Forum Moderators: “There goes the neighborhood.”

[quote=”davidd”]Well Ladies and gentlemen
being that David Murray is now forum moderator I must bid you all farewell and wish you all a merry Christmas.
Having Him as forum moderator reminds me of a cross between nancy pelosi and Barney frank
:shock::shock::shock:[/quote]

I think he has been a Forum Moderator for quite some time already and you see very, very few interruptions or deletions by “the Moderator”.

And, if you are concerned that David is too far to the left for your liking, please rest assured that there are plenty who will feel I am too far to the right! (In the past I have been accused of being just to the right of Attila the Hun!) But I try my hardest to avoid the political discussions on this Forum or with friends. My feelings are that you may have and hold whatever political and religious feelings that suit you, just don’t try anfd force them on me!

But the Moderator’s role is not to control the discussion along the lines of one’s political leaning(s). It is solely to help Scott make sure that no vulgarity, crudeness, threats, personal insults or the like get published, and that people learn to “navigate” the Forum and are directed to existing discussions that may already answer their questions.

I wrote Scott just a few days ago and ask him if there was anyway to redirect the Forum to its original intent which I understood to be helping people learn more about Costa Rica as they plan a move or visit here, helping those of us that are already here gather more information about living here, and sharing resources that will make living here a little easier! I specifically asked Scott if there was anyway to limit all of the political rants and raves (left and right) and warned him that I was beginning to see something even worse than politics being introduced – RELIGION!

Scott responded by asking me if I would like to be a moderator because he is so busy already. I actually never said yes, in fact I responded to his invitation by telling him that I was very busy as well, but I did ask “what does a moderator do and how much time does it take?”

Next thing I know, I be a “Moderator”.

I see absolutely nothing wrong with discussing politics and religion, but I don’t think that was the intent or purpose of the Discussion Forum on [b]We Love Costa Rica[/b]. There are other blogs and forums created solely for those purposes.

So I think it will do all of us well to review the guidelines published by Scott and I would hope that (like David) I seldom have to “moderate” as a Moderator, and I hope everyone sees the value of limiting our entries on the Forum to things about visiting, living (coping) and loving Costa Rica, pro or con.

To each of you, I sincerely hope that you have a great Holiday Season and a healthy and prosperous New Year!

and guess what, kids? at one time even i was a moderator.

i think it’s good to discuss politics as it pertains to costa rica AND how the politics in the States affect what happens here. if you think it doesn’t, then i can’t help you. so many people move here and haven’t even a scintilla of a clue about the political system in costa rica, why it does what it does, and why gringos bitching about it is never going to change one little thing. no, costa rica is NOT like the US, thank goodness except that we have obamacare!!! jajaja

As for religion, well, this IS a catholic country and that drives a lot of attitudes and thought processes and dictates social mores. it’s good to have an understanding of these things BEFORE you move here and try to change it.

You are overly kind, Scott.

I second that motion

[quote=”Sailor”]Left or right, some of us came to Costa Rica to escape the U.S. political dog-and-pony show. Pura Vida.[/quote]

Ain’t that the truth!

I understand

I would also add that I think David has been an excellent moderator. He remains civil, balanced even when others are “less than kind”. It’s no surprise David that you handle yourself so well in the wild west of anonymous online forums with all of your previous experience. Lets have a diversity of opinions but try and be civil, respectful with one another. I think we get to really see the true character of the individual when they post under the shroud of anonymity of a websites discussion board.