i politely asked the person not to contact me via private message. i believe private message can be used as an attack with no repercussions. the person replied back that they will do what they want and who do i think i am.

i find this kind of commuication hateful and i am posting my response to it here because i am not going to be a victim.

again, i will ask all publicly. if you have an issue with anything i say on a public forum, please reply to me publicly. if this is about having an exchange of ideas, people should be able to do that without attack.

i do not wish to receive attacking pm's. i think that is fair.

i have never been a fan of pm because i feel it can be used for gossip and secret attacks. i am sure there are pm's flying right and left about me and that is fine, as long as i don't know about it.

i am just asking for some respect as a human being with viewpoints that might differ from the mainstream.

if i have said anything that offends you personally about racism, womanhood, religion, etc., it is just my viewpoint. it does not threaten you. i am not asking anyone to change to my viewpoint. i am not asking you to change your ideas or your religion. i am just talking about my ideas. if you believe in free speech, please just leave me alone or disagree, respectfully. thank you for your consideration.

Seek, I sent you a PM about this situation. Please read. Thanks, JJ

Ladies, please do not reply to this post. Thanks! JJ

on the middle east thread, chatty lady said:

"There seems to be one woman who has posted nothing since arriving here but topics that have hurt, insulted and instigated unrest and unpleasantness, and she calls anyone who disagrees with her underhanded snipes, a CLIQUE.

We are not a clique BUT we respect one another, we are friends and we stick up for one another and for this forum and what it stands for, as we would for you except for the fact that that isn't what you're here for is it seek?
Well, seek and you will find!

Sorry Dotsie but it needed saying, because of this and several other threads this same nonsense is going on in. One bad apple will ruin the bunch. I would appreciate this post being left as is. Thank You."

on one hand i have to marvel at the new label of "bad apple," but on the other hand, i have no words.

i will no longer post on this forum.

i do wish you all the best and hold no hard feelings.

the only political comment i will make is that this particular board does not allow the voices of ALL women to be heard. and that's ok.

Dear Seek, I have been keeping mum in the threads with hot topics for two reasons. Some of the posts were so long, and I just didn't have the time to read everything, which makes it risky to respond. The other reason is; - I was chicken. Yup,..I admit it. From what I did read, I could witness some hard mobbing against you. But I kept my mouth shut, because I didn't want to speak against my good friends here.

Now it's time to speak up, and express my true feelings. I didn't read any racism or antagonism in your posts; not at all. Just the contrary, you repeatedly stated how you are a peace supporter and hate war. You simply wanted to view the Gaza fighting from both sides. I agree, it is the only way to try to understand conflict. I do the same thing,

I can understand if you want to leave the forum, but I for one would be happy if you change your mind and decide to stay. You have my deepest respect for holding your own, and I want to tell you that I agree on many issues you have brought up.

Oh, and please don't anyone misconstrue anti-Semitism from my part. My Grandfather was Jewish and killed by the Nazis. I was raised Catholic,…but at this point I think I'm just a religious mongrel. I'm beginning to believe that could be the healthiest attitude ever.

Edelweiss

sorry you feel that way seek you could't have fitted in heer with some of the women. Fitting in or teething trouble was/is perhapps some of the problems.

In all respects if you go then good by and if you stay then i be talking with you later.

Ew good for you for talking you mind, i am sure your frends won't see you as antisemetic or anything else than you just being your lovable self.

I too have been standing on the sidelines. I'm too wimpy to participate in these heated discussions; you know the saying, if you can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen; well, I do, stay out of the heat here. And I cannot speak with any great expertise on anything political, it's just not my forte, and I have too little energy to spare to come up to speed to the point where I feel comfortable contributing. So I'm not going to say anything about any of that.

