Many of us belong to discussion forums on the Internet, ranging from simple open-discussion chat groups to international groups that discuss professional topics. Many of the serious groups are moderated. This means that every message is checked before it is sent out, in order to maintain the best signal-to-noise ratio.
Nonetheless, some messages can get through that may raise eyebrows. This does not mean simple unwanted commercial messages, but highly offensive trash. Missionary material could appear to be sent from Jewish groups, for example. In one recent example, the sender used a real subject line from a legitimate Jewish group - but he sent the material out himself!
Of course, this results in justifiably indignant responses from outraged subscribers: "We are serious, like-minded people, and we are discussing serious topics. How does this intruder have the chutzpa to violate our territory, our trust, our beliefs, and our sensibilities?"
It seems that the more serious that a group is, the more that undesirable elements will attempt to infiltrate it. Groups which are serious indeed face increasing numbers of such problems.
A similar problem occurs at the holiest of Jewish locations, the Western Wall. Visitors sometimes feel that they are surrounded by, well, what Rabbi Hanoch Teller likes to call "Wall-Nuts". Again - the holiness of the site attracts them.
Of course, we are not comparing these discussion groups to the Kotel. However, it is clear that the more that a site is perceived as being holy, important, or effective, the more that it will attract opposing elements.
That is why these groups have a board of experts who can help determine whether potential postings may have originated from negative elements. Those who attempt to send such material are banned from the group.
This procedure does block nearly all of the problematic material. We pay a price for having "clean" e-mail: your postings are delayed until they can be approved. I'm sure that we all agree that this delay is warranted, so that offensive mailings are prevented from reaching your emailbox.
Yet, even with the most intense efforts, a rare offensive message may go through the group. Following is the best procedure in such an event:
Notify David Grossman, the group moderator, immediately. State the problem clearly.
There will then be two options:
Ecclesiastes referred to Zeh Le'umat Zeh: Any good activity or object faces an opposing activity or object. Strong positive elements face equally strong or offensive negative elements. This does not imply that it is a tribute to some groups that large numbers of troublemakers try to infiltrate them, but it is a reality.
The bottom line is as follows:
However, this fact does also create challenges.
Our Jewish Electronic Publishing group provides an open discussion of this policy.
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