Me Scurvy
Crew: Plunder my treasures: |
Attempts at Better Communication Skills for Pagans This is a letter that I recently posted to a yahoo group that I belong to. I have been witnessing a lot of strife in our small, burgeoning community as of late, and I would really like to see a beginning of better communication. I truly hope that I wasn't out of line when I posted this. Community....common unity. I like to think of community as such- a common unity amongst individuals who strive to attain the same goals. Having said this, I am going to put my 2 cents in about the nature of email and how it is a wonderful conduit for miscommunication in a community. I like to think of email as a way to disseminate information, such as times, places for events, as well as other group-specific information; for this particular group, spiritual notions, correspondences, moon lore, etc. I find that email is a great way to share information of this nature. It has been my experience that personal discussions tend to get misinterpreted, mangled, and heated via email. Unlike a phone conversation or face-to-face talk, email has no way of expressing the subtle nuances of voice tone, facial expression, etc. that create the *meaning* behind our words. Email just uses the words, leaving the interpretation up to the reader and their own mythic story about what those words could mean. What I mean by mythic story is those stories we tell ourselves about our world. If we are feeling insecure, a statement made via email could feel like a personal attack, because our emotions and what we tell ourselves about ourselves and our world colors the words of the email. Conversely, if we are feeling on top of the world and confident, those same words will have a different effect. I am not comfortable with emotional problems being expressed on a public email list. I know that if I had a personal problem with anything that was written on this list, I would either email the individual who wrote the email privately about it, or, even better, I would try to contact them via phone or in person to discuss the matter. This is just how I personally handle these situations. I have been on lists that have taken a stance such as this (no personal discussions of posted emails sent to the list) and things have generally worked out for the better. This is my suggestion for this group. Community....common unity. Hoping for responsible interactions, Rowan AutumnFire said the Dread Pirate Ro at 4:36 PM on June 17, 2004 Aarrgh! 0 scurvy dogs said "Ahoy, matey!"
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Starboard Shiver Me
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