Thanks Jeanette ---

��

This guy also sent a reply to the Burnsville book club email. I have the replies set up to come just to me rather than to the whole group,��expressly for the purpose of sparing everyone this sort of nonsense, but in this case the guy threatened to come to our meeting and disrupt us in person. I suspect it's an idle threat, but it's clear from the nature of his writing that he's emotionally/psychologically challenged, which brings up a question I've pondered off and on since we started the book club: namely, how to deal with it should someone (or a group of someones) show up and try to disrupt our meeting. It's one thing if it's a large gathering being disrupted by a heckler or two, but we're a small group,��and given the layout of the facilities we use we're literally sitting ducks --- we meet in a room with only one easily-blocked exit.

��

I don't do a lot of group organizing and leading, so if there's a known policy or procedure for handling this sort of thing I'm not familiar with it (and neither, it would seem, are the folks who run health care town hall meetings) So my question is, if Samuel, or someone like him, shows up, what do we do?

��

Thanks again ----

��

Felicia

��

----- Original Message -----

From: Jeannette Watland

To: [address removed]

Sent: Tuesday, December 15,[masked]:36 PM

Subject: [mnatheists] A Note Regarding Samuel

As with any organization, we occasionally encounter a person who is interested in inflammatory language instead of rational discourse. You may have noticed some inappropriate posts from a person who joined our Meetup very recently. His response to e-mails expressing concern over his messages was to escalate his rhetoric, and he was removed from this site. Since then he has signed up under different identities, and we are removing them as we become aware of them. He in no way represents the views of Minnesota Atheists. Please do not hesitate to notify me of any hateful and inappropriate messages you find. I will include the forum rules below:

1. No Hacking - This should go without saying, but you are not permitted to hack the board. Guessing someone else's password and succeeding counts as hacking. Members who hack will be permanently banned without any warnings.
2. No Discrimination - You may not insult members based on their religion, race, sex, political beliefs, or sexual orientation. This is worse than flaming, because it also hurts other members of the board who fall into the category you insult. MNAtheists.org is a place where everyone is equal, and discrimination will NOT be tolerated! This does not mean that political, social, and religious beliefs are not out of bounds for criticism, but criticise the beliefs separate from believers. If you are mad at the actions of an individual, criticise the action, not all men/Christians/atheists/sports fans, etc. who happen to have something in common with the offensive person.
3. No Bullying - Do not pick on other members. The worst kind of bullying is where new members are picked on. This hurts the member as well as the board.
4. No Flaming - Flaming harms the nice atmosphere of MNAtheists.org. It also causes thread's to go off topic, and most importantly, it hurts the person being flamed. The victim may defend themselves against any accusations made to them, but may not make any additional accusations to the flamer (which also counts as flaming).
5. No Spamming or Advertisng - The forum is intended for conversation, not for selling your products.
6. No Adult Content- Pornographic advertisements and images, including links to such material, will be deleted by the adminstrators.

Thank you for your patience, and I sincerely apologize for any distress this may have caused.

Warmest Regards,
Jeannette Watland-President
Minnesota Atheists




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