I received the following e-mail from a dear friend. Mr. Zevi Ashkeanzy is one of those people who are totally L’Shma in everything he says and does. His opinions and honesty is therefore something I respect and pay attention to. It has made an impact on me. And it makes me wonder just how many others have had the same reaction he has. Here now, the letter:
I never commented all that often on the blog to begin with. I did, however, read the blog and the comments almost every day and I certainly used to catch up if I missed a day. About 2 months ago, I realized how big of a waste of time yours and most blogs are. Blogs dedicated to Torah advancement, I think, are Ok - but even those will sometimes degenerate into Chillul Hashem and Sinas Chinam. I am not sure how you can honestly look at your blog as anything more than a vehicle for Chillul Hashem and Sinas Chinam.
One example:
You can't ban every IP address in the world. I told you I'm computer savvy. You can't ban me. so let's negotiate a fair settlement. My simple demands Don't erase my posts which dispute some of your more corrupt commentators and in return I will NOT SAY ONE BAD WORD AGAINST ANYTHING YOU SAY. If you don't agree let's discuss terms. But erasing my posts will just make the situation worse unless you plan on spending your whole day erasing my posts.
Where is blackmail endorsed by halacha?I'll promise you this T&MT: If you follow through on your threat, I'll be happy to publicize your blackmail attempt on a variety of secular blogs whose readers don't appreciate that kind of behavior. Blogs that get over a million visitors a week. Have fun when your gmail in box starts filling up with porn spam.
This is a typical response to almost every single one of your posts. Anyways, back to what I was saying before.... I stopped reading your blog and all blogs cold turkey for about one month. I came back to your blog to read only your posts about 2 times a week. I tried to sometimes read the comments and once the chillul Hashem starts I leave. Now, I am sure that an argument can be made that "it is a free country. If Zevi wants to read the comments or even the posts he is free to do so and if he doesn't he can use his time more positively." I have thought long and hard about these next comments.
1. I will not read your blog anymore unless I hear from someone like Shaya that things have dramatically changed.
2. If you are really L'shma about the blog I think you would want my honest opinions. I do not feel any pride about Yiddishkeit when I read your blog. In fact my Ahavas Yisrael and my Areyvut towards other Jews has gone down as a result of reading your blog. That is why I will no longer read it. Just because I am not reading the Chillul Hashem doesn't mean it does not exist. I want you to know that it was very difficult for me to write this to you because I do feel a close kinship to you. I also feel that it is Chaval since I do think you have what to offer. I think you should either stop the comments totally or have mush stricter censorship.
Zevi
His words are not anything that hasn’t been expressed to me many times by others. And I have been considering doing something about it for some time now.
In essence he says that he is going to stop reading my blog because the comments section has become a vehicle for Sinas Chinam and Chilul Hashem. I agree. I have tried to keep the comments focused, and free of the kind of Chilul HaShem Zevi speaks about. But I have been unsuccessful in doing so until now. I have therefore decided to implement a new set of guidelines for posting comments.
Unfortunately I do not have the time to moderate every single comment Surly that would be the most effective way to do it. But I will ban repeated violators of the new guidelines. This means I may forgive a first time offender with a warning, but after two or at most three violations, that commenter will be permanently banned from commenting on my blog. Those who know how to get around the bans will have their comments deleted as soon as I see them.
Here are the new guidelines.
1. No Nivul Peh (foul language)
2. No personal attacks against me or any other poster. No exceptions.
3. Passion is allowed and even encouraged but disparaging remarks against the Hashkafos or views of others will not be allowed. This does not mean there can’t be criticism. But all criticism should be done in as respectful a manner as possible, no matter how much passion one feels on the subject.
4. I will be the final judge on what is acceptable and what is not. The line between passionate disagreement and disparagement can be very thin and somewhat elusive. But I will do my best to make that judgment honestly and fairly.
Let this be fair warning to all who are currently commenters here who have come close to or have actually violated these guidelines. Everyone starts with a clean slate as of now. To those who have come close to or have crossed the line, please be careful. The guidelines listed begin now and I will be very strict about them.
I’d like to thank this opportunity to thank all of my readers and commenters for making this blog the success it has become. We can all do better. Let’s contribute to making this blog the Kiddush HaShem it has the potential to be.
