Chatterbox: Down to Earth

Administrators,

Why have you stopped posting my posts? I don't know if I already sent this question in or not, but it hasn't been answered. Please do answer as soon as you can.

Dear Mary Jo,

We haven't stopped posting your comments, and no one is submitting inappropriate comments under your name. However, we are receiving an increasing number of posts from everybuggy on religious topics, and it is an area in which everyone needs to exercise extra sensitivity.

Religion is important to most people in the world, and many stories in Cricket have to do with different religious traditions. We've allowed kids in the Letterbox in the magazine, and also on this site, to mention their religion and the traditions they follow, so that other kids can get to know and understand them a little better and perhaps see similarities and differences to themselves. Cricket, which is mostly about literature, stories, and history, does not venture into points of theology or religious argumentation.

We try in the Chatterbox to follow in that spirit of fostering a sense of community and understanding. The Chatterbox is somewhat different from the magazine because it encourages kids to reply back and forth to each other. Some topics, such as global warming and, for some reason, the Twilight books, generate a lot of controversy and go in surprising directions. Passionate discussions are fine and good by us, although we do occasionally reject repetitive comments on the same topic when the person has already had plenty to say, or if the discussion is starting to go too far and developing too much of an edge. You kids, however, also monitor each other to some degree, and in general are very careful to be nice.

Religious discussions on the Chatterbox should follow in the tradition of the magazine. We've allowed somewhat more leeway on the Chatterbox for personal expressions of belief and mutual education about different religions. We've occasionally declined to post comments from a variety of people--please note, that I'm not talking about you in particular here, but addressing everybuggy--where they attempt to argue a fine point of theology, or take the tone that theirs is the one true religion and that other kids are just wrong to believe anything else, or offer negative psychological reasons why some kids aren't religious--e.g., they are afraid to face their sinful natures. The Chatterbox is just not the place for that kind of exchange.

We try to be fair in letting kids have their say. We're also protective of the Cricket community that each person knows that, on this site, everybuggy is allowed to have his or her own way of thinking. Making sure that everybuggy's opinions are treated with respect requires us to make a number of judgment calls, especially when it comes to religion.

Everybuggy is so positive and cooperative on the Cricket site. It's really great, and we just want to help you maintain that.

--Admin