Should we stick a fork in it.....?

Maybe God is telling us to go to Rome or the EO.
Seriously.

Aymn27 said:

It seems to be that STR as a vibrant forum is DONE?! Observations?

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But...but...you said all we needed was to vote for your conservative subforum and all would be well......

Aymn27 said:

It seems to be that STR as a vibrant forum is DONE?! Observations?

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This is what happens when fellowship is replaced by factionalism.

Aymn27 said:

those of us who wanted a subforum had no intention of splitting the forum

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but the arguments in the myriad of threads demanding subfora alienated the bulk of the posters (both conservative and liberal) who frequented the main forum.

It seems like you thought that the subfora argument was causing the division ten days ago:

originally posted by Aymn27 on 07.20.07: If you have not visited the link to pmcleanj's proposal please do so and read through carefully...

Otherwise, I would like formally withdraw my vote for the creation of subfora in STR. As a major player in the development of the idea and advocate in making it happen, I would prefer to NOT have subfora than to see the membership of STR divide and split. This was never the intention of any of us who have lobbied for the subforum. We have continually reiterated this point, but in an effort to demonstrate to you who oppose it, I am repealing my vote for what I believe is the greater good of STR.

Our Lord Jesus gave his life freely so that we may have life, and as my Lord and Savior He calls me to continually lay down mine - including my own self interest. I don't believe it is too far of a stretch or too complicated of a matter to abandon the subfora request so that my brothers and sisters here who are adamantly against it will find some peace.

As a critic of all the TEC has done to cause divisions within Anglicanism, how much better would I be to insist that my wishes are greater than the fellowship and friendship of the entire forum. And to my brothers and sisters who advocated with me for the creation of the subfora, I ask you to prayerfully consider if the creation of these forums are more important than the unity of our board.

May God grant us peace!

Aaron

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Aymn27 said:

do you have proof of that? Honestly, I think more folks left because of the constant round and round on BASIC doctrine and belief that we couldn't get past -- THAT is why the idea of subforums came to being anyway..

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Aaron, just look at your post. The first sentence. 'Do you have proof of that?'. Straight away it is an aggressive question. This is why we are falling apart. Posts that respond in aggressive ways in order to get the upper hand. You follow your question with a thought of your own - to which anyone could also rightfully ask, 'do you have proof of that'? And the aggression escalates.

Conservatives may have left due to the reason you suggest, but many others (of all persuasions) left because of the shear aggression found in many posts.

By the way, a non-aggressive way of saying 'do you have proof of that' might be "I don't see it that way". It is an 'I' statement, not a 'you' statement, which takes away the attack but still expresses your view.

Aymn27 said:

It seems to be that STR as a vibrant forum is DONE?! Observations?

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It does feel that way at the moment.

Friend Aymn,

STR membership thread

friend Aymn, let me cherry pick one portion of your post before addressing the rest

.I just think there needs to be an overall vision of what STR is going to look like that is agreed upon my the bulk of the members and then policy should be put in place.

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No argument from me here. I posted something very similar back in the beginning of our reorganization.

In order to accomplish this we need to cover a couple of steps. For an overall vision agreed upon by the bulk of the members, the membership must be defined. In fact, for any binding changes or policy decisions, we need a body of membership to discuss and vote upon the issues. The first step in this process is to find those who would like to be considered as members. Our current ruleset requires only that these members self identify as Anglican (Friend F&B does, Friend Andy Broadly does not) to be considered as members. (Yes, this was voted on)

As far as the overall vision of what STR should be, I am more than willing to listen to any suggestions you may have. Start a thread with your vision. I am sure people would be glad to discuss it.

Aymn27 said:

yes longhair, I"ve seen it - who agreed that membership was required? did we vote on it? How is that Andy Broadly cannot be a voting member but Fish and Bread can (which F&B I have no problem with you being a voting member - just illustrating a point)....Now I'm not saying Karen's intentions were bad or wrong either...I just think there needs to be an overall vision of what STR is going to look like that is agreed upon my the bulk of the members and then policy should be put in place..I believe this place is being "Anglicanized" to death..

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Yes, Aaron, we did vote on it. Some of us (very few of us, in fact) put together provisional rules in the wiki, in which we described the membership as those self-identifying. So in order for any further votes, we needed a list. We never stipulated that a mod had to start off all the technicalities, (and to be honest, Peter has been the only mod around willing to try to get us all going, and I feel sorry for him having to try to do that on his own - what has happened to the input of the other mods? I don't know), so i started it simply to get it going in case we wanted to vote on other stuff.

longhair75 said:

In order to accomplish this we need to cover a couple of steps. For an overall vision agreed upon by the bulk of the members, the membership must be defined. In fact, for any binding changes or policy decisions, we need a body of membership to discuss and vote upon the issues. The first step in this process is to find those who would like to be considered as members. Our current ruleset requires only that these members self identify as Anglican (Friend F&B does, Friend Andy Broadly does not) to be considered as members. (Yes, this was voted on)

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This is true.

As far as the overall vision of what STR should be, I am more than willing to listen to any suggestions you may have. Start a thread with your vision. I am sure people would be glad to discuss it.

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Rome will never be an option for this family. Never.

As to why this forum is dead, or at least in critical condition, it happens during times of great stress. The Baptist forum is just as dead, and I can see others falling that way. Perhaps this dormancy will bring forth new life into this place, like the winter does for the plants in my yard.

I'm not sure what's gone on in STR the last month - having been away.

But prior to that I can say that I believe STR was the best congregational forum, actually best forum in any category, on CF, and a model of how CF could operate if it were encouraged to.

Sure we disagree on stuff, but we have alway shown a love for each other despite our differences. We respect that each is entitled to an opinion and to express it, even if we adamently (spelling is wacky sorry) disagree with it, and consider it aweful and troublesom.

Don't assume that is the case elsewhere on CF. I was modding in one subforum where the members couldn't even recognise that other members had a right to be there, or to consider themselves part of the same denomination. Now that was messy.

I have often greived the thoughts and beliefs that have appeared in threads in this forum, and yet love how we care for one another.

As a staff member the Anglicans constantly stood shoulder to shoulder on issues where many others were divided. Issues would arise where others were divided and we all seemed to be of one mind, despite majar differences in theology. We all worked well together.

I came back to pages of threads about wiki stuff and polls. I have not read them. I have no idea what went on in them. If we want to go back to being as we were, relationship wise, we must be humble and forgive one another, and love one another. Simplistic, yes, simple, no.

STR is the best forum on this site. Let's not throw that away please.