Akathist
23rd January 2008, 06:25 PM
Greetings TAW.
I am writing to you as your sister. I am the manager of TAW so it is my responsibility to try to help members of TAW and to help TAW become a place we all want to be a part of.
I know some members are very upset right now. I believe that you are think you are upset with upper staff above your TAW team.
But that is not the reason threads were removed. It was solely the decision of your TAW team. And it was based upon TAW guidelines and what your TAW team felt was best for the atmosphere of TAW and also for one of our visitors.
We are 100% responsible. As manager, I am the person you should complain to and be angry with and not my staff. I agreed with the decision of the staff and I still agree with it.
We made this decision in an effort to serve all of you. This decision was not done out of malice and was not done lightly. It was done because of our love for you all, and our love for our Church.
Some of the reasons for this decision is confidential and we can not share it because it would violate the privacy of someone.
It would be very unfair to publicly expose things about someone in order to defend ourselves.
Please keep in mind when you are hearing one side of the story that there are other points of view that you might not be aware of.
I am aware by the pm's sent to me that a member who is supposed to be taking a break from TAW has been writing a lot of pm's and from what I have read, this member is not giving the full picture. I think this is a normal response actually. We humans tend to slant things to look a certain way. It is part of our fallen nature.
Recently we had a member who in the course of two weeks posted over 14 threads that had nothing or very little to do with Christianity, let alone the Eastern Orthodox Faith.
Staff discussed what to do about this when they started. In our discussions our first reaction was to leave them so that people could respond to them and teach things to that member.
But as time passed, the member posted more and more things that were less and less to do with Christianity at all. In fact, more and more of our guidelines and CF rules were being broken. Staff kept trying to decide how to best help the member.
At this point the complaints started coming in to me and through the reports. Members telling me that we need to do something.
But we were delayed in addressing them when we had a member of TAW claim to have taken a lot of pills. We discovered over the course of time that they knew the pills they took were not fatal and that they had never wanted to die. In trying to help the individual we were also told that they had no intention of attending services in the EO faith or of talking to an EO Priest. Further, they said they did not need any professional care and had no intention of getting any.
It became clear to staff, that we had someone seeking drama and attention, not genuinely seeking help. As a staff team, we came to this conclusion. It broke our hearts because we all cared very much for this individual.
Looking back on the 14 or more threads we decided that their purpose appeared to be to be disruptive rather then to genuinely want assistance or help. We saw the complaints in the threads, and read the words in them.
We noticed the things said in the threads verses private communication.
And we paid attention to the complaints of members about the situation.
One catecumen wrote to me and said that they could not learn about the EO faith because of how offensive these non-Christian and non-EO threads were. This broke our hearts too.
All of us staff see TAW as a ministry to teach about our faith to inquirers and encourage them to visit local EO Churches.
So, we had to consider the impact of these threads and future threads by this individual on our purpose here as well.
To help the member understand what threads were too far off the topic of learning about the EO Faith and what was OK, we chose to delete those threads.
We noticed that in every thread, the questions asked in the OP had been answered several times and that the member had posted after these answers. So, we felt the threads had served the purpose. But, they were still the cause for complaints.
We did not punish the member for off topic posts. The member has not been permanently banned from TAW. I can not disclose the details of what we did exactly but I can assure you that the member was reminded that staff really do care a lot about them.
I have had questions about people being afraid of what they can or can't post "now". It has caused me to be really offended. I wish I could react differently. But, it has offended me to think that people are taking this situation to such an extreme. It offends me to see TAW staff insulted by members that staff love and seek to serve.
TAW members should post the normal things they always post. No rule has been changed. No new policy adopted. Threads that were removed had served their purpose and had been allowed to do so. (Even though they were in violation of our guidelines.)
Guidelines are not meant to replace teaching someone something important or helping someone. They are meant to help us understand were we draw boundaries. But these boundaries are flexible depending upon the situation.
We bent those boundaries a lot. We will bend them again if needed. Why? Because we are here to serve what is best for TAW and to keep this place friendly and open to inquirers.
