Several years ago, my beautiful partner in crime joined RHP to broaden her horizons. She introduced me to these forums and I opened my own profile to participate. Since then, I have posted my opinions on many topics and initiated several topics as well. My own topics have included discussions on heated feuds that move from thread to thread, how people measure their own self worth, challenging the notion that homosexuality is unnatural and unique to humans, the definitions of words that many participants use incorrectly in debate, appreciation of arts and crafts, use of drugs in sports, the malleability of "truth", whether marriage denotes ownership, whether universal ideals exist, latchkey kids, dealing with loss and government oppression among others. I initiated a thread on retaining a lust for life after a thread on suicide and euthanasia got canned.It was a great pity that the 'suicide' thread was closed in the manner it was. I understand that the moderators have a goal to keep the topics and "tone" from getting too dark but I don't understand why. One person reached out to me because of the views I expressed on the suicide thread because of the dark place that person was in. It really scared me, I admit, I felt completely ill equipped and unqualified to deal with the situation but, with the help of lifeline and one of our other very special forum contributors, I was able to message back and forth with this person throughout a very tense night. We now correspond frequently, keeping abreast of each other's highs and lows and offering each other support.This is an example of invaluable good that has come from the forums. I don't think the mods should shy away from the controversial. I think they should embrace it and even cultivate it. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way.I find that the nature of this RHP brings a diversity to the membership that isn't found on other forum sites. This, to me at least, makes the discussions more interesting. I'd like the mods to respect us as thoughtful adults and give us a little more leeway in expressing ourselves.I accept that they take their jobs seriously and need to protect their business but I do think that, in some cases, they have treated us a little like children and pre-emptively closed down threads prematurely. Yes, if they receive complaints they must act but they needn't close or remove threads that have captured people's interest. Let's not forget that if a person does not like a topic or opinion, they can very easily avoid a given thread in preference for another.This may be an opportunity to concisely and maturely, in the spirit of open debate, express your own opinion on what you would like to see as acceptable within the forums.
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