October 19, 2010 05:41 PM UTC

What is A Shunning?

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• by: MADCO

And when is appropriate?

As with many words in the English language, the dictionary definition is just the start.

Merriam Webster online

SHUN: to avoid deliberately and especially habitually

The Wikipedia gives a little more context

shunning:  the act of deliberately avoiding association with, and habitually keeping away from, an individual or group. It is a sanction against association, often associated with religious groups and other tightly knit organizations and communities.

ColoradoPols.com as a site is certainly a community.

And while  ColoradoPols the poster, moderator or community member created and enforces rules  of behavior that sometimes result in editing or banning, and a recent suspension, there appears not to be specific rules about when and if shunning may be appropriate.

There are posters and post types to which  I have avoided responding which is a kind of shunning,  But when it’s just one, the significance is typically trivial.

And while I’d be reluctant to adopt a “shunning policy”, I think as a community we get to choose how we want our community to be.

In schools, kids are taught inclusion. Exclusion, like shunning, can even be considered a form of bullying.

Here on CoPols.com, it would seem almost impossible for avoidance to be anything like bullying.  Sure, anyone can post almost anything.  But no one has to read it or respond.

But a discussion would be useful.