Dear group members,
Last month I founded this list and invited you all to join in a common cause
- which is that of the Polish citizens from Kresy deported by the Soviets
during the war. Nearly 50 people are now members, which is wonderful, and
new requests to join are coming in each week.
When I started this list, I did so with some hesitation because I was warned
that the role of owner and moderator would take a fair bit of time.
However, I did it because nobody else was and I believe in the importance of
this cause.
A major responsibility of a list owner and moderator is to maintain a
positive and constructive dialogue in the group. Recently, there has been
as emerging tone in some of the discussions that was starting to denigrate
the contributions of other members. I knew that, if allowed to continue,
this would discourage the open sharing of views which is essential to making
this thing work. Eventually, good people would leave the group.
Accordingly, I have temporarily suspended one group member pending their
commitment to respect a more civil approach to these discussions. I took
this step after much reflection, because I believe that the contributions of
every one of our members is important.
You see, the group that I have founded is meant to be a friendly and
supportive group. This is not a place for "scoring points" and trying to
win arguments or offending other members. Even though people may always
disagree with each other, this should not be a group where members are
constantly trying to win arguments with each other and putting each other
down. Rather, this is meant to be a constructive and productive group.
I hope that you all continue to feel confident to ask questions, express
opinions, and discuss alternative interpretations of history without the
fear of being dismissed or put down. This is an area in which we are all
learning, especially me, and I have already learned so much from all of you.
Let's keep it going and growing the right way.
Respectfully,
--
Stefan Wisniowski
Moderator, Kresy-Siberia
