Posted on 01/26/2007 9:05:39 AM PST by Religion Moderator
I am the current Religion Moderator and have general responsibility for this Religion Forum on Free Republic. However, all moderators have authority on the RF as well – and prior RMs may log in with my handle. So the person handling your abuse reports may or may not be me, but usually it will be.
I diligently try to read all of your posts, but am not here 24/7 and cannot remember all of the slights and parties involved on every single sidebar much less when posters carry grudges between threads. So if you are wondering why I singled one guy out and not the other involved in a dispute, often it is because I either did not see a previous post or did not remember it as part of the sidebar.
If the other guy in the dispute was given a warning, consider yourself warned as well.
I make every effort to treat all confessions with an even hand. Some here say that is not so evidently because their own confession is the target of what they consider to be more challenges and ridicule than the other guy’s confession. First, there is no confession on the Religion Forum with “clean hands” – if you doubt that, check out the threads where the article is “for” the other guy’s confession. Secondly, some confessions are far more contentious than others evidently as part of the doctrine.
Some posters argue for their confessions as if their lives depended on it because, frankly, to many of them it does. Flame wars ignite over petty, miserably petty, minutia. Therefore, I hold all the Religion Forum posters to a tough standard:
1. Discuss the issues all you want, but do NOT make it personal. You’ll see this warning frequently on threads because the first offense in a flame war is often when one of the participants makes a personal remark about another Freeper, e.g. you’re an idiot, liar, heretic and so on. Attributing motives to another poster or otherwise reading his mind is “making it personal.” Stick with the issues and you’ll be fine. When in doubt, double check your use of pronouns before hitting “post.”
2. Thin skinned RF posters should stick with the “closed” threads. I can and do intercede to keep posters from “making it personal.” There is nothing I can do to prevent a poster from “taking it personal.” And, frankly, many posters come to the RF with huge chips on their shoulders. Such posters are as guilty of causing flame wars as the ones who actually do “make it personal.”
3. “Closed” threads on the Religion Forum include devotionals, prayer threads and caucuses. The header of the thread should make it obvious that the thread is closed, i.e. like a church meeting behind closed doors. Such assemblies will not be disturbed. Any challenges or ridicule will be removed. Any thread can be designated a caucus - e.g. labeled as a “[Catholic Caucus]” or “[LDS Caucus]” - provided that neither the article nor any of the posts challenge or ridicule any other confession. These are “safe harbors” for those who are easily offended or are ill equipped to defend their own confession.
It is disingenuous to complain that your confession is being maligned when you are NOT using the caucus designation to protect the thread from challenges!
4. All other threads on the Religion Forum are “Open” which means they are like a town square. Challenges and ridicule will occur. Expect them to be contentious, rough or even insulting. Your confession will be maligned on open threads. Your beloved religious figures will be ridiculed. Don’t complain because the author or a religious figure is called a liar, demon, heretic or whatever on an open thread. It is to be expected in the town square. Remember too that the Religion Forum is densely populated with highly educated theologians. If you are ill-equipped to defend your confession, you’ll get beat up on “Open” thread. When in doubt, ping one of your best defenders and withdraw to a “Closed” thread.
As much as is possible I try to use a progressive method with uncooperative Religion Forum posters – a warning, and if that warning is ignored, a cookie (making him log in again), and if that is ignored, an hour suspension … and so on up to a banishment. I do this because an occasional misstep on such sensitive matters as one’s confession should be tolerable. But I will not be ignored.
Posters who have been previously banned and try to come back with a different handle will be banished as soon as they are “found out.” Some retreads stay off the “radar” by behaving themselves, but once they start picking fights – they cause the moderators – any of us – to investigate. If you have been previously banned and want to come back on the forum, make a request, promise not to do whatever caused the first banning.
A poster may also be banned in an instant if he is discovered to be a racist, a hate monger including an anti-Semitist, troll, anti-Freeper, etc.
