People sometimes offer "suggestions" to add to the volume of postings on some of our groups. They may write, "I was disappointed that the correspondence is not more dynamic. I have as yet to receive anything from the So-and-so Forum."
Their facts are correct, of course. Days, weeks, or months may elapse before items are posted to certain groups. This contrasts with groups that have regular postings with large volume.
However, the limited number postings is quite intentional - and it's part of the policy for running these groups.
That policy deserves an explanation.
There are millions (!) of chat groups on the Internet, as well as real-time services such as IRC. Some of them have specific topics; some are more general in nature, and others are created solely for the purpose of schmoozing. Most of those groups allow discussions that are either off-topic or only indirectly related to their stated topic. People may share their ideas on those chat groups, but they do not meet our criteria for sharing useful information.
The Jewish and Hebrew groups are different. With certain specific exceptions, they are decidedly and emphatically not chat groups. There are restricted to serious audiences that discuss issues on a professional level.
Each message is moderated before it is put through. It has to meet the specific group criteria as well as the general policy for all of these groups.
For various reasons, some of these groups have more activity behind the scenes than the public discussions.
A few, select groups, such as The Other Shul and Jewish Grandparents, are different. They are indeed rather chatty. In those cases, group restrictions relate inter alia to relevancy, refraining from insulting or offensive material, common decency, and uniqueness.
The moderator receives many messages indeed for all of the groups. However, only a small percentage of those messages is actually sent out to the subscribers. Those messages that are sent out have been scrutinized carefully. Unwanted junk mail, commercial offerings, spam, or trash from missionaries are all rejected outright. These large and clearly focused groups are obvious targets for this unwanted material.
Some of the potentially acceptable messages are returned to the writer for editing so that they will be more clear or focused. Others may have to correct postings that include unfounded comments or statements from an unacceptable source.
Still other postings are may go back and forth many times before they are accepted and posted. Others with potentially acceptable postings do not have the patience to make the necessary changes, so their postings never go through.
Our groups may be silent while waiting for an issue of importance to arise. Our subscribers prefer to wait patiently, and then to discuss the next serious topic in a mature manner. They know that when a message does go through, it is worth reading.
That is one of the differences between discussion groups and information groups.
Why aren't there more postings?
How are these groups different from others?
Summary
Find out more about rejected messages on these Jewish groups
Find out about guidelines that apply to our Jewish groups
Find out detailed information about these groups
Find out which forums are best for you
Find out more about other Jewish and Hebrew groups
Are you required to read this webpage for a course? Do NOT print out the article. It is copyrighted.
Your exercise for this article is as follows:
Copyright © David Grossman. World rights reserved. This article may not be printed, forwarded, reproduced, or copied in any way or in any medium without written permission from David Grossman.
Keywords: Forums
/ourjewishgroups/7Reject/QuietForum