ADMIN, new guidelines for comments

Last week we had local elections. This has caused me to reflect on both Proviso Probe and Proviso the community.

I am going to make a major change to Proviso Probe. Proviso Probe will no longer accept comments that are disrespectful to members of the Proviso community, including people who post on Proviso Probe.

I'm not sure I can describe all the ways comments can be disrespectful, but here's a partial list.
1.No talk of people's sex lives, unless there is direct connection with professional duties
2.Do discuss people's bodies
3.Don't discuss medical conditions, including mental health issues, except in cases where mental health is central to the story (e.g. Westchester case and Hubert Thompson)
4.Do not engage in name calling and insults
5.Do not attribute motivations you can't know

Does this mean Proviso Probe isn't going to allow criticism of public figures? Discuss what people do, not who they are.

Why am I making this change? I suspect that the negativity of our political discourse is doing a certain amount of harm. People and factions say ugly stuff about each other and it makes it difficult to work together in the future.

Also, I suspect the incivility hurts reformers more than it hurts people in politics to make a buck. When the discourse sinks to a bunch of name calling and allegations about porn, pedophiles and perversions the people who oppose reform can avoid the issues of substance by turning the discourse into a mudslinging contest.

As for the Proviso community, part of me would like to see the various governing bodies put the elections behind them and have the factions work together.

But part of me thinks that it would be inappropriate to give people a pass for doing stuff that is unethical or illegal. I'm wrestling with this so the line between allowable comments and not allowable may shift.

ADMIN, Russell Simmons calls for treating people more respectfully

Yahoo (Reuters, Daniel Trotta):

Prominent U.S. hip-hop executive Russell Simmons on Monday recommended eliminating the words "bitch," "ho" and "nigger" from the recording industry, considering them "extreme curse words."....

Simmons, co-founder of the Def Jam label and a driving force behind hip-hop's huge commercial success, called for voluntary restrictions on the words and setting up an industry watchdog to recommend guidelines for lyrical and visual standards.

I'm not exactly sure how it's going to work, but Proviso Probe is going to be moving in this direction, especially in decisions about which comments to allow. More later.

Atrios has posted two entries on Run DMC. In the first Atrios noted that Joseph "DJ Run" Simmons is the brother of Russell Simmons. And in the second entry Atrios wrote:

And the cover...

...which made it okay for white kids to like rap, white broadcasters to play it, and brought back Aerosmith from the dead.