Reviving the Board

[Fernando]

Once more, here we are! Someone brings forward a subject for discussion that is at odds with what is regularly read here, and it is immediately attributed to AtlanticMike or right-wingers! Do you not comprehend how exhausting it is for people to continue attempting to read the rubbish you constantly post on the board? Have you ever thought about the possibility that the lack of fresh posts on the board is a result of your progressive, anti-Mormon ideology? You still obsess with the AtlanticMike character despite the fact that he hasn't post in over a year.

Hey, this approach looks familiar. ; )

How soon until the deluge of YouTube links starts, combined with the incessant yelling of ‘PROGRESSIVES!!1!, with no actual discussion from the ‘new member’?

Anyhow, anyone exhausted from posting YouTube links might want to consider a fitness program.

I don't understand the meaning of your post. Explain?

[Fernando]

Once more, here we are! Someone brings forward a subject for discussion that is at odds with what is regularly read here, and it is immediately attributed to AtlanticMike or right-wingers! Do you not comprehend how exhausting it is for people to continue attempting to read the rubbish you constantly post on the board? Have you ever thought about the possibility that the lack of fresh posts on the board is a result of your progressive, anti-Mormon ideology? You still obsess with the AtlanticMike character despite the fact that he hasn't post in over a year.

"Once again, here we are" gives away the game.

Don't understand this post. Explain?

[Fernando]

Once more, here we are! Someone brings forward a subject for discussion that is at odds with what is regularly read here, and it is immediately attributed to AtlanticMike or right-wingers! Do you not comprehend how exhausting it is for people to continue attempting to read the rubbish you constantly post on the board? Have you ever thought about the possibility that the lack of fresh posts on the board is a result of your progressive, anti-Mormon ideology? You still obsess with the AtlanticMike character despite the fact that he hasn't post in over a year.

You know the history of the board re: AM and yet you joined on the 4th of July of this year with 6 posts to your credit.

Or rejoined as the case may be.

Why so many off topic post?

[Fernando]

it's a shame that this board is beginning to collapse. Any ideas as to how the board might be revived?

Wait, what?? When did we die?

Is it destined to be completely destroyed due to its strong tendency to despise Mormonism…

It is?? Hmm. Since when did ‘despising Mormonism’ lead to destruction? Did some post-missionary shake the dust off their shoes at our doorstep?

Thankfully, there are plenty of adults posting here who have matured well past the level of this nonsense.

I agree, thank you.

[canpakes]

Hey, this approach looks familiar. ; )

How soon until the deluge of YouTube links starts, combined with the incessant yelling of ‘PROGRESSIVES!!1!, with no actual discussion from the ‘new member’?

Anyhow, anyone exhausted from posting YouTube links might want to consider a fitness program.

I don't understand the meaning of your post. Explain?

Sure!

viewtopic.php?p=2838601#p2838601

[Fernando]

I think communities of all kinds go through stages. Ones that form around some purpose can last for a long time, recruiting new members steadily, especially if the purpose is serious enough that community membership comes with a salary. Ones that try to serve young people who are sent there by parents, like schools or clubs or sports teams, can be practically immortal because they have a steady source of new blood. Communities based on common interest in a subject that remains significant, like scientific research communities, can endure over several human lifetimes.

Communities that mainly exist just to be fun communities often last less long because they succeed to death. A close-knit group forms, and that's great, but precisely because it's so great, new people find it hard to break into the group. Recruiting drops off while the group is having too much fun being itself to notice. After a few years, core members leave for various unavoidable reasons, and everyone misses them too much to think about replacing their irreplaceable friends with uninteresting newbies. None of this is necessarily wrong, or anyone's failure; it's the natural lifespan of the organism. A duller group might have lived longer, for certain values of "lived".

Groups that form around shared aversion to something might have an even harder time persisting, because their success leads to death more directly. Once people get away from the thing they don't like, it stops bothering them, and the bond of shared aversion to it weakens.

This board is a complex community that has been linked by ties of all those kinds. It may well experience cyclical phases of expansion and contraction like an industrial economy, rather than a once-through life cycle of growth and decay, because some of the more durable parts of the board may keep it alive after others collapse, until the collapsed parts restart.

Or if the board dies, that may just be mortal nature. I don't think message boards have a survival instinct. Insofar as they can be considered as a collective life form, they're not really interested in changing species, to become a different kind of thing, just to live a bit longer. When their time comes, I reckon, they just die as they've lived.

Thanks for posting this!

[drumdude]

A week of this should show clearly what these posters are “contributing” to the board.

[Fernando]

There's another board - mormondialogue - where Mormonism is discussed - several of the posters here have also posted there.

I'd be interested to know what people unhappy with this board think of the other one.

Actually, I'd be interested to know what anyone here thinks of mormondialogue. I've been pleasantly surprised at the range of belief levels that seem to co-exist over there, in spite of the fact that freedom of expression is somewhat narrower there.

But maybe AM, Binger, and Fernando (however many individuals that encompasses) would find a home to their liking at mormondialogue.

To be clear, I have no intention of disinviting them from discussmormonism - just wondering how they might like mormondialogue.

Thanks for posting, I'll keep it in mind.

[Fernando]

... I was greeted by this curiosity:

Lol. That looks like curiosity in its eyes too. Or maybe it was cursing you for keeping the container lid shut. (speaking from experience.)

I guess I'm old, I don't understand the raccoon whale post.

[Fernando]

I read a post last week about how board activity has been declining recently, and during the past few days, I have definitely noticed a decline in involvement. What makes it seem like that? Is it because people are growing weary of the ongoing hostility toward Mormons? Another possibility is that the board has become so far to the left over the past year, nearly to the point of developing cult-like inclinations.

Another thing to think about is whether the moderators should be replaced by a team that is more just and equitable but might not be as progressive. There must be a reason why people keep signing up for the board, yet none of them ever post more than once or twice.

This board will become just as pitiful as the New Order Mormon board if nothing is done soon, with only a half dozen ardent adherents commenting about how absurd Mormonism is. The fact that the founder and moderators are naïve about how they have essentially allowed the board to become into a Mormon-bashing hell hole makes me think it's a shame that this board is beginning to collapse. Any ideas as to how the board might be revived? Is it destined to be completely destroyed due to its strong tendency to despise Mormonism via a progressive lens of cultiness?

I can't post as much as I want to because the board is becoming too political.

Help Shades change the board.