Guidelines for responding to blogs

A major purpose of these blogs is to spark community discussion, so we encourage you to respond to them. Yet for the sake of creating a nurturing and supportive community, it is important that these responses are done in a friendly, communal spirit. Our goal, through these blogs and responses, is to create a feeling among us that Helen Schucman occasionally experienced: “a sense of everyone walking happily and very much together on the same path.” We want to avoid the all-too-common experience of an Internet discussion group where a few overly assertive participants take over and create a hostile environment that scares off everyone else. Instead, we are intent on fulfilling Helen’s vision by making the discussion cooperative, respectful, and supportive. We are dedicated to this being a safe place.

With this in mind, here are a few guidelines for responding to the blog entries:

1. In your responses to the blog entries, the main thing is to strike a supportive note, to convey that feeling that we are walking happily together on the same path.

2. Do your best to keep your response focused on the topic of the blog entry, rather than digressing onto other topics. We’d like to avoid the kinds of meandering, stream-of-consciousness discussions that are so common on Internet discussion groups.

3. Feel free to add your own reflections and experience related to the topic at hand. However, please refrain from lecturing and preaching. Resist the temptation to get on the soapbox.

4. Disagreeing with something a blogger or other community member says is fine, but please disagree in a humble, respectful way rather than slipping into name calling and other personal attacks. This includes that all-too-common Course student put-down, “Joe’s coming from his ego.” Disagree in a way that reflects your recognition that we are walking happily together on the same path.