On Dissent and Definitions

Happy 2nd Month Anniversary, RealPagan!

I hate to start out with the ugly of the Online Pagan Community, but...

It was well-known that as we, as a network, grew in number that there would be elements of drama imposing itself.  Drama is not completely preventable as, unfortunately, it is part of the real world.  However, we can each do our part to minimize it by simply following the rules.  If someone is stepping on the rules, it is the job of the moderators to step in and prevent further breach of the rules whether by giving a time-out in chat or a warning, with subsequent violations ending up in a suspension of the account.  None of the moderators come in looking to suspend people.  Personally, I would rather not do it-- but, again, this is the real world, and it's going to happen.

All of the moderators are here as volunteers.  No one is compensated for their time spent in maintaining the site, of answering concerns, emails and moderating activity.  Many of us do a lot of work in the background and even at just over 400 members, some days can be a bit crazy.  As such, there will be no tolerance for the cussing, bashing or otherwise trolling/baiting of the moderators.  If you seriously think you can cuss me in a thread, you're nuts if you think you're going to be online for very much longer-- and the same applies if it occurs to the rest.  There's really no reason for it.  If you have a problem with a moderator, send me, Shawn or Strata a message.  If it is Shawn or Strata, message me.  If it's me, message them.  But, please, do this only if you cannot work out the situation with them.  "He/She is being mean to me, and said I am wrong on something" is not grounds for a 10,000 word essay on love, light and tolerance.

Do not come into a chatroom with the intent to "test" us, either, under a pseudonym designed to stimulate questioning or argument:  that is trolling, period, and you will be banned.

The reason that I bring this up is because this is something that has occured from the hands of a few previous members of this network over the past couple of weeks.  We're only talking about a very small percentage of members here, so it's not like this is a major issue.  However, I wanted to speak about it before it became one.

One of the silent rules, recently brought to the front of the network, was our use of certain terms within the network.  Collectively, we call this our "Definitions" page.  It outlines the different forms of Witchcraft.  The definition for Wicca is one that we have adopted, and will use, from the Amber and Jet elist, of which states it is "the lineaged, initiatory mystery religion with roots in the New Forest region of Great Britain, manifested today through various "traditions" all linked with a common ancestry back to the New Forest area. "Wiccans" or "The Wica" are the properly lineaged, properly initiated members of those Traditions"

The point of emphasizing the correct definition of Wicca is not to hurt the feelings of anyone in particular.  It is not a slap in the face of solitaries that have used that term for x number of years.  It's not there to say "you're wrong", rather, like the other rules, it is designed to minimize drama- rather than to create it.  It's been said time and time again over a number of other posts, but I will state it here for the record:  The popular use of the term "Wicca" to reflect a solitary, make-it-what-you-want practice was not an evolving of the term, but a forced change made by authors to manifest something out of context with the reality of Wicca while keeping the name.  The motive, I believe, was largely monetary gain-- but a few authors had a sour taste of Tradition, too, so instead of naming it something else, that held onto the very name of something they clearly hated and so pop/neo-Wicca resulted of it. 

That ends here.

Understanding this, I need to squish the rumor that this is a Trad network.  It is not.  This is not realwicca.net, realtrad.net or whatever-- it is realpagan.net.  It is a pagan network.  However, it is the only open-community, to my knowledge, that places a special emphasis on information quality, as opposed to membership quantity.  This includes respecting Tradition.  You may not particularly care for the person or the ideas of that Tradition, but do not use this network as a vehicle to vehemently espouse your disapproval of Tradition, Wicca, covens, et cetera.  If you had a bad experience and feel the need to discuss it-- do so, but understand it was your experience, so please do not generalize it for the whole.

Nor can anyone bash solitary practices, either.  There's a number of fantastic people that follow solitary, eclectic paths.  Their choice in path is not to be used as a tool to judge them.  As for those that follow information understood as "outer-court Wicca", from which is largely published, it is properly known as Dedicatory Religious Witchcraft (DRW), and those individuals will be barred from being bashed just as those who are the Wica.  Neither one is better than the other-- they are only different, that is all.  There's a number of people from both sides that I highly respect, and would not consider one necessarily the superior witch to the other.  It is only a different mode of practice.

ON OTHER NEWS!

I am REALLY loving to see your alls faces in video blogs here.  I have been working with an idea of hosting a monthly video blog topic.  A topic is presented and members here present a roughly five minute-ish video stating their opinions and feelings on the subject matter.  Details to follow, but rest assure such topics would not be too controversial-- but sufficient enough to stimulate conversation. 

We have added two moderators to the staff:  Lark and Oakthorne.   It may appear that we are over-moderated, but we are not.  I like the idea of keeping a fair presence within the network, so that there should be always someone to be turned to when an issue or problem arises.  We have a considerably eclectic variety of mods now, but we're all on the same page as per the aim of the network.  Together, we're going to continue to keep us top in quality among other networks-- and we need everyone's help in doing so!

I am adding a new forum dedicated to our periodicals:  The RP Pages and the RP Pulse.  It will be used to discuss the ezines, offer suggestions, respond to articles mentioned, etc.  Please feel free to use it.

I hope everyone had a blessed New Year!  Here is to a better one to come!

Blessings, all!

Sangraal