Greg West, the proprietor of the website, had just posted a blog entry about this very thread. Among other things, he wrote,
I'm not sure what's going on behind the scenes. All I'm doing is keeping a running list of the threads started by anti-Mormons and publishing them on the FRAM Report. If Latter-day Saints see that the forum's rules are slanted to favor anti-Mormonism, that one of their religion moderators is one of the anti-Mormons, and they decide to leave FR or withhold financial support, that's up to them.I do not wish to inflate his membership numbers, so I will post my reply here:
As a defender of Mormonism and the LDS Church, I cannot agree with Mr. West's characterization of Free Republic. I do not believe that Free Republic's rules are slanted as Mr. West alleges. Nor have I seen anything to suggest that any of the FR religion monitors is an "anti-Mormon."No doubt some of the posters to Free Republic can fairly be considered "anti-Mormon." So what? Whenever they post something erroneous about the LDS Church, it gives us the opportunity to correct the record. Unlike some truly anti-Mormon sites on the Internet, Free Republic does not prevent us from telling our side of the story.
I do hope that Mr. West does not intend to lead a boycott of Free Republic. The press release from the Church on 9 March 2009 states clearly, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as an institution does not call for boycotts."
Finally, I would let Mr. West and like-minded persons in on a little secret: Anti-Mormons are good for us. They keep us on our toes. Moreover, they generate interest in the Church, giving us the opportunity to reach people who might otherwise ignore us.
I worry much less about what the enemies of the LDS Church may do or say than the misbehaviors of the members themselves. My advice to Mr. West would be to discard his enemies list and find something productive to do.
Amen
I pray when this is resolved the FR LDS regulars will be vindicated for this sure has caused a lot of ill will we had friends here and now this is like planting a seed of doubt and that is not good!
I am the moderator that the anti-Mormon posters consider to be pro-Mormon, simply because I enforce the rules about not dragging dogmatic disputes from the Religion Forum into news threads (and for the record, I am not Mormon and am neutral about their religious views).
As a moderator, you can never make everyone happy - for the anti-Mormon hardcores, I must be pro-Mormon for enforcing FR rules when they violate them. I have found that those who carry around sour grapes can only offer you sour wine. And these SPAM-LDS AFers are just as sour as those they decry.