So now the mods are weeding out significant numbers of critics.
And this is the part that's been cracking me up all day. I have not built up a reputation as a critic over there (or here, for that matter). I'm usually an observer - I've only got 24 posts at MAD, for pete's sake. There are plenty of people who post here and there without banning, so that can't be the trigger (oh, but since they're faithful, maybe it's okay?). I've never stirred the pot. I don't think I've done anything so offensive that I would warrant banning. It boggles the mind. Yup, just don't get it.
It's those sunglasses. Some people just object to red!
They shouldn't - the glasses are SF Giants orange, baby! (For the uncultured, the avatar is Lou Seal, mascot of the reason I draw each breath - the San Francisco Giants).
I may be going to hell in a bucket, babe / But at least I'm enjoying the ride.
-Grateful Dead (lyrics by John Perry Barlow)
They shouldn't - the glasses are SF Giants orange, baby! (For the uncultured, the avatar is Lou Seal, mascot of the reason I draw each breath - the San Francisco Giants).
Well, there's your reason. Personally, I bleed Mariner blue. ;-)
Bond...James Bond wrote:The can do as they please. The whole day I've been laughing at the obsurdity of being banned from an anonymous internet message board. Honestly, it's freaking hilarious to me.
The MAD board is going to get really boring. It's already going in that direction. Threads are dying quickly because there are fewer and fewer critics. People can only take so many back slapping and faith promoting posts. They need someone to play the anti-Christ so they can feel oppressed and feel like one of the elite. That board is going to end up a Fellowship Hall.
One problem is that this board doesn't seem to have all that many TBMs on it, so we laugh at MAD for heading in the direction of a TBM echo chamber, meanwhile we post something critical of the church here and we get Coggins, Gazelam, and Why Me posting, and maybe a couple others, at least from what I've seen. Maybe I'm too much of a newb on this board to know about all the other TBMs. I wonder how interesting it will be for us when we post something critical of the church here, and get almost no meaningful conversation from Defenders of the Faith about it. Then we can backslap each other for being smart enough to have seen through the BS, and.... what?
So is MAD turning into a pro-TBM echo chamber, while MD turns into a mostly pro-Critic echo chamber? I don't know. It'll be interesting to see how it turns out.
One problem is that this board doesn't seem to have all that many TBMs on it, so we laugh at MAD for heading in the direction of a TBM echo chamber, meanwhile we post something critical of the church here and we get Coggins, Gazelam, and Why Me posting, and maybe a couple others, at least from what I've seen. Maybe I'm too much of a newb on this board to know about all the other TBMs. I wonder how interesting it will be for us when we post something critical of the church here, and get almost no meaningful conversation from Defenders of the Faith about it. Then we can backslap each other for being smart enough to have seen through the BS, and.... what?
So is MAD turning into a pro-TBM echo chamber, while MD turns into a mostly pro-Critic echo chamber? I don't know. It'll be interesting to see how it turns out.
in my opinion, this is the inevitable result of Mormon/exmormon discussions. It's an impossible dream.
We hate to seem like we don’t trust every nut with a story, but there’s evidence we can point to, and dance while shouting taunting phrases.
harmony wrote:I say let them ban whoever they want to ban. The more people who are banned, the more people will thumb their noses at the place.
MAD is not the church; I'd venture to say that, if church leaders knew about it, they would be ashamed and embarrassed by the people who are supposedly defending the church (well, maybe Packer wouldn't be ashamed, but the others would be). MAD is so over the line as far as acceptable behavior by the LDS owners and moderating staff, it makes RfM look balanced. FAIR was smart to disassociate from them.
I think even Packer would be embarrassed by Hammer. I think he would hug and financially support Pahoran.
I detest my loose style and my libertine sentiments. I thank God, who has removed from my eyes the veil... Adrian Beverland
Sethbag wrote:One problem is that this board doesn't seem to have all that many TBMs on it, so we laugh at MAD for heading in the direction of a TBM echo chamber, meanwhile we post something critical of the church here and we get Coggins, Gazelam, and Why Me posting, and maybe a couple others, at least from what I've seen. Maybe I'm too much of a newb on this board to know about all the other TBMs. I wonder how interesting it will be for us when we post something critical of the church here, and get almost no meaningful conversation from Defenders of the Faith about it. Then we can backslap each other for being smart enough to have seen through the BS, and.... what?
I try to provide criticism of the critics, but I'm not a history buff, I can't answer everything, and not everything is interesting to me. Besides, for me it is more for entertainment. I don't think I can get anyone to change their mind about the church. I might, however, get a few chuckles and possibly get a few people to change their minds about some issues--maybe.
That's General Leo. He could be my friend if he weren't my enemy. eritis sicut dii I support NCMO
moksha wrote:I have always had a problem telling who is Mormon and who is not on these forums. How one can immediately tell the difference between an LDS poster who is just being honest and forthright and a fair-minded non-LDS is beyond me. I can however spot the flamethrowers from both sides.
I think there has been a unfortunate mix-up in banning posters at MAD not for flame throwing, but by reason of association: They have posted on this board. My feeling about this type of banning is that it is wrong.
One of the prime freedoms granted to people of the civilized world is the freedom of association. Your are free to belong to what you choose and not be penalized for it. It is unfortunate when this freedom is taken away and these bannings constitute exactly that. While I suspect that many at MAD would defend the moderators right to take this action, I also suspect that there would be many posters who would question both the wisdom and the ethics of such an action.
What are your thoughts?
But Mok, the MADParents just don't want their kids getting lice from us, they're so hard to get rid of.
In all seriousness, I agree with you. There are some folks on here (not me) who never struck me as the flame throwing type. They're intelligent, rational, and over all positive beings. But I guess that freedom issue is a big one for MAD...if they can control the information there, they can control how much embarassment they endure. But if they cannot, and they let their "children" play with ours, then questions start getting asked that they cannot straightforwardly answer. So the only thing they know to do is to segregate.
How the heck did Bond get banned?
Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances. -Ghandi
Guily by association for posting here in Dr. Shades Den of Obsessive Thieves.
Bond...James Bond
"Whatever appears to be against the Book of Mormon is going to be overturned at some time in the future. So we can be pretty open minded."-charity 3/7/07
I have a suspicion they didn't want to prove any of our predictions right, but still wanted to get rid of critics. So they chose critics that weren't on MD's radar to be banned.
They are so reactive.
We hate to seem like we don’t trust every nut with a story, but there’s evidence we can point to, and dance while shouting taunting phrases.
Looking at the list of posters who were banned today, it's strange. I don't remember any of them being real problems for the mods, so I don't think it's that. What I'm wondering is if it has something to do with what was brought up in the Fellowship section at MADB.
A number of posters were commenting on how the board seemed to have become overrun with critics. I was surprised because I had not noticed this at all, but clearly other LDS posters were feeling there were too many. Granted, I don't read all the threads so maybe I missed a lot of what was happening. I suspect the mods don't miss much and maybe they determined the critics were outnumbering believers.
I wonder if some have been complaining to the mods about what they perceived as an uneven playing field, so they culled some. This is the best explanation I can come up with.