Dear Readers,

I'm posting this reminder about a custom we follow here on the Forum.

Here's the short version: Please don't post comments on a job notice: if you do, I'll probably delete them.

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In fact, I did that today.

Job announcements on the Forum usually have a note from me, saying that the post has been "closed to comments as usual." That practice has ongoing since our friend Jeffrey started the site ages ago.

The purpose of this practice is to be very welcoming to employers. We want them to post their job notices, regardless of the style of music, the style of the building, the type of organ they have, etc. They don't even always have to be announcements for Catholic parishes. We want our readers to have the maximum of opportunities to choose potential jobs.

If you're old enough, you may remember how newspapers used to include job notices in their "classified ad" section. (It was like 'Craigslist', before the internet.)

Those ads didn't give anonymous strangers space to argue about the employer, the pay, or the job duties.

And following that pattern has worked: as far as I can tell, this Forum is one of the top sites for job announcements in Catholic church music in this country.

It's understandable if some of our readers might look at a job notice and decide it's not a great job. But there's really no need for you to add comments and say so. You can trust your fellow readers to use their good judgment.

If there is some issue you want to talk about, do not post your comments on the same thread. It's OK to start a new thread about the topic that concerns you -- but please don't name names: that's not necessary and not friendly.

Thanks for understanding.