Apparently Daniel Peterson was on UTMLB as well. I went to the earliest archive of "banquet" on Z and found this thread:
http://p079.ezboard.com/fpacumenispages ... D=60.topic
You can see that Pac, Pahoran, SR103 and maybe urroner all appear conversant with the topic, but here is the most interesting post from DCP:
sr1030: "What's up with this very strange fascination some on this board have with UTLM and Webguy?"
Let me try to explain my own. I'm fascinated -- and I don't mean this flippantly -- by bad behavior. I'm always puzzled when I see people behaving in ways that seem to me obviously unfair, unjustifiable, or unreasonable. I will often try to probe to see if, in the heat of discussion or whatever, they simply haven't realized that their behavior is bad, or if they will persist in it and even defend it. UTLM interests me, at least partially, for precisely that reason.
I have watched Webguy's deletion of what I thought were entirely inoffensive posts by Latter-day Saints, and, candidly, have been amazed. I've seen critics of the Latter-day Saints use insulting language on UTLM or make insulting insinuations (or overt charges) far beyond anything in the deleted posts, yet remain untouched. Indeed, Webguy has done so himself. This intrigues me. I find human nature endlessly interesting.
(Having said that, I must note in fairness to Webguy that he has not deleted or banned ME, and that, as a matter of fact, he recently deleted an insulting personal attack on me by Jon Luke. And, just today, he sent me a potentially helpful answer in response to a board-related computer question I had asked him.)
My fascination is not only with Webguy, though. I find the behavior of some of the other participants on UTLM at least as interesting. (Other adjectives come to mind, too, like
"repellant." But repellant or unpleasant things -- e.g., tragedy, bloody accidents, really deformed things, and the like, do have a kind of mesmerizing attractiveness, don't they?) I've recently been posting there under my own name and, despite a conscious attempt to maintain a civil if somewhat humorous tone, have found once again that I myself have become a subject of discussion. (Sufficient reason, if I weren't already going to be out of town and away from my computer for much of the next 2.5 months, to back out of participation on UTLM.) Jon Luke's attack has not been alone. Mountainrun, who briefly appeared on this board, has hinted broadly at my cowardice and lack of integrity, as well as my vanity, my arrogance, and my strong urge to develop a following of brainless sycophants. Someone calling himself "phos1" has noted that I'm often dishonest (and has been endorsed in that verdict by somebody known as L4, I believe.) And so on and so forth.
I'll admit that, while such things don't maintain their entertainment value for very long, they do interest me. I acknowledge a sense of humor that some (only among those, I think [or hope] who don't know me) find offensive for its sardonic character, but I try to stay away from out and out frontal personal attack. So I wonder why others don't, why it's so easy, apparently, for really vicious things to be said about perfect strangers during discussions -- especially, of all things, on topics of faith and religious belief.
Of course, the real, basic reason for participating on UTLM is a strong desire to discuss and defend things that matter to me. But the question was why, above and beyond that, UTLM and its Webguy "fascinate." I've tried to explain why, in my own personal case.
sr1030: "I can't speak for other non-lds but this kind of thing makes this board less and less desirable to post on for me. Just what would this board be if all non-lds quit posting here? Is this what LDS that post here want?"
I'm confident that I speak for most if not all other Latter-day Saints on this message board in expressing welcome to non-Latter-day Saints. Criticism of UTLM is not criticism of evangelicals as such. It's criticism of the particular tactics and patterns of behavior that many of us have observed there (as well as, truth be told, generally among many critics of Latter-day Saint belief). The entire paternal side of my family is Protestant. I like them, respect them, and get along well with them. I think the feeling is mutual. I actually have several prominent anti-Mormon friends, whom I will not name lest I cause them public embarrassment.
(by the way, I bolded the sentences that appear ironic to me, given MAD's moderating)