Hey all. It has been … quite a year. I hope everyone is well and safe.
As the country begins to re-open and people begin to talk about running events again, I’ve obviously had some strong feelings about how these topics are discussed here. I know not everyone has been on board with that and I appreciate your insights. However I also feel a lot of personal responsibility for the discussions here and how they might influence and drive people to do things that put their health in jeopardy. This probably sounds kind of ridiculous. We’re talking about an online forum, not a nuclear device. However I also know that people take the discussions here seriously, and when we’re talking about doing something that can literally kill you, that’s a lot of weight for me to carry. You may say that it is silly for me to carry that weight and you’re probably right, but I do nonetheless. This community has been central to my life for over 25 years and I care about it enormously but I would rather see it fall apart than cause people harm.
That said, I also see that there’s a lot of need and desire to discuss safety and share information, and that need is only going to grow as more and more states open up and more events start coming up. I’m not really comfortable with that, but if people are going to get together I’d like to see them be able to talk about how to do it safely. So here’s my current feelings.
- Posts promoting ir advertising in-person events will continue to not be allowed, and any post like this will be deleted. This policy will remain in place until the IFPA begins sanctioning events again.
- If we want to discuss, in the abstract, how to play and run events safely, then that’s fine with the following guidelines.
- Keep the focus on the context of pinball tournaments and group events, not the country / world at large.
- Stick to mainstream sources for citation of data and science
- Skew these discussions towards group safety and not individual opinions or viewpoints.
My feelings about all this continue to be in process, and I appreciate you all for your patience. Thanks for being a part of this great community and stay safe.