I am so grateful to have a little following on this blog and I greatly appreciate any positive feedback on my posts, so thank you to anyone who has taken the time to read my writings and has commented on my posts.
With that being said, it seems like as much good as there is in this world, there will always be the bad, negative side that sometimes overwhelms the good. I have experienced this first hand on my different social media sites and unfortunately have dealt with this very issue recently. I am lucky to not have experienced it so much on here, but regardless it is an important topic to discuss especially since I want to make this a safe space for everyone to voice their thoughts and opinions.
My philosophy of online community is and has always been to follow the golden rule, “treat others as you would want to be treated.” They teach this in kindergarten, but sometimes people fail to remember this as they grow up and this leads to toxic and often disrespectful behavior towards other people. Another saying that has stuck with me throughout the years is, “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it at all.” This one is a bit more nuanced because of course if you are in a really bad situation that is physically, emotionally and mentally hurting you personally, then it is always good to say something to someone than not say it at all. However, if something isn’t directly affecting you or you have no personal say in the matter, and you simply just want to project your negative feelings on someone for no reason, then my advice would be to just not say anything and move on with your life.
Thankfully this site allows me to approve or deny comments, so I have the power to control that aspect. I will allow any comments I feel are beneficial to the discussion and deny any that I feel do not contribute to the discussion. I do not plan on banning anyone who chooses to follow me, but if anyone actively disregards the rules of this site, then I will do so.
I would like to outline the rules for commenting on my blog to make sure that my mission on here is clear. I gathered inspiration for this list from the newspaper I work for and stand by, The Trinity Journal.
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don’t Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don’t knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Share with me. Please let me know if you have any further information to contribute on a subject in my posts. I would love to learn more about the topics I write about, and any educated experience you would like to share with me is helpful.
Victoria Valdez 