General Design and 'Ground Rules'

Response to Noli's Request for Certain Criteria

(This is the response, dated June 13, 2002, sent by the LightShare e-mail list group moderator to member Arnulfo Mirafuente who had asked for certain criteria for posting items on the Sanib-Sinag forum's e-mail group version. The website uploading promised here has been done, as you can now see on the screen.)

DEAR NOLI, you asked for some criteria on the postings we would welcome here in our LightShare e-mail list group.  I had earlier planned to come out with something like that at the very start, but i do feel a lot safer now about coming out with some criteria, now that i've been asked to do so.

Criteria for postings here would be based on the purpose of it all. The LightShare e-mail list group is launched by SanibLakas Foundation (under its program thrust for Human Development and Harmony) for the purpose of providing a venue for sharing of personal insights and personal experiences and personally-chosen inspirationals so that we would all be enriched in maturity, emotionally, and spiritually. 

This has no intention at all in putting up or putting down anyone, or even in saying one is better than another, or even that one's ideas are better than another's.  All who are familiar with SanibLakas Foundation would readily understand our strong preference for complementation and combinations instead of competitions however "friendly."  This forum will not wilfully accommodate any debate because a debate would separate persons instead of enriching "both sides" on the basis of their diversity.  Everyone involved gets enriched by the process of sharing towards convergence the different rays of light from the same Light of Truth and Wisdom, as uniquely reflected by our unique personalities, circumstances and/or experiences.  Yes, we can get enriched in coming across even those ideas that you'd "forever" find ridiculous, sacrilegious, illegal, downright absurd, etc. etc. 

In debates, there are "winners" (persons who "win" not necessarily through the power of their ideas, but perhaps at least partly through some trickery or intimidation), and there are "losers" (persons who "lose" for not being smart enough or forceful enough, etc.).   Much learning opportunity is often lost by both "sides" because instead of listening fully to one another they are engrossed in the unproductive or even counterproductive to prove the other person or group wrong. There is also the idea that one has to speak up and correct the other people's "wrong ideas" because silence might be mistaken for conformity.  That kind of thinking works elsewhere, like in collegial bodies that make decisions.  But it cannot be useful in this forum. 

Here, we categorically declare that we will not assume silence to be a sign of consent, so no one would feel "duty-bound" or pressured to speak out to "correct" other members' ideas. All are encouraged to speak out mostly to enrich the sharings with their own contributions to these exchanges.  Our members are adults and are no longer "impressionable youth" who might get confused by postings that say the "wrong" ideas; we don't have to shield anyone from any such  "wrong" ideas. We don't have to do any shielding, except perhaps from our own occasional but contagious tendencies to be self-righteous and judgmental.  Nothing stops us from offering a different sort of PERSONAL view (based on personal experiences), but these should be honestly expressed as such.

We would ask people to speak from their own experiences and present their postings as personal sharings of their own opinions and their own experiences. This is why we want our members to identify themselves with their own  names (kahit hindi full names).  If we want to bring in a piece of writing or a quote from other people, this would be more useful to us in the group and even to the member doing the posting if it could be accompanied by an explanation (even just a very brief one) as to why s/he appreciates the writing/quote enough to ask the other members to spend time reading it.  Without this, the sharing of a quote or writing from others may tend to feel like a lecture invoking outside authority and intimidating others to simply agree because it comes from an authority figure. This invites rebuttals and counterrebuttals or, in short, a debate.  

We prefer to partake of the homegrown wisdom and sincere discernments of our list group members. We can go to the libraries and bookstores for the other authors, but YOUR OWN experiences and YOUR OWN insights are what we would prefer to see here.  And we would like to see a lot of them. Postings here are being preserved and later on mounted into the LightShare webpage  to be created and uploaded soon.  They will periodically be carried in hardcopy versions.

But the bottomline on postings is that it should not insult any person or group of persons on the basis of physical appearance, gender, color, creed, culture, or class. We can criticize acts and patterns of behavior, and responsibly offer some personal observations and some personal analysis. But insults cannot help anybody any. They are simply separative, and can therefore jeopardize the spirit and purpose of this project. We want our members to develop an increasingly healthy predisposition and attitude to all others. (A severe insult addressed to anyone can make this moderator decide to delist the erring member, depending on the gravity and perceived intent of such an insult. Of course, we just have to say this to draw the line, and we really don't expect this to happen.)

I hope that these points can stand for preliminary criteria or "ground rules" for the time being.  I would welcome comments and suggestions to add or subtract points, as the case may be, and adopt them on a case-to-case basis depending on how they would be consistent with this project's definitions.   

Reply to Merci: 'Kailangan ba, magkakakilala ang e-group members?

Merci,

Salamat sa response. Sana mas marami pa ang mga katulad mo na sasagot sa imbitasyon, para naman alam ko kung umabot ba, kung payag ba, kung may tanong ba, etc. Anyway, to answer your question, karamihan ng LightShare e-group members ay di magkakakilala.  Meron ding substantial percentage na magkakilala sa acquaintance level lang -- pangalan, mukha, "calling-card" information.  Sa ganoong level, di pa TALAGA magkakakilala.  Sa pamamagitan ng sharing dito, mas malalim ang level ng pagkakakilala. Kaya baka apprehensive din mag-share ng personal experiences yung marami sa members, kasi nga personal na pagpapakita na ng kaluluwa ang pwedeng abutin ng personal insights and experiences.  May matututunan din naman ang lahat sa pag-share ng mga inspirationals na kinopya sa iba, kumbaga, forwarded dahil maganda at sayang namang basta burahin. Pero dahil may kakaibang magnitude of learnings tayong nakukuha sa mga karanasang nagmumula sa mga kahawig natin ng kalagayan, mas matinding epekto kaysa inspirationals mula sa ibang bansa na may iba talagang kultura, masarap sana kung mas maraming personal sharings tayong mababasa dito.  Pero di naman dadami kung walang maglalagay o kung iilan lang.

Sige, aabangan ko/namin ang iyong sinabing "will share some insights later." Salamat muli!

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