What I do want to suggest, not just to Seek but to anyone new, is that you make an effort to get to know us, ALL of us better, not just the women who actively participate in the controversial arenas. I often notice that some of the new women who arrive here wanting to start these hot topics don't bother to venture anywhere else on the forums, but stick solely to those few threads that they themselves start. That doesn't give you an accurate picture of who we are as a whole community here at BWS, it only gives you a one-faceted glimpse into the political face of SOME of the women here.

Not all of us are or can be interested in every topic or discussion going on here, but I think it's worth at least taking a trip every now and then to see and hear what other women are doing, at the other facets of the women who are participating in the hot topics but who are so much more than just that one face. IMO, until new women begin to risk getting to know us better as individual persons and begin to care about the real stuff going on in each other's lives, this place will never feel like the home that it is to us who DO take those risks and who do make those journeys into each others' lives and hearts.

seek, I owe you an apology. I saw that post late last night and quite honestly, didn't have the strength to do anything about it. This morning I got up early to work on the newsletter and take my daughter to school, and then I had class. I'm now home and finally getting around to addressing this. This was a hurtful post and I am heading there to delete it. I read several of your posts that had nothing to do with hurt, insults or instigating unrest or unpleasantness. You are welcome to carry on, but I certainly understand if you feel as though you have been mistreated.

seek, I guess I'd missed chatty's post earlier in the day because I went to that topic and read through some of celtic's posts, but didn't have anything to add. Politics aren't my thing. Again, my apologies. The post has been removed.

Seek,
If you came here seeking friends and women you could talk to, then you will work things out and stay.

Please read this whole post before giving up on it...

If this was a way of you studying how a group on line would react to a "wrench thrown into the machine," well, may I say it was a 5th grade level experiment. In order to do that, one would have to find a median response level first and then move off into challanging members to find their method of dealing with you. Since your entry, (read your first post,) sounded like a challange, I'd say your study model was flawed and you should have mapped out your stragedy better. Of course, the machine would throw out the wrench, again a 5th grade level conclusion. The whole educational model was immature.

If you came here for challanges, well, you got them. You started posting about controversial subjects and the members here gave as good as they got and met your challange. This, again, is simplicity and one could speculate the outcome.

As Eagle Heart said, if you got to know the members before challanging them and if I read correctly, that's pretty much what you did here on the site, you might have had a different outcome.

Again, I state, all is not lost. If you came here in honesty with good intententions and looking for the things that BWS provides, you can stay and these women would gladly work things out with you.

I have been on the end of the "hate stick," here and I know that if you stay and stay true to yourself, they will accept and come to embrace you. You only need to reach out from INSIDE the heart and forget the mind for a moment to reach the hearts of the women here, for they are good women, for the most part, and understanding of each other and new members.

I'd like to see if you can stay and make your membership meaningful and honest. YOu did not, after all, join a political debate forum, you joined a forum with threads carefully laid out to support women and yes, discuss the hard things when they bother you.

To support women of a boomer age. Support.

I dont' think anyone is as much as an outsider than me, or perhaps I have my equals with that regard but I do know that again, these women are loving, understanding, and respond in that way to anyone who joins, new or not.

do them justice and come back with open mind and HEART, and they will accept you without hesitation.

if you do not return, it shows this poster that you made your mark in arguements and perpetual challanges to the ladies here.
I don't mind you coming here to do that, I believe in freedom of speech, mind you. BUT, again, this is not a politial forum and you should find one that will discuss Israel ad nauseum, I"m sure there are MANY out there.

To be fair, I saw one post about family where you attempted to open up and talk about something that could INCLUDE instead of EXCLUDE. The women responded with kindness and understanding if you had noticed.

As to one poster who insulted you, well, I took some pretty hard kicks from a few posters here but cared enough to stay the course. You might try that. I still get my "hard subjects," discussed, but I also have a bond with many here.

Dotsie has honored you with removing the post if I have read this right and that should satisfy you, I know it did me.

With only the best regards,

Dancer9

I don't know who contacted you by PM seek, I never did.

What I have to say to anyone, I will say in open forum, thats only fair.

And you needn't leave this forum, I WILL!!!