One user of the chat list who rated himself as a frequent reader but infrequent user explains the level of safety encountered on the juniperoldskool-chat list: "I think that it is impossible to feel that your ideas may not be attacked but I feel it was safe for you to share and that you would not personally be attacked. But many topics have strong emotions attached with them" (Matthew, Survey March 17, 2003). This insightful comment by a Junipero resident emphasizes the personal safety that the dorm chat list allows.
This feeling of comfort on the list stems from the idea that students, like Matthew, know that the chat list is a forum where ideas will be argued and people will not be personally attacked. In a thread relating to the onset of war and its relation to "March Madness", emails involved a discussion about one resident Alex, using the term "sick" to describe the initial email of betting on bombs: "Don't you think betting money on when Iraq will be bombed (i.e. when people begin dying) is a bit...sick?" (Alex, juniperoldskool-chat post, 17 March 2003).
Another resident, Paul, respectfully asked not to judge or name-call other members of the dorm: "I'd simply like to suggest that we avoid making value judgments on our dormmates. If you disagree with an idea, that's fine. But if we start accusing people of being 'sick,' things could get carried away" (Paul, juniperoldskool-chat post, 18 March 2003). Here, Paul recognized the importance of keeping the dialogue safe from harmful attacks on individuals' character.
| Alex then replied with the clarification that he was evaluating and judging an idea rather than a person of the dorm: "Hate the sin, love the sinner. I said betting on people getting bombed is sick. Not the person who suggested it" (Alex, juniperoldskool-chat list post, 19 March 2003). Even though the e-mail discussions could have turned into a heated debate with personal attacks, the users of the chat list recognized that intellectual debate involved the discussion of diverse ideas rather than name-calling or other personal attacks. (Samagh, 2003) | |
Although Junipero's controversial discussions did not erupt into many personal attacks, this same level of virtual "safety" does not often occur in other residence dorms, which can lead to flame wars.
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Flame Wars