Genealogy Wise

The Genealogy & Family History Social Network

Help us determine the level of censorship at GenealogyWise

Today is the one-week birthday of GenealogyWise. In the last couple of days we have had to face some censorship issues for the first time. We have not been around long enough to have set policies for these kind of issues. So, we want to turn to you, our members, to help us set our censorship policies. We invite each of you to respond letting us know whether or not you think the following types of posts should be censored:

(1) Content related to pornography or adult content
(2) Content promoting products and services not related to genealogy (business opportunities, etc.)
(3) Content that is disrespectful or rude (name calling, etc.)

We value your feedback and want your help in setting policies. What do you think?

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Michael A. Orr on July 16, 2009 at 5:23pm
I agree whole heartedly with this policy. Genealogy is not the place for such things.
Permalink Reply by John Noble on July 16, 2009 at 5:42pm
Absolutely - censor all 3 of the above
Permalink Reply by Foxie on July 16, 2009 at 6:01pm
i'M really appalled someone asked me join grouply. So I finally did and you would not believe what happened,. I got some guy and that's all I will say if that same thing happens on this I'm gone...... outa here right away. business opportunities if they can help I'm not bothered with and people in this business need to respect the living as well as the dead. so I'm for respectful, non rudeness, no name calling, etc....
Permalink Reply by G. Dickson on July 16, 2009 at 6:33pm
1.) DON"T ALLOW PORN OR ADULT CONTENT OF ANY KIND!
2.) Genealogy business would be ok.
3.) Common sense would be respectful, NO rude comments, etc.
Thank you
Permalink Reply by Elyse Doerflinger on July 16, 2009 at 7:04pm
Personally, I think that all porn should be deleted (this is after all a GENEALOGY website, and porn has nothing to do with genealogy) and I think that any business that is not genealogy related needs to be deleted.

However, terms such as "disrespectful" and "rude" are very vague and subjective. What may be "rude" to one person might be fine to another and what is deemed "disrespectful" to one may be different from person to person.

We are all adults here - so hopefully we will all act as such. However, if someone chooses not to, then fine. It is up to us as individuals as to whether or not we want to pay attention to the post. Sometimes, ignoring the post with content that some believe to be rude, disrespectful, or offensive is the best policy - the more you respond to it the more you feed the rude, disrespectful, or offensive behavior. Come on people - we are all adults. Lets get some thick skin.

I also fully agree with Thomas - transparency is KEY. I am not comfortable with what happened to Terry Thorton (based on what he has said) and I want to hear both sides of the story before I make up my mind. The bottom line is, if you guys censored his posts just because you didn't like them - I will be leaving this site. I believe in the idea of free speech - let's all be adults and stop getting offended easily.

I don't want to leave this site. I love talking to all of the people, discussing ideas, learning from the blog posts and forum posts. But the bottom line is, I refuse to be on a website that censors what I or others say.

Seriously people - we are all adults. At some point, we have to take responsibilty for what we choose to look at and respond to.

Thats my two cents...
Permalink Reply by CHASTITY on July 16, 2009 at 7:16pm
All content not directing relating to uplifting this site and it's people, and or genealogy should be censored. So, I vote yes, all of the above should be censored.
Permalink Reply by Debra Osborne Spindle on July 16, 2009 at 7:30pm
I hope I'm wrong and that GW is not trying to close the door after the has escaped.
I, too, believe transparency is the key. However, GW chose to remove a post without any forewarning or, evidently, any conversation with the poster, Terry Thornton. And their explanation so far has left a lot to be desired. There still seems to be a sense of blaming the victim rather than taking responsibility. This behavior clouds any attempts at transparency now, in my opinion.

