This is an excellent question. I frequent a discussion board and have done so since the beginning. At first it was a polite, intellegent exchange. Within a year or so it denegrated to name calling, cliques, and crass behavior. I lamented on the board that I was hoping to show my sons this site when they were old enough (it was a puzzle board), but that in it's current state I would not be able to do so. And yet what is the alternative? Try to moderate or 'censor' the board? Part of what I found refreshing was the frank exchange of ideas. I have discovered you have to look past what you find offensive to find the good stuff.
So do we just let our kids grow up quicker? Let them see the ugly side of the world, along with the good? Wasn't it Cervantes who said something like "Maddest of all, to see the world as it is, and not as it should be."
1 comment:
This is an excellent question. I frequent a discussion board and have done so since the beginning. At first it was a polite, intellegent exchange. Within a year or so it denegrated to name calling, cliques, and crass behavior. I lamented on the board that I was hoping to show my sons this site when they were old enough (it was a puzzle board), but that in it's current state I would not be able to do so. And yet what is the alternative? Try to moderate or 'censor' the board? Part of what I found refreshing was the frank exchange of ideas. I have discovered you have to look past what you find offensive to find the good stuff.
So do we just let our kids grow up quicker? Let them see the ugly side of the world, along with the good? Wasn't it Cervantes who said something like "Maddest of all, to see the world as it is, and not as it should be."
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