To Tell or Not to Tell

I was in a chat room the other night when someone was asking about a fellow chatter who wasn't present. I had been in the room earlier when others were asking also about that same chatter. I gathered from the conversation that the chatter in question had been removed from the room due to a violation. So later that night when the person was being asked about again I replied that earlier in the day I had heard he had been removed from the room. Of course people wanted to know why. I knew the reason that I had seen others post, but I was not there when the incident happened so I decided that I shouldn't relay that info. I was reminded that on my list of rules I am not to spread gossip (Rule #5) and had I told them what I had heard second hand that would have been gossip. I told the room that I was not comfortable sharing second hand info and they all said that was fine. The subject was dropped.

It is interesting how in real life it is so easy to get wrapped up in gossip. I always thought that when I participated in gossip that I was doing it to be accepted. But when I sat there debating whether to tell these people what I had heard I realized that often I gossip just because I am not thinking. I don't think I even take the time to rationalize why I am telling people what I know. It seems that it is a case of someone asked a question and I know the answer. That's the nice thing about chat rooms you usually have a little time to think about your response (at least the amount of time it takes you to type it). But there are the times when I am not asked but I volunteer the answer anyways. You know those statements that usually start off "Guess what I heard".

I still need to work on obey this rule and being mindful of the words coming out of my mouth, but it was nice to see that having the rules in place did help me make the right decision and I didn't feel the need to try to bend the rule. I guess progress is being made.