Terry's post was strongly worded but it was not disrespectful. As a social networking site, GW had better be ready to allow its users to speak frankly, and yes, sometimes, that will include criticism. This seems like being a bit thin-skinned at the least, and being censorial at the most. I hope GW can grow with this--I'm still not sold based on the rather rocky start. The contest "bad move" could be forgiven, the censorship, not so much.
Permalink Reply by Eileen Cogan on July 16, 2009 at 8:00pm
I do not want to receive private messages from someone who is promoting a service or product and I don't want to have to weed through forum messages to find real content rather than promotion. I think anyone providing a service or product should be in a separate listing and if I want them I'll look for them. Let them have their page or their group and if I want a service or product I will look for it. Genealogy is frustrating enough without mixing research with commerce.
Permalink Reply by Gail Winstanley on July 16, 2009 at 8:22pm
I have to say, I do agree with all three being censored. As Michael Orr just so simply put it, Genealogy is not a place for such things. With regard to the blog entry made on the contest. none of us here know the full story, we are merely reacting to a blog entry that was on and then off the site and then reposted here in this thread. We do not have the back story regarding the situation so chosing sides as it were is counterproductive for what this site was conceived to do and that is to put genealogists from all levels of experience together in one place to help each other, to share our stories about our successes, our near misses and our brick walls. This site has the promise to be something absolutely wonderful for all of us out there searching for our roots, looking for connections with who we are and our history. That is what I come here for and will continue to come here for as long as this site is out there. Yes, this is a social network, but one with a very specific direction, Genealogy so I'm happy to have things moderated so that we do not lose the focus of what the main purpose of the site is.
Permalink Reply by Renata Nelson on July 16, 2009 at 8:31pm
1) Content related to pornography or adult content
(2) Content promoting products and services not related to genealogy (business opportunities, etc.)
(3) Content that is disrespectful or rude (name calling, etc.)

We value your feedback and want your help in setting policies. What do you think?

None of the above should be permmitted!!!!
Permalink Reply by Karen L. Pidcock Price on August 8, 2009 at 12:49pm
I do NOT want to have to deal with pornography or adult content on this web site.

Please do NOT promote products and services not related to genealogy.

Censorship always is a very sticky issue. While I understand that content which is disrespectful or rude sometimes can be interpreted differently by different people, I am in favor of being able to view people in the best possible manner. Manners and courtesy are always appropriate. Perhaps the best "censor" would be the rest of us responding to the "offender" rather than this site promoting censorship.
Permalink Reply by Tony on July 16, 2009 at 8:49pm
(1) No
(2) No
(3) Tricky

Basically, (3) comes down to the fact that you are not talking to your best mate face-to-face, who you know won't mind a few swear words; and face-to-face communications have multiple channels over which your message can be sent or modified: body language, tone of voice, gestures etc. Here we are (a) limited to text and (b) have no idea who the person receiving our message is.

If it was possible to define "disrespectful" or "rude" sufficiently well you could write an automatic filter to remove them. Ultimately it is personally subjective. What I may think is disrespectful another may find acceptable, and vice versa.
If I find a message disrespectful, but no-one else does, should that message be censored. I would say no.
On the other hand if 50% of the other GW users found it offensive then some action needs to be taken.

What if I said that I found bad spelling or punctuation disrespectful because the writer could not be bothered to make the effort to get these things right? If the writer's first language is English then I may indeed consider their spelling/punctuation disrespectful. If the writer's first language is not English then I cannot consider it disrespect but rather be amazed at their multi-lingual capabilities.

When you write your message, consider: would you be happy for your mother to read it? your sister? wife? husband? maiden aunt? your CEO at work? your 6 year old child? If yes to all of these then tone it down a bit more to account for different cultures and it may well be acceptable. Ultimately, it is probably the entire GW user community that is best placed to decide. I am sure they will make their feelings known should anything offensive arise.

Specific examples are much more help than trying to explain what is, or is not, acceptable. Post some examples of pictures and messages you think are 100% acceptable and ask for opinions. Then move on to slightly less acceptable and repeat. Stop when a sufficient percentage think they are unacceptable. You then have a scale from completely acceptable to just over the line into unacceptable without having to go anywhere near the completely unacceptable.

Tony

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