Debp Posted September 7, 2018 Group: Worthy Ministers Followers: 52 Topic Count: 1,020 Topics Per Day: 0.15 Content Count: 12,312 Content Per Day: 1.80 Reputation: 16,367 Days Won: 92 Joined: 07/19/2005 Status: Offline Share Posted September 7, 2018 Just a suggestion for all of us, myself included. I see another good thread has been deleted....the Sharing Christ with Muslims at Christmas. Let's all try to stay on the topic of the threads and be respectful to each other so they won't be deleted in the future. I know everyone put alot of work into following the topic and answering. I was sorry to see it deleted when I checked in now. We won't have too many interesting threads if they keep getting deleted! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockyMidnight Posted September 7, 2018 Group: Senior Member Followers: 6 Topic Count: 10 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 536 Content Per Day: 0.25 Reputation: 563 Days Won: 1 Joined: 06/06/2018 Status: Offline Share Posted September 7, 2018 58 minutes ago, Debp said: Just a suggestion for all of us, myself included. I see another good thread has been deleted....the Sharing Christ with Muslims at Christmas. Let's all try to stay on the topic of the threads and be respectful to each other so they won't be deleted in the future. I know everyone put alot of work into following the topic and answering. I was sorry to see it deleted when I checked in now. We won't have too many interesting threads if they keep getting deleted! Too bad scripture is not the standard for posting rules. That would eliminate the eventual conflicts that cause these topics to be deleted. Cheers!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neighbor Posted September 7, 2018 Group: Worthy Ministers Followers: 18 Topic Count: 952 Topics Per Day: 0.35 Content Count: 13,573 Content Per Day: 5.03 Reputation: 9,054 Days Won: 6 Joined: 12/04/2016 Status: Offline Birthday: 03/03/1885 Share Posted September 7, 2018 Another Christian message board has a category called "Rabble Babble", a place that threads gone out of control go to, some get blocked from posting anymore in them some get edited there and eventually the threads get shut down, but they don't disappear. Don't know if that is a viable option here or not. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
other one Posted September 7, 2018 Group: Worthy Ministers Followers: 29 Topic Count: 597 Topics Per Day: 0.08 Content Count: 56,117 Content Per Day: 7.56 Reputation: 27,851 Days Won: 271 Joined: 12/29/2003 Status: Offline Share Posted September 7, 2018 threads can be locked here without making them go away.... they are usually put in the deleted bucket until the mods have a chance to review them.... some people who disagree with threads do a bunch of aggravating people then report them to get them shut down..... it's very frustrating when you've spent hours looking things up and putting them together. It is quickly getting to the point that posting here just isn't worth the effort... 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debp Posted September 7, 2018 Group: Worthy Ministers Followers: 52 Topic Count: 1,020 Topics Per Day: 0.15 Content Count: 12,312 Content Per Day: 1.80 Reputation: 16,367 Days Won: 92 Joined: 07/19/2005 Status: Offline Author Share Posted September 7, 2018 5 hours ago, other one said: threads can be locked here without making them go away.... they are usually put in the deleted bucket until the mods have a chance to review them.... some people who disagree with threads do a bunch of aggravating people then report them to get them shut down..... it's very frustrating when you've spent hours looking things up and putting them together. It is quickly getting to the point that posting here just isn't worth the effort... I understand...many of us follow certain topics regularly and post as we are led. Then all of a sudden the whole thread is gone. In the Sharing with Muslims at Christmas thread, I think that was an excellent topic. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest shiloh357 Posted September 7, 2018 Share Posted September 7, 2018 11 minutes ago, Debp said: I understand...many of us follow certain topics regularly and post as we are led. Then all of a sudden the whole thread is gone. In the Sharing with Muslims at Christmas thread, I think that was an excellent topic. This is the kind of issue you need to take up with the mods in private. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post GandalfTheWise Posted September 7, 2018 Group: Royal Member Followers: 24 Topic Count: 40 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 1,459 Content Per Day: 0.60 Reputation: 2,377 Days Won: 2 Joined: 08/23/2017 Status: Offline Popular Post Share Posted September 7, 2018 Just some random ramblings and reminiscing about things God did in my life at 3AM in the morning when I cannot fall back asleep.... (the rambling and reminiscing being what is done at 3 AM, not in particular things God did at 3AM...) One of the best Christian forums I was on was the old Ransomed Heart site. No editing posts allowed. The admin rarely locked threads or banned users. The site was largely self-policing. My sense is that there were about 5 to 10 times the number of active daily posters than here. Basically, it took on a life of its own independent of the main ministry. At some point, those running the ministry made the strategic decision to move to a new format and structure that better supported their main ministry. Sadly, the change in format more or less killed the online community that had grown. What made that forum unique was that most of the people God drew there were at a point in their lives where they were wondering what God wanted them to do with their lives and who He had created them to be. The core of that forum was a group of people who'd been to the Ransomed Heart retreats, met others, and wanted to continue those relationships. These retreats had been life changing times for many people. On the forum, people shared deep parts of their lives as to what God was doing and what they were struggling with. Many people shared things that they'd never told anyone else in their lives because it was safe to do so. We're talking things like being chronically abused as a child, addictions, hidden shame, deep betrayals, chronic sins, compulsive behaviors they couldn't control; those types of things that haunt people in the middle of the night or are suddenly triggered in the middle of the day. People were honest about the state of their spiritual walk. Later, the forums grew as people from outside that ministry discovered that site and joined in. God drew people there because He wanted to heal things in their life that needed His touch and for them to grow spiritually. People there had a sense of reverence that God was doing a special work in someone's life, that it was often going to take some time, and felt