Message
par Sylvain » lun. janv. 26, 2009 6:49 am
Jean-Daniel,
Je viens de découvrir ce message : ce qui est arrivé entre vous et Dan est incroyable.
Pour avoir régulièrement consulté son forum ces derniers jours, je peux t'assurer que rien n'a été évoqué de près ou de loin sur votre affaire.
Cela me déçoit beaucoup de lui.
Je suis complètement d'accord sur ce que vous avez dit sur les propos nationalistes, racistes, extrémistes qui pullulaient sur le forum. Je suis resté distant depuis plusieurs semaines pour toutes ces raisons, tentant de temps à autre d'intervenir pour mettre les pieds dans plat et essayer de relativiser leurs propos de barbares guerriers primaires sur Gaza...
Voici le message qu'a laissé Dan Simmons avant de fermer le forum:
Friends and Forum Visitors:
I'm posting this on both the General Topics and On Writing Well forums because it's come time for me to shut down the Dan Simmons Forums for a while, and I owe a deep and sincere apology to everyone here for allowing things to come to the point where that action is necessary.
As I expressed with sadness (and some inappropriate anger) on a specific forum thread last night, I feel that the general tone of the Dan Simmons Forum in recent days and weeks (perhaps months) has become somewhat extreme and rancid. A certain balance, and not just in civility, has been lost. There has been a sea change, and not for the better.
A writer's web site and forum should be a welcoming, informative, and tension-free place for readers and new guests to visit and express themselves on literary and other topics without rancor, browbeating, or an unpleasant tone in the air. I've failed at providing such a balanced and welcoming forum.
I blame this completely on myself. Years ago when I created this web site, I loved the idea of a writer's forum being an open house of ideas for readers and other guests invited in to a wide round table for discussion and refreshment. And then, unlike any sane or civilized host, I not only allowed discussions of politics, religion, abortion, Israel, war, peace, gay marriage, terrorism -- and anything else under the sun (just as I said on the welcome to the General Topics Forum) -- but I encouraged such hot-button discussions.
I then compounded the mistake by entering into the debates myself, sometimes vehemently.
This would be foolish beyond words when the guests at one's table are all old friends, but it's criminally foolish when the guests are a revolving round table of strangers, most of whom identify themselves only by screen names. One can't throw a masked ball for anyone who wishes to enter and then announce to the masked strangers that politics and religion will now be discussed.
For those whom I allowed, perhaps even encouraged, to speak and argue in extreme tones and whom I then slapped down, I apologize. For the vast majority of you who've browsed or participated in the forum discussions within the high standards of civility I asked for (but didn't always meet myself), I apologize again for allowing the general tone to deteriorate.
I'm going to suspend the forums while I think of how to improve this atmosphere. Perhaps it won't be possible without inhibiting free speech too much, but other writers have forums or question-and-answer pages which do not partake of extreme political arguments or dominance by a minority of posters with unbending opinions. Nor do they suffer from the inevitable personal attacks that ensue from such a mix. Perhaps the new Dan Simmons Forums, if there are any, might restrict participation to those willing to give their real names and also restrict discussion to literary topics, books and movies, and our very real shared quest for excellence in the On Writing Well forum. Or perhaps a writer's web site should avoid having forums altogether. I'll think about it.
I'll review the forum situation either after completion of my book tour for DROOD at the end of February or when I complete my new novel, BLACK HILLS, later in the spring.
In the meantime, I apologize again for my poor planning and execution, but sincerely thank all of you who were true to your own standards of balance and civility for your participation in the Dan Simmons Forums -- your wit, knowledge, humor, and truly wonderful commentaries have been important to me these past years -- and I hope that you choose to return to the new and improved-in-tone forums if we decide to re-open them.
Sincerely,
Dan Simmons
Je n'avais pas relevé l'incident au sujet du message sur le FBI. Ridicule.
Je trouve qu'il a eu raison de fermer son forum, le niveau de discussion avait nettement baissé depuis plusieurs mois déjà.
Je reste sonné par votre altercation et je comprends l'effet "goutte d'eau qui a fait déborder le vase". Il y a plus de 6 mois, j'avais quitté le DS forum après que DS m'ait insulté d'"antisémite" sous prétexte que j'amenais sur la table de la discussion des arguments envers les Palestiniens. C'en était trop. Je me dis souvent qu'Harlan Elison a trop d'influence sur Dan Simmons : il tombe trop souvent dans le rentre dedans.
Je laisse les choses se décanter d'elles même et reviendrai sur son forum s'il réouvre un jour, à voir ce qu'il se dira.
Sylvain
Modifié en dernier par
Sylvain le lun. janv. 26, 2009 9:18 am, modifié 1 fois.