But that does not mean that we will not remove posts that have to do with non-Christian faiths or things that are about seeking drama and not about fellowship. It is our job to remove those things.
If a thread is removed, the starter of the thread can appeal the removal. We tell them this every time. We also don't remove things unless we as a staff team have agreement. We also inform members who started a thread about the reason for a permanent removal.
When a thread is removed, staff can still see the thread. It does not disappear. But it is not visible to the members. If there is a post or something you want from a removed thread, just ask me and I will get it for you.
One last thing, I want to remind you that we have a guideline that if you do not like a policy in TAW you need to bring it to me as manager via the PM system. You are not to start a thread about it.
When you start a thread this leads to problem with the atmosphere of TAW and people jumping to conclusions based on false assumptions. It also can lead to issues were staff can not disclose confidential information but are treated badly because we do not do so.
It is not proper to publicly attack anyone in real life or via the internet. First you need to take your issues to a person in private. The try to settle it. Then if that does not work, you talk in a small group with two or three others as advisers or mediators.
This is how we do things here at CF. If you do not like something, write me a pm and let me try to work it out. Then, if that fails take it to upper staff. But a lynch mob is what I have seen in the last day and it is unfair.
I am not a perfect person. I feel compelled to follow the rules I have been given. I have no trouble bending them but I hate to break them. Nevertheless, I have broken them by writing all of this to you. I am taking a big risk but I am doing this because I feel it is best for TAW.
I have been recently disciplined as well for taking such a strong stand against a nonTAW staffer who moved a TAW member's thread out of view and didn't even tell him. I spoke up so strongly and acted quickly and impulsively that I was disciplined. I did it because I felt it was needed for TAW and for a TAW member who did not break any rules with his thread.
So, clearly, I am not perfect. I am however very caring about TAW and every one of you.
I am asking you all now to stop saying hurtful things about TAW staff and to take your concerns to me via pm.
I am also asking each of you to forgive me as Manager for any way in which I have failed you. I didn't try to fail you. I felt trapped to do more then I did.
Pray for me a sinner. :bow:
I am writing to you as your sister. I am the manager of TAW so it is my responsibility to try to help members of TAW and to help TAW become a place we all want to be a part of.
I know some members are very upset right now. I believe that you are think you are upset with upper staff above your TAW team.
But that is not the reason threads were removed. It was solely the decision of your TAW team. And it was based upon TAW guidelines and what your TAW team felt was best for the atmosphere of TAW and also for one of our visitors.
We are 100% responsible. As manager, I am the person you should complain to and be angry with and not my staff. I agreed with the decision of the staff and I still agree with it.
We made this decision in an effort to serve all of you. This decision was not done out of malice and was not done lightly. It was done because of our love for you all, and our love for our Church.
Some of the reasons for this decision is confidential and we can not share it because it would violate the privacy of someone.
It would be very unfair to publicly expose things about someone in order to defend ourselves.
Please keep in mind when you are hearing one side of the story that there are other points of view that you might not be aware of.
I am aware by the pm's sent to me that a member who is supposed to be taking a break from TAW has been writing a lot of pm's and from what I have read, this member is not giving the full picture. I think this is a normal response actually. We humans tend to slant things to look a certain way. It is part of our fallen nature.
Recently we had a member who in the course of two weeks posted over 14 threads that had nothing or very little to do with Christianity, let alone the Eastern Orthodox Faith.
Staff discussed what to do about this when they started. In our discussions our first reaction was to leave them so that people could respond to them and teach things to that member.
But as time passed, the member posted more and more things that were less and less to do with Christianity at all. In fact, more and more of our guidelines and CF rules were being broken. Staff kept trying to decide how to best help the member.
At this point the complaints started coming in to me and through the reports. Members telling me that we need to do something.
But we were delayed in addressing them when we had a member of TAW claim to have taken a lot of pills. We discovered over the course of time that they knew the pills they took were not fatal and that they had never wanted to die. In trying to help the individual we were also told that they had no intention of attending services in the EO faith or of talking to an EO Priest. Further, they said they did not need any professional care and had no intention of getting any.