deeply that it was sinful and sacrilegious to risk harming them in any way. People were deeply honest with each other and *effectively* blunt at times, but it was usually characterized by gentleness and patience. Their goal was not to establish a standard of correctness; the goal was to walk alongside someone as they stumbled, needed a helping arm, and to help them grow spiritually. They were there with someone for the long haul of their growth, not for hit and run posturing over who was right. The bottom line is that many lives were changed through that online ministry, including my own. There were sections of that site where knock out drag em out debates on politics, theology, and other topics occurred and that rivaled some here but they were a small fraction of the total posts. When things got out of hand, within a few days there would usually be apologies for bad behavior and things that were said. There were definitely problems at times and a few people that seemed like magnets for strife. However, most people there viewed the other people there with patience and simply refused to give up on each other. When you've seen the deep struggles someone has gone through and they've seen yours, it becomes harder to dismiss them because of the standard Christian litmus tests Christians like to apply to determine if someone is worthy of being called a "real" Christian or needs to be fixed. When you see someone only through whether they meet your litmus tests of theological or doctrinal correctness, it's easy to view them as a target of correction or proselytization to be converted or banned, to quickly give up on them, and move to the next target. When you see them with eyes of deep love and compassion and are committed to seeing them spiritually grow into the unique person God created them to be, it's harder to give up on them. You stop seeing them through winning the battle of words today over every single issue and see them through the filter of how can you be help them in the long run to spiritually grow into the person God means for them to become. There was also an attitude of assuming the best of everyone else. If someone was testy, you assumed they were having a bad day and did not respond in kind. If something was ambiguous, you assumed that they misspoke or meant the better of the alternatives. If someone said something out and out stupid, it was corrected politely and with a good attitude. There was one person there for a time on that site who was demon afflicted and posted some of the most vile things I've ever seen anywhere. That was before I had arrived on the site. I was looking through the archives, ran across a few threads, and simply had to stop reading. I've seen nothing on this site that even approaches that. That person ended up being banned, but a number of people hung with her both online and a few reached out in real life. It took many months, but she was delivered from an occult background and is today a vibrant Christian. That situation threw the forum for a loop and did affect it badly for a time. God used that online ministry during a transformational time in my life. I was fighting with self-doubt and a growing self-loathing that the enemy had poured into my life for decades to shut me down from being who God wanted me to. On that site God surrounded me with a band of brother and sisters who saw much more in me than I did in myself at that point. For a period of months, they did not give up on me, but gently helped coax me out of my shell, and rejoiced at each small step. Many had been on a similar journey and shared their experiences and not just trite platitudes and spiritual sounding advice. When I would build up the courage to step out and share something, I'd find myself surrounded by encouraging and truly helpful people. There were times someone would write something to me that simply addressed things I'd been pondering and praying about without me having said anything. At a time where I was emotionally fragile and could have easily been knocked backwards by some ill spoken words, God surrounded me with a protective wall of brothers and sisters who weren't going to let anything happen to me. The people I interacted with on that forum had a profound affect on how I view and treat people today. I started to look at people and ask two questions, who has God created that person to become in Christ? and what is God's priority for me to contribute to His work in their life? Instead of seeing people through what was most apparently wrong to me or bothered me the most or of how I thought they could best serve God, I started to try to discern what it really was that God wanted to work on in their lives rather than distract them from that with a long list of my opinions about what was best for their life. Anyway... some random thoughts and nostalgia and some meditation on one of the most transformational times in my Christian walk when God used a few books and a number of people I've only known online to deeply touch my life in a way the church and Christians around me in real life couldn't.... 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
other one Posted September 7, 2018 Group: Worthy Ministers Followers: 29 Topic Count: 597 Topics Per Day: 0.08 Content Count: 56,117 Content Per Day: 7.56 Reputation: 27,851 Days Won: 271 Joined: 12/29/2003 Status: Offline Share Posted September 7, 2018 (edited) 3 hours ago, shiloh357 said: This is the kind of issue you need to take up with the mods in private. And that would help how? Edited September 7, 2018 by other one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest shiloh357 Posted September 7, 2018 Share Posted September 7, 2018 Just now, other one said: And that would help how? It won't. But it is inappropriate to air one's issues with how the mods handle the threads in public. If someone has a complaint about a deleted thread, they need to take it up with the moderators. That has always been the M.O. on this board and you have been here long enough to know that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
other one Posted September 7, 2018 Group: Worthy Ministers Followers: 29 Topic Count: 597 Topics Per Day: 0.08 Content Count: 56,117 Content Per Day: 7.56 Reputation: 27,851 Days Won: 271 Joined: 12/29/2003 Status: Offline Share Posted September 7, 2018 1 minute ago, shiloh357 said: It won't. But it is inappropriate to air one's issues with how the mods handle the threads in public. If someone has a complaint about a deleted thread, they need to take it up with the moderators. That has always been the M.O. on this board and you have been here long enough to know that. And I think it's time to see if others are bothered with it of if I'm just going overboard. If others are not bothered with it then I will set back and just stop putting effort in posting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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