Some thoughts...

[_Dr. Shades]

mentalgymnast, you make some good points that deserve to be addressed, but I'm afraid I don't have time right now (my wife has taken to forcing me to be in bed by 1:00 a.m.) and will do my best to get back to you tomorrow.

tl;dr: I'm not ignoring you.

[_Polygamy-Porter]

You sir, just need a spot of tea.

[_I have a question]

The last couple of days have been interesting. Apparently Shades has pulled the threads that I was accused of being a "troll" and put them downstairs.

Poof.

Back in May of this year Sanctorian said this to me:

You're a mopologist which means you'll be dishonest in your discussion of Mormonism to protect its claims. That's fine. Just own it.

That's the common consensus here. The majority of active LDS posters have been treated this way on this board. Unless they don't rock the boat in any way and 'play nice' all of the time.

This dogmatic axiom put forward by Sanctorian applies to anyone who either believes in or gives the benefit of a doubt to the truth claims of the LDS Church. We are dishonest. Period. We lack integrity. Period. We are somehow, well, just deficient and untrustworthy.

This isn't about 'we' it's about you.
Based on your posts - you are demonstrably dishonest, you have been shown to lack integrity and have been shown to be untrustworthy.

Please don't compound your lack of integrity by trying to project those traits onto any other poster.

[Guest]

OTOH, I don't know Lemmie. Not at all. I could make some assumptions about her...but I could be wrong.

My opinions about your creepiness are based solely on how you post, like the above. That's a creepy sentence to write, and you've written many.

You really don't know me...and I sure as heck fire don't know much of anything about you except for your distaste for Mormonism, etc. Same with just about everyone else here. ....I suppose that's why in some ways I see this board as being toxic, in a sense. It's not REAL. It's contrived. There are agendas....There slowly develops afeeling of toxicity in some respects when one knows they are being misrepresented and can't do much about it. in real life doesn't feel that way at all...

That's exactly what ldsfaqs says. He also stereotypes posters on this board like you do, he's just a little more open and less passive-aggressive about it than you are.

One other thing. Familiarity breeds contempt. Or at least the potential is there.

Only if you bring the contempt with you, or come here looking for it.

I've been here for just over a year and have enjoyed it immensely, because with very few exceptions, I've found that increased familiarity with posters here has brought positivity, insight, and a serious appreciation for the uniqueness and diversity and sheer, amazing talent and spirit that resides in the people here.

Increasing familiarity over time with fellow posters here has brought me great and continually deepening pleasure, and what I hope are friendships that will continue to grow. I look forward to meeting some posters in real life if it works out that way. I assume they will be, in real life, still recognizable because -although you object to this strenuously- I think people have the capacity to show their true personalities as they post.

There are very few people, if any, on this board that I would be bold enough to say that I really know much about...at all.

Then you are just not paying attention, or is that your contempt talking?

I like how ihaq put it:

This isn't about 'we' it's about you.
Based on your posts - you are demonstrably dishonest, you have been shown to lack integrity and have been shown to be untrustworthy.

Please don't compound your lack of integrity by trying to project those traits onto any other poster.

If you come here looking for toxicity and contempt that's what you'll find. It's unfortunate that you see it as the board treating you that way, without considering your role in the process.

[_Chap]

This isn't about 'we' it's about you.
Based on your posts - you are demonstrably dishonest, you have been shown to lack integrity and have been shown to be untrustworthy.

Please don't compound your lack of integrity by trying to project those traits onto any other poster.

I have to say that, based on a long acquaintance with mentalgymnast, I generally agree with the above post.

MG's major object seems to be to write posts that, if they are the only posts someone reads, give the impression that he is a poor persecuted person who has been set upon by a mob (he prefers 'herd', I think) of hate-filled anti-mormons with utterly closed minds programmed to think identical thoughts.

But anyone else who reads the threads in which these occurs will see someone who constantly shifts his ground each time someone confutes him, while claiming over and over again that he did not say what he plainly did previously say. I have never seen him say something like "Yes, I see what you mean. I probably have that wrong".

In terms of dealing with historical problems, I think you could show him a time-stamped video (assuming that the technology had been there) of Joseph Smith walking the streets of Nauvoo tearing the heads off babies, and metalgymnast would say "Well, I'd need to know a lot more about the context in which that took place. And how do we know what was in Joseph's mind as he did that? He may have had the best of intentions. We just don't know."

And he writes such a lot of this stuff. Threads fill up with it. I don't think he is innocent of the wish to drown posts he finds uncomfortable with mere word-fog. Indeed, he may be on a senior mission to do just that ...

[_Maksutov]

This isn't about 'we' it's about you.
Based on your posts - you are demonstrably dishonest, you have been shown to lack integrity and have been shown to be untrustworthy.

Please don't compound your lack of integrity by trying to project those traits onto any other poster.

Yes, indeed. The whining, the contortions, the excuses never seem to end. The persecution drama is especially pathetic and annoying.

[_sock puppet]

MG's major object seems to be to write posts that, if they are the only posts someone reads, give the impression that he is a poor persecuted person who has been set upon by a mob (he prefers 'herd', I think) of hate-filled anti-mormons with utterly closed minds programmed to think identical thoughts.

Keep in mind, that that those who believe in Satan believe he is a great puppeteer that pulls strings on all of us nonbelievers. Either believe in god, do what god tells you, or be controlled in your thinking by Satan. Those are the only 'free' choices. Two. And many think science and the scientific method are just 'logically' seductive means by which Satan 'programs' our closed minds to think 'identical thoughts.'

[_CameronMO]

Well.... I honestly never did see you engage anything Grindael posted on Jo's spiritual wifery..... there is that.

Indeed.

Agreed. Recently, whenever I see MG has commented on a thread, I know MG is going to derail the conversation on some tangent. In that thread, his comments had nothing to do with the content, it was about the size and style of the font. I'd like to see MG comment on the content. When MG does that, there's usually a good discussion. But I haven't seen MG comment on the content for a while now.

[_Rino]

And in an echo chamber such as this, the voice of reason/balance/questioning will be drowned out through heckling/innuendo/name calling...

And that's the way it is.

I don't think this is under debate. This forum largely exists as an island of misfit toys for their own anti-Mormon self-gratification. It is not a scholarly forum, it is not a reasonable forum, it is not a nice forum. This is the type of forum where a gay Mormon suicide is celebrated because it makes Mormonism look bad (no one really cares about the kid). It is a place for Philo to extol the virtues of science, while having a less than high school level of scientific education, all the while being patted on the head and told what a great atheist he has become. It is about reinforcing negative bigotry.

And this is all it ever will be. Oddly enough, many members would find (and have stated outright) that their activities here would seriously impair their real lives, should they come to light, but they do not see the problem.

So, you have a point, but it is sort of a hollow truth. It has never been anything other than a place for people to complain, so why expect anything more? I read here occasionally, when Church irritates me, just to remind me how much I do NOT want to be like these people. It puts things in perspective.

[_Sanctorian]

So, you have a point, but it is sort of a hollow truth. It has never been anything other than a place for people to complain, so why expect anything more? I read here occasionally, when Church irritates me, just to remind me how much I do NOT want to be like these people. It puts things in perspective.

See, this is a good board for members. It shows how miserable the outside world is and that only true happiness can come from following the sound principles of latter-day prophets. In a way, this board is the greatest missionary tool the church has ever created. I know this is true in the name of Joseph smith, amen.