THE WEEK I GOT TO MOURN A DIGITAL DEATH...

 

Some friendships are digital only, never to exist in our everyday physical world.

So are places.

 

One such place is the SCBWI Blue Boards, established by Verla Kay and later taken over by the Society of Children Book Writers and Illustrators.

 

It is a safe place to get educated, informed, and make friends with others who write or illustrate for children. Safe, because it was always moderated to quell flare-ups, keep out partisan politics or religious and anti-religious preaching and rants.

 

But it never lacked in real content and support, and let me tell you— if you embark on a writing journey you will need support.

 

A few days ago, a public announcement told the virtual water-cooler will be shut with two weeks’ notice. No explanation given.

 

Maybe the SCBWI headquarters have felt the boards have outlived their usefulness, (they were wrong on that count) or the digital space was too expensive for the organization to support (I wouldn’t know, they never said, and the membership was never asked to contribute more toward that end) ~~~

 

Whatever the reason, I was in mourning. The Blue Boards are where I learned from others more than any how-to books or internet posts ever could teach, and where I made friends. It was a digital space where I got and gave support.

 

While I also felt grateful for the years I got to have this hangout space, and I knew I was fortunate in that, I was sorry for those coming in now who would not be.

Yesterday, after a lot of heartfelt cries from many (many) members, the SCBWI reversed course and the chat boards are safe, at least for now. It goes to show that protest can and does work when a body is truly made of its parts. It's a reminder that so-called final decisions don't have to be. When the parts cry out, the head listens.

The experience of mourning yet another digital death has transformed into experiencing a resurrection.

Call it a Hanukkah miracle, or a Christmas present. 

👍^Resurrected^☝

Thoughts about CENSORSHIP

 

Every chat-board I’ve ever joined and then chose to stay has been moderated.

 

The few I glimpsed that had no moderation took five minutes to degenerate into rage, hateful posts, and virtual violence, which was no place I’d voluntarily hang out.

 

Thus, I confronted the matter of free speech and censorship with a personal preference, while intellectually grasping how problematic it is.

 

Let’s be blunt: moderated = censored. Censorship means that disinformation and gratuitous violence is kept out, but vital facts and alternative ways of seeing things can also be kicked to the annals of the Interwebs.

 

I know of no way to settle this that doesn’t harm us in some way. 😬

 

Personally, I’m congenitally moderate. I have a tendency to see two sides of most coins. Thus, I also prefer to keep extremists out of my periphery. Thus, I also live with the contradiction of approving censoring speech while knowing there’s harm in it.

 

I don’t know how you approach this matter, especially because of late  both extremism and censorship have increased to levels that are blatantly detectable.  I constantly worry if I’m getting a true set of facts to evaluate life choices.

 

So this is where I sit at the moment: I do not want to hang out where there’s no moderation. But I think there should be corners of the public sphere that are wholly free. I just won’t visit them often. I also think that every public space should state that it is or isn’t moderated.

{Full disclosure: I moderate comments on this (my) blog. To date, I've only censored spam. Trust me you didn't miss much except for links to useless merchandise and a few death threats 👀} 

 

There is no organized party for the likes of us, but if I were the organizer sort I’d be making signs that say: 

👉MODERATES UNITE 👈

(No exclamation, because— duh— we’re moderates 😉)