I had to close 2 threads today

[Andrea J.]

i am not big on closing threads as i feel everyone's voice/opinion should be heard.

that being said, the shark thread was put up there as EBB said was to "inform".
the information was given and panic began and the shark thread (the shark was taken well offshore/out to sea) became problematic and difficult for the moderators to keep track of.
EBB did message me this morning asking "what category" he should place his shark story in. jokingly i said culinary.
i do not think that EBB thought his posting would go down the "jaws" route.

the other thread was misnamed in error and it was simply an error, no malice intended.... and that started the whole snowball effect. that whole topic of conversation, (natalee), is a difficult topic and has to be monitored closely as it too has the potential of exploding.

believe me i thought long and hard before i hit CLOSE.

i hate deleting, editing and closing.

for those of you that agree....i understand and appreciate your opinions.
for those of you that do not agree, i understand and appreciate your opinions too.

sometimes doing this moderating is like "damned if i do and damned if i don't"

so, i follow the rules and guidelines given to me by the ATA and when there are "grey areas" i follow my gut.

and as a reminder....this site is a government sponsored (aruba) site. the aruba tourism authority is a direct department of the department tourism.

aruba took a huge blow during the whole situation of the missing girl in 2005.
much of the blow to aruba was undeserved. the focus became on aruba being unsafe when the real issue was the missing girl.

thanks you dear community friends for your time and concern and help.
andrea

[Andrea J.]

i edited out unnecessary stuff

merged arubamark's off topic into skeleton thread

and trust it will all work out on the forum