There will be people on the forum who are anti- your confession whether anti-Christian, anti-Calvinist, anti-Catholic, anti-Protestant, anti-Mormon, anti-Atheist, anti-Scientologist and so on. As long as they are arguing for their position on an “Open” thread – and are not using hate mongering material such as the false “oath for Knights of Columbus” or Jack Chick cartoons – and are otherwise abiding by the guidelines, their challenges will be tolerated.
Threads that become “toxic” – which is to say have devolved into an unredeemable mess of hurt feelings will be locked or pulled. I prefer to lock the threads because many posters put a great deal of effort in their replies and would like to keep them bookmarked.
"Expecting one side to be under constant assault and yet remain so is unreasonable."
Precisely.
But let's remember our Catholic roots here!
The proper response to constant assault by the enemies and long-suffering forebearance at the hands of our foes, when things cannot possibly get bleaker,
IS TO GO NUTS AND TURN INTO CRUSADERS AND CONQUISTADORES!
Ole!
"The Lord's our shepherd says the psalm, but just in case
we'd better get a Bomb." - Tom Lehrer.
"Christians need to buck up, grow a thick skin and start treating others as Christ would."
Kick over their tables and drive 'em out with a whip?
Do you think that, here on FreeRepublic, it is your job to kick over the tables and whip peopl einto submission? How do you plan to do that?
"Do you think that, here on FreeRepublic, it is your job to kick over the tables and whip peopl einto submission? How do you plan to do that?"
Ever seen "Pinky and the Brain"?
I'm counting on logorrhea.
Exactly! That's why I recommended some self-policing measures earlier on. If we don't let our separated brethren get under our skin and make us stoop to the same level of argumentation they all-too-often employ, we can't help but enhance our cause. If they want to run negative "shadow threads" running against our subject matter...let them! We will simply have one or two thorough, researched, responsible rebuttals early-on in their threads and then just ignore them thereafter. A comparison, by anyone interested, of our threads and those of our non-Catholic friends will, I am sure, yield impressive apologetics and informational results in our favor.
I really wish we'd get together and do this; it's nearly impossible to wade through all the dreck to get to the good posts these days! It's even harder when most of us are at work. Why don't we give ourselves a break here - both posters and lurkers? We regain our collective sanity, make what we have to say FAR more comprehensible to those who WANT to hear it, and, doubtless, God will thank us for it, too! What a deal... ;-)
Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of choosing a Religion Moderator. Supreme executive power over the essence of Religion derives from a mandate from the Master, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony!
I order you to be quiet!
BLOODY PEASANT!
Oh, King, eh, very nice. And how d'you get that, eh? By exploiting the workers! By 'anging on to outdated imperialist dogma which perpetuates the economic and social differences in our society. If there's ever going to be any progress with the--
Oh, look Dennis, there's some lovely filth over 'ere!
We're Knights of the Round Table.
We dance whene'er we're able.
We do routines and chorus scenes
With footwork impeccable.
We dine well here in Camelot.
We eat ham and jam and spam a lot.
[dancing]
We're Knights of the Round Table.
Our shows are formidable,
But many times we're given rhymes
That are quite unsingable.
We're opera mad in Camelot.
We sing from the diaphragm a lot.
Help! I'm being oppressed! I'm being oppressed!
Then, when you have found the shrubbery, you must place it here beside this shrubbery, only slightly higher so you get the two-level effect with a little path running down the middle.
it!
How you English say, 'I one more time, mac, unclog my nose in your direction', sons of a window-dresser!
So, you think you could out-clever us French folk with your silly knees-bent running about advancing behavior?! You cheesy lot of second hand electric donkey-bottom biters.
ANNOUNCER: Tune in tomorrow when we will begin the first installment of the Spanish Inquisition featuring Sir Reginald Mandrake in the role of Torquemada. Until then, good night and good luck! Cheeri-o!
Well, I wasn't expecting the Spanish Inquisition!
I wear a heretic button on my lapel, just below the American Flag!
I've been a frequent poster all over the forum, including the RF.
To call such a statement false, incomplete, inaccurate, misinformed, etc. would not be “making it personal.”
Neither. I am also an Admin Moderator.
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