regional conferences

[Woody]

I would like to know why two individuals had their posts removed on the Thread Regional Conferences. It appears that these posts were not in support of the individual who was the moderator and thus were removed. Does the moderator have the power to edit and remove opinions that are not inline with his personal view? What happened was that the only views in opposition to the moderator were removed while those in support were kept.

Is this within the power of the moderator? I would like to request that the moderator restore the posts. If he doesn't like them in HIS thread .... then allow them to be placed somewhere else. Better yet HE could have sent a PM to the individuals and indicated that he didn't want views in opposition to him and ask the author to place them elsewhere.

Just in case this moderator doesn't like the free exchange of ideas in HIS area .... I will copy this and place it elsewhere . I hope I can find somewhere to post my views without being edited.

If this moderator is not willing to have a free exchange of ideas and just wants to have his own views reinforced .... I would appreciate hearing this from him. Let's be honest here please.

[Woody]

Thank you.

[Dr. Shane]

I will give my understanding and Stan, Amelia and/or Gail are free to correct me.

The personal interview sections here at Club Adventist are not for open discussion in the same way the other sections are here. Some high-profile Adventists such as evangelists, media personalities, singers, publishers, authors, professors, etc. willingly agree to come here for an online interview and we must treat them as distinguished guests.

Treating them as guests means a few things:

1) We don't insult them or the work they are doing for the Lord.

2) We don't argue with their perspective. If we disagree with them we are free to start a topic in any of the numerous sections here and discuss it among ourselves.

3) We don't argue amongst ourselves in the middle of their interview. Imagine arguing with your spouse or children in front of distinguished guests in your home. That is just bad taste.

Is it safe to assume this thread has nothing to do with the subject title?

[Woody]

Well SHANE ...

If they are not open to discussions from ME then they should not be open for anyone. Why single out me. When you deleted MY comments you should have deleted ALL comments.

ALSO ... SHANE .... I resent you accusations that I in ANY way did not treat them as "distinguished" guests. I resent the accusations that I would "insult" them or the work they are doing for the Lord.

I resent that you would accuse ME of trying to argue with them.

I resent that you would imply that I would show "bad" taste.

I did none of this. If you felt I did .... then show me the proof. Do not just point fingers. You ...SHANE have far more fingers pointing right back at ya.

This thread has EVERYTHING to do with the thread by this title which YOU SHANE deleted MY personal posts in favor of other opinions which were in agreement with you personally. IF you didn't want comments ....

I would suggest that you do like Stan did and stop the access. OR at least be even handed and take off ALL comments ... not just mine.

Again Shane .... I feel that an apology is due. Of course Shane does not hand out apologizes so .... I do not expect one.

Respect needs to be a two way street Shane.

[Dr. Shane]

In the Danny Shelton interview, I posted a comment after a question Gail made and it was deleted before Danny did his interview. Stan made it know that we were to post our own questions and not add onto what others had posted.

I did not feel victimized nor did I demand an apology from anyone. Those interview sections are about the one being interviewed. They are not about us. I simply followed directions and posted my own question. As it turns out, Danny didn't answer either Gail's or mine.

There is more censorship in those interview sections. Some have been done with active moderation which means the moderator actually reads the posts and approves it before it is posted on the board. We go to extra lengths to make Club Adventist a friendly place for those that agree to an online interview.

I did not even read the specific posts I deleted. I cannot testify to what the content was. The reason they were deleted is because the question was for Brother Brito. I did not delete the first two responses because they made those responses before I made my comment about giving Brother Brito a chance to share his thoughts.

Simple rule of thumb. The interview section is all about the one being interviewed. It is not about us and is not a place for us to argue among ourselves. It is not so much a place for us to express our opinions as it is to ask the opinion of the one being interviewed. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to post questions but we are not to piggy-back on top of other people's questions until after the person being interviewed has responded.

[Stan]

In response to a couple if emails/PM's I have had..

This is it..

A moderator has the right to moderate their forum. Unless it caused significant damage to the forum or members, it will usually stand..

ALSO, there are several sections where topical questions / posts can be made.

We are trying to keep interviews with people to being interviews with people..

I would hope that others can invite other leading adventists, or adventist with various ministries here to be interviewed..

[Woody]

Thank you for specifying your censorship policy Stan.

In the future I will avoid Threads in which Shane is the moderator. It is a waste of time to voice an opinion that will just be censored.

[Woody]

Well Shane .... I just ask to be treated like everyone else here. If you are going to delete MY opinions ... delete the others. Don't let our history dictate how you teat me. At NO time did you state that you did not want us to continue to voice our opinions. Be clear Shane. And treat my opinions like the others. Don't just delete mine if you are in the deleting mood.

[Woody]

Stan .... All you have said is fine. Just treat all of us the same.

[Dr. Shane]

Again, no one was targeted to have their post deleted. I have now deleted all of them in hope of trying to make everyone happy. I do not even have an opinion on the question so I certainly couldn't be targeting people that disagree with me. My concern was that Brother Brito was going to get confused. Was the question for him or was there already a discussion taking place before he even arrived?

As the administrator in the Spanish forum I can say the only thing I have ever deleted has been SPAM, where someone was trying to sell products, and pornography. We have had plenty of both in that forum.

The moderators in that forum do censor the posts more than the moderators here censor posts. They are all fluent in their language (I am only about 85%) and I let them run their sections. In fact, at the beginning of the Bible and Theology section the moderator has posted "No Anti-Ellen White Threads Allowed"

We only ban members after it is put up to vote among the moderators and the majority of moderators agree to ban the person. That has happened twice.

We have not started doing interviews yet but we are considering it.

[David Koot]

My perception is that Redwood may have misunderstood the circumstances. It is clear to me that an interview is different than a discussion forum. But, aside from that, it is apparent to me that Redwood has misunderstood Shane. I know something about Shane. We have had some lively discussions, and I have seen him in action on C/A. He is not one to stoop to such bush-league tactics. Shane is very concerned about fairness, and that everyone have an opportunity to be heard.

Dave

[Gail]

Just popping in to reiterate what Stan and Shane mentioned. From my understanding, an interview is an interview and subject to a little different treatment than the other fora.

We have had an interview once where people commented so rudely to a guest that I believe he never returned. We are not willing that that should happen again, so this is the best solution.