It became clear to staff, that we had someone seeking drama and attention, not genuinely seeking help. As a staff team, we came to this conclusion. It broke our hearts because we all cared very much for this individual.
Looking back on the 14 or more threads we decided that their purpose appeared to be to be disruptive rather then to genuinely want assistance or help. We saw the complaints in the threads, and read the words in them.
We noticed the things said in the threads verses private communication.
And we paid attention to the complaints of members about the situation.
One catecumen wrote to me and said that they could not learn about the EO faith because of how offensive these non-Christian and non-EO threads were. This broke our hearts too.
All of us staff see TAW as a ministry to teach about our faith to inquirers and encourage them to visit local EO Churches.
So, we had to consider the impact of these threads and future threads by this individual on our purpose here as well.
To help the member understand what threads were too far off the topic of learning about the EO Faith and what was OK, we chose to delete those threads.
We noticed that in every thread, the questions asked in the OP had been answered several times and that the member had posted after these answers. So, we felt the threads had served the purpose. But, they were still the cause for complaints.
We did not punish the member for off topic posts. The member has not been permanently banned from TAW. I can not disclose the details of what we did exactly but I can assure you that the member was reminded that staff really do care a lot about them.
I have had questions about people being afraid of what they can or can't post "now". It has caused me to be really offended. I wish I could react differently. But, it has offended me to think that people are taking this situation to such an extreme. It offends me to see TAW staff insulted by members that staff love and seek to serve.
TAW members should post the normal things they always post. No rule has been changed. No new policy adopted. Threads that were removed had served their purpose and had been allowed to do so. (Even though they were in violation of our guidelines.)
Guidelines are not meant to replace teaching someone something important or helping someone. They are meant to help us understand were we draw boundaries. But these boundaries are flexible depending upon the situation.
We bent those boundaries a lot. We will bend them again if needed. Why? Because we are here to serve what is best for TAW and to keep this place friendly and open to inquirers.
But that does not mean that we will not remove posts that have to do with non-Christian faiths or things that are about seeking drama and not about fellowship. It is our job to remove those things.
If a thread is removed, the starter of the thread can appeal the removal. We tell them this every time. We also don't remove things unless we as a staff team have agreement. We also inform members who started a thread about the reason for a permanent removal.
When a thread is removed, staff can still see the thread. It does not disappear. But it is not visible to the members. If there is a post or something you want from a removed thread, just ask me and I will get it for you.
One last thing, I want to remind you that we have a guideline that if you do not like a policy in TAW you need to bring it to me as manager via the PM system. You are not to start a thread about it.
When you start a thread this leads to problem with the atmosphere of TAW and people jumping to conclusions based on false assumptions. It also can lead to issues were staff can not disclose confidential information but are treated badly because we do not do so.
It is not proper to publicly attack anyone in real life or via the internet. First you need to take your issues to a person in private. The try to settle it. Then if that does not work, you talk in a small group with two or three others as advisers or mediators.
This is how we do things here at CF. If you do not like something, write me a pm and let me try to work it out. Then, if that fails take it to upper staff. But a lynch mob is what I have seen in the last day and it is unfair.
I am not a perfect person. I feel compelled to follow the rules I have been given. I have no trouble bending them but I hate to break them. Nevertheless, I have broken them by writing all of this to you. I am taking a big risk but I am doing this because I feel it is best for TAW.
I have been recently disciplined as well for taking such a strong stand against a nonTAW staffer who moved a TAW member's thread out of view and didn't even tell him. I spoke up so strongly and acted quickly and impulsively that I was disciplined. I did it because I felt it was needed for TAW and for a TAW member who did not break any rules with his thread.
So, clearly, I am not perfect. I am however very caring about TAW and every one of you.
I am asking you all now to stop saying hurtful things about TAW staff and to take your concerns to me via pm.
I am also asking each of you to forgive me as Manager for any way in which I have failed you. I didn't try to fail you. I felt trapped to do more then I did.
Pray for me a sinner. :bow: