hacker = a person who purposely tries to break into systems that they don’t belong in, usually just for the “fun” of accomplishing the break-in. some hackers are malicious, most, i think, are motivated by the desire to simply get past some form of security. any web tool that is open to the public, while having the advantages that i described in my original post, of inviting new eyes and new thoughts, has the potential to “hacker-attack”, and so, moderation is key. The wikipedia definition of hacker is found here

bot = an automated program that combs through web pages, with either benign or malicious purpose. we actually get a lot of this as it is, and we have a nice little program integrated into the blog, called Akismet, which catches 99% of the bot traffic that comes through. most of these are various attempts to introduce links to websites that we don’t necessarily want to support, such as online porn, and marketing of items which are not “family-friendly”. in simplified SAT-type terms: “bot is to blog as spam is to email”. the wikipedia definition of Internet Bot is found here

i hope this helps clarify the above terms.

as for your second point, regarding posters taking ownership of their posts – the nature of most blogs and bulletin-boards online, as well as other social media fora, is that users are allowed to use an alias to express their thoughts more freely, if they so choose. even on our listserv, the identity of the sender is not required, as long as that person has been appropriately approved by the administrators of the listserv. some folks have very good reasons to keep their online life private, particularly if they are engaging in personal activity the web that they prefer not be readily linked to their professional or other life-role.

I believe, in your last sentence, you are referring to the recent post Authentic Judaism, which does, in fact, have a one-line comment at the top which I believe indicates why the poster reproduced the article here for others to comment:

“From the “Forward”
No one has a monopoly on defining who we are…”

I think the article is interesting, and I was glad of the opportunity to read it. It has certainly raised some ideas for me, and I hope to have a chance to comment on it soon….

Along with belief in one God, I was taught that it was poor form to ever mention a person’s former religion once they converted to Judaism. It is as if they have always been Jewish. Yet, I hear and read references to peoples’ previous religions. It makes me wonder, if they continue to dwell on their previous religion, how is that previous religion influencing their interpretation of Judaism, and what is it doing to alter Judaism? Do we have Jews in our midst who are interpreting what it means to be Jewish according to Methodist, Buddhist, Catholic, Christian perspectives and who are changing the religion?

A relative of mine through marriage made a comment that took me off guard, because it negated the truism drummed into my head by my parents, “think for yourself.” The relative said, “you practice Judaism according to the group with which you’re associated, so as to fit in and not offend.” I think in some synagogue communities a person’s identity would be corrupted if they followed that maxim. Yet, in other congregations it works well.

Thanks for the instructions. I decided to give it a try to see what happens, as you can read.