Opinion Tolerance

CHOULO19 · September 1, 2013

To all TC members,

In lights of the recent alarmingly frequent arguments and fights around the forum, the staff have been monitoring the situation closely and would like clarify a few things:

First of all we'd like to urge everyone to have more tolerance towards other members' opinions. This is a forum and differences in opinions are not only inevitable, but are what add life to the place. Attacks on members for just expressing an opinion have been becoming ridiculously common and cannot be accepted anymore. And that goes for personal insults and insulting other peoples opinions and trying to discredit them by calling them "stupid", "delusional" or any of the other usual stuff. Insulting other people's opinions will only lead to them insulting you back and that's how all fights starts. This is not about any one member or any specific situation but rather the whole "mood" of the forum.

The staff are very keen on keeping the forum a place where anyone can express their opinion freely about any subject as long as it does not violate any forum rules. We do not like strict rules and restrictions about posting. It is what sets us apart from other forums. This freedom of expression is what makes this wonderful close-knit community possible, and we want to keep it that way. But at the same time we are adamant about making that possible for all our members equally. Your freedom of expressing whatever you want stops at the freedom of expression of others. Meaning, you can say what you want as long as what you say does not affect the next members right to say what he/she wants.

We do not wish to stop disagreements; on the contrary we encourage them because that is what forums are all about. But there is a line between disagreeing with an opinion and insulting it, and that line has unfortunately been crossed countless times, especially in the past couple of months. So as a result, we have taken the decision, as staff, to deal with similar situations more strictly to ensure that everyone gets an enjoyable experience from the forum. Thus, anyone who insults any member for expressing an opinion, whatever the opinion may be (as long as it does not break any forum rules) will be asked to stop by staff members and anyone who persists on doing so will be facing disciplinary action according to our three strike warning system.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. I hope that we can kick this annoying phenomena out of our beloved forum and continue to have positive discussion.

On behalf of the TalkChelsea staff,

Nour.

Kojo · September 2, 2013