I just spent about two hours of my time reading and responding to the mail in
SCRoots that came in since I last checked it yesterday.  In the 24 hours that
passed between my readings it appears a minor "war" developed, people took
sides, attacked, defended, and others not involved tried to get the combatants
to move the battle away from their territories.  Its apparent that wherever
people come into contact with people, there will be conflicts.  We don't always
"just get along" as they say.  At least this small war was conducted in a "civil
manner" without use of profanity, name calling, or other crude or childish
behavior.  

But, it was abundantly obvious to most forum readers that this "war" was
inappropriate for the forum.  I'm asking all readers to cease and desist from
posting any further messages regarding or related to the "war." No matter how
well intended, such messages usually tend to inflame one side or the other and
stimulate further confrontations.  

There will always be new conflicts from time to time, and messages which are
inappropriate will get posted in the forum.  I can't be at the computer 24 hours
per day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year.  I'm not the Nanny for the Net. 
So, try to be tolerant and patient when such inappropriate behavior is displayed
in the forum.  If you feel compelled to act, please do so by sending a message
directly to me or to the author of the inappropriate message.  But, do not send
it to the forum.

Since the recent "war" touched on the issue of commercial advertisements, I want
to explain my policy on this. First, I am an American and I believe that free
enterprise and the system of capitalism found in America is a basically good
system.  I am not opposed to commercial business operations.  But, like most
people, I do not want to be bombarded by advertisements in email.  Because of
the nature and mission of Rootsweb and the SCRoots forum, posting of commercial
advertisements is not generally acceptable in the SCRoots forum.  

The limited exceptions I consider allowable are offers for items sold to raise
funds for Rootsweb or items sold by the Archives and Repositories of importance
for protection of South Carolina records and history.  These are not commercial
business and thus do not violate the policy statement.

However, I do not intend to scrutinize every message and take action if there is
some subtle reference or pointer to a commercial source included in the
message.  As long as the main topic and essential nature of the message is in
compliance with the Forum Policy, its probably an okay message.  If someone
abuses the system and posts blatantly commercial ads or bombards the forum with
repetitive solicitous messages, then I will take action to warn or ban that
person.  I have not seen any gross violations thus far in SCRoots.  

Perhaps there is some valid concern that the cumulative postings in multiple
forums is a problem.  But, I'm not the manager for every forum on the net and
don't have time to investigate or monitor every forum.  Frankly I have better
things to do with my time than worrying about a rare and mild violation of the
Forum policy.  As long as the violations are minor and rare, try to live with
it.  If it becomes repetitive or flagrant, let me know.

Now, I hope this ends the matter.  I have privately warned the "combatants" to
cease and I have issued a public statement of policy.  I would have rather spent
the last two hours finding and posting information of interests to
genealogists.  

Thanks to everyone for being civil, even when disagreeing with each other.

Steven J. Coker
SCRoots Forum Manager
[email protected]
http://www.wp.com/Coker/faq.html

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