting again.
The above is what PWI is all about.
Now, imagine this, As you walk into that room, you are handed a piece of paper that has a list of rules of what you can say and what you cannot say, who you can say something about, and people that you can not say anything about. Topics and subjects that you can and can not discuss are on the list as well. People that are supporters of the meeting, the ones that donated the money to hold the meeting, are off limits. NO ONE can say anything negatively about them in any way, whether what they say is true or false, you must not disagree with them and in fact it is preferred that you say nothing but nice things about them, if your opinion does not align with there's, then you will be removed from the meeting and never allowed back in with no warning whatsoever. (You may or may or not even realize what you said, AND what you said may be 100% truthful, BUT because it offended someone, you get removed, never to be seen again.) You are constantly looking at your piece of paper with rules on it to see if what you are about to say is allowed, and just then your given another list of rules, and now your so confused your not sure what you can say or not say. The only thing that is in common with the meeting above is that you can pick and choose what meetings to attend and participate in.
The above are what some other BBS are about.
Here is the most important thing to remember: The most important thing to remember is never take anything that someone else says about you, whether positive or negative to serious. If someone criticizes you, find the truth in it, if there is any, deal with it, and throw the rest out.
Second thing is, don’t confuse disagreement with drama. Remember, if we all agreed on everything, we’d only need one of us. There are certain subjects that will be brought up that cause passionate debate, disagreement, and conversation. We all have a choice to participate or not, simply by choosing to click or not click.