Take What Fits and Ditch the Rest by Elianah
"My 2¢ worth, take what fits and ditch the rest." This is a phrase, or one of its abbreviated versions like "As always, my 2¢ worth," is something I am finding is invaluable as a signature line for my posts. It is my way of providing a disclaimer that what I have said in a post are my thoughts and if others find the information, or a portion of it, rings true for them to use it. If the information has no value for them, then they should discard it.
No matter what the forum, I do believe that each person is sharing information in an open discussion. This means to me that posters are inviting comments to be made to what they are saying, whether it is in support or in dissention. If they are not interested in a full discussion of their ideas, perhaps they should make clear what type of response they will accept.
Of course, this does kill discussion. I hope that all posters might believe in the idea that all community members have something worthwhile to share and discuss, and no one has to agree with the previous posts on a thread in order to reply.
I think people’s souls bring them to specific forums for a reason. A forum may likely be the intersection where souls come to share, learn and decide what is right for their presentational selves at this time, hoping the discussions contained within the forum will affect who the presentational selves were, are and will become within that moment. Souls are using the forum as a way to teach presentational selves how to honestly present personal ideas and convictions in a way that is open to all possibilities.
Part of honestly presenting the total person is the language one uses. Although using phrases like “I believe,” “I think,” “perhaps,” “maybe,” etc. is important, overuse of them may lead others to believe a poster has little conviction for the beliefs being shared within the reply. Usually if a person sounds strident and overbearing in a particular post, it is due to the strength of the personal convictions being shared.
Sometimes strength of personal conviction language may also sound like a personal attack to some. If it does, I believe it is important for clarifications to be sought before a judgment is made. The poster may not have meant it in the way the reader understood it. If the reader still feels under personal attack after clarifications are made, then the reader may consider reporting the poster to site moderator for monitoring.
I have discovered that there are some readers who choose to allow the language of the post stop the discussion. If posters really did mean the reply to end the discussion, they will most likely not return to that thread because they have had their say for the moment. As posters learn and grow, they might return at a later time to a thread with different insights that will hopefully be welcomed by the thread members.
In the end, no one is right or wrong, only learning and growing on a very personal path. Where a path intersects with another, a gift has been given. May we all accept the gift with gratitude and honor.
And, as always, this is my 2¢ worth. Take what fits and ditch the rest.
Of course, this does kill discussion. I hope that all posters might believe in the idea that all community members have something worthwhile to share and discuss, and no one has to agree with the previous posts on a thread in order to reply.
I think people’s souls bring them to specific forums for a reason. A forum may likely be the intersection where souls come to share, learn and decide what is right for their presentational selves at this time, hoping the discussions contained within the forum will affect who the presentational selves were, are and will become within that moment. Souls are using the forum as a way to teach presentational selves how to honestly present personal ideas and convictions in a way that is open to all possibilities.
Part of honestly presenting the total person is the language one uses. Although using phrases like “I believe,” “I think,” “perhaps,” “maybe,” etc. is important, overuse of them may lead others to believe a poster has little conviction for the beliefs being shared within the reply. Usually if a person sounds strident and overbearing in a particular post, it is due to the strength of the personal convictions being shared.
Sometimes strength of personal conviction language may also sound like a personal attack to some. If it does, I believe it is important for clarifications to be sought before a judgment is made. The poster may not have meant it in the way the reader understood it. If the reader still feels under personal attack after clarifications are made, then the reader may consider reporting the poster to site moderator for monitoring.
I have discovered that there are some readers who choose to allow the language of the post stop the discussion. If posters really did mean the reply to end the discussion, they will most likely not return to that thread because they have had their say for the moment. As posters learn and grow, they might return at a later time to a thread with different insights that will hopefully be welcomed by the thread members.
In the end, no one is right or wrong, only learning and growing on a very personal path. Where a path intersects with another, a gift has been given. May we all accept the gift with gratitude and honor.
And, as always, this is my 2¢ worth. Take what fits and ditch the rest.