What to do about fights in our Forum? It would be a brave person who tried to argue that what is so often blithely referred to as the glbt community actually exists in some coherent and tangible form. A researcher for the NZAF a decade or more ago seemed to understand that, and even coined the phrase "a discursive entity" to describe any sense of unified community we might have... simplistically, something that exists in speech and discussion only. Mostly, when speakers or writers refer to us all as "a community" they really mean "communities." It's a trap we at GayNZ.com try not to fall into too often. But a unified 'community' is a difficult concept to jettison completely and sometimes it pops up in unexpected and misleading ways. In retrospect it underscored our decision to establish our Forum, or message board, as somewhere for widely scattered people from 'the community' to come together, to express their differing views and experiences. To listen to views other than their own and debate, in a civilised manner, their points of difference. 'Civilised'.... there's a word heavily loaded with lofty ideals. And wow did our hopes for 'civilised' discussion and a sense of 'community' set us up for an unexpectedly rocky ride in the GayNZ.com Forum. Because a small but significant portion of the verbal to-ing and fro-ing in there is unpleasant, bullying, foul mouthed, toxic, and therefore unwelcoming - particularly for those glbt people who are looking for discussion, not derision. It seems to be a fact of life that for every group in any 'community' (no matter how wide or narrow their shared interests are) with qualities of patience, intelligence and a sense of sharing something with others and of the greater good, there are a few whose delight comes from confrontation, harassment, criticism and base selfishness. In his celebrated novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding placed a group of young boys on an island without oversight, enforceable rules or insightful leadership. They deteriorated into tribal savagery and cruelty. He was making the point through the characters of Ralph, Jack and their schoolmates that without such assets egalitarianism is inevitably tainted by baser human instincts such as selfishness and divisive tribalism... and anarchy or worse prevail. GayNZ.com is not the only internet media grappling with the tendency of open discussion topics to plunge headlong into vortices of vitriol. It happens on the loftiest of sites, both here and overseas. Visit the New York Times and read some of their threads... it may be an eye-opener. So, what to do about this problem within our complex and wide ranging Forum, with our objectives of civilised debate, open access, respect for others and, yes, a sense of a connected, shared 'community?' Some with a libertarian bent will say that any intervention is incompatible with important principles of freedom of speech and a natural flow of discourse. But what if such a hands off policy leads to the law of the jungle where topic threads too often become dominated by the thickest skinned and most combative, becoming so unwelcoming that those with milder personalities or more balanced views feel unable to actively participate. That too is an effective loss of freedom of speech. And that is happening in our Forum, and in others. When we embraced the egalitarian nature of the internet we forgot the warnings of Golding and others and naively thought we could easily create an environment in which accuracy, passion, respect and common humanity would be principles that all would instinctively understand and respect for the greater good of the glbt communities. Sometimes in life the best of intentions go astray because of naivety. Often we learn a lesson and are able to get things back on track. Whatever steps we take or don't take, hopefully we won't have to surrender too many of the original principles which set us on this adventure in the first place. And inevitably we will not please everyone whatever we choose to do. It is hard to escape the seeming inevitability that in order for our Forum to encompass the widest possible variety and number of participants, some of whom are vulnerable, we must revisit our rules and guidelines for participation. Within the limits of the time available to the tiny band of volunteers (you can literally count us on the fingers of one hand) who have created and sustained GayNZ.com as a resource for tens of thousands of glbt New Zealanders we must find a workable method of dealing with this fraught issue. So, while we take a few days to debate this thorny issue amongst ourselves and aggregate advice from those people with views we respect, we invite you to decide which sort of glbt internet community you want to be a part of... Ralph's or Jack's. - Jay Bennie GayNZ.com Content Editor Jay Bennie - 30th January 2008