Our Jewish and Hebrew Discussion Groups began as a single group intended to discuss issues relating to Jewish computing. Since that time, they have kept growing, and today they include a very large series of professional forums. Each individual group is distinct in nature, and it caters to a discrete audience.
During this time, we developed an extensive set of guidelines and methods for dealing with new situations. This website presents the results of this effort.
Simply put: Jewish Groups does not handle things in the same way as other groups.
As a result, new subscribers sometimes challenge some of our basic philosophies and guidelines. They raise questions such as the following:
The pages in this "On Topic" section relate to those issues, and more. However, it would be useful to understand the underlying issue – how topics change. Let's see how that happens:
Let's imagine a query that begins on the Jewish Beginners group. That group discusses issues among those who are new to Judaism, or among others who are considering the possibility of joining the Jewish faith. As is the case with most of our groups, Jewish Beginners handles serious issues, and we do not allow casual chat. Yet, a newcomer may question issues that contrast Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform. Those issues are discussed in The Other Shul, and not in Jewish Beginnings.
Yes, that switch of topics may be a natural progression. Some of the participants, who may not understand our guidelines, may therefore feel that it should be continued on Jewish Beginnings.
First, let's consider the arguments against moving the discussion from one group to the other:
Those are good points, and well worth considering.
Let's take another example. The Jewish Parenting group may have a discussion about children. A parent raises an issue that relates to a child with special needs, and the discussion thread changes to issues related to a disability.
Again, subscribers may want the discussion to continue in Jewish Parenting. After all, it began on that group, and it certainly relates to the original topic of the group.
That's quite well and good when considering it from a single subscriber's point of view. However, our groups deal with thousands of subscribers, each one having different desires, needs, and proclivities. The subscriber to Hebrew Translating is not likely to want his emailbox cluttered up with issues about Jewish Photography, and the subscriber to Jewish Photography probably doesn't want his emailbox cluttered with issues relating to psychologists on Jewish Psych.
We therefore try to keep everything neat and clean. People join the groups that they want, and they receive only what they want. That keeps everybody happy.
Yes, you have a minor inconvenience when the topic is shifted. However, that little bit of consideration for others makes everything more orderly, useful, and helpful for all.
The goal is to present good queries or questions in specific areas, and to work out their solutions or answers. That means that the goal is not to continue talking endlessly or to keep a conversation going.
That means that they are very different from many other groups that you may have joined.
Find out more about remaining on topic
Find out more guidelines for our Jewish groups
Find out about other Jewish and Hebrew groups
Third Son will help you decide which group is best for you
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