I should probably stop coming to these forums so often

[LeGato]

4 Chan is awesome.

For myself, coming from Telegram and Gab (and before that Parler), CForums strikes me as extremely mild. The only thing milder are some of the private chats on Facebook. Twitter is..there is no word for what Twitter is.
I use to post on Carm starting in about 2021. I was there for about 7 years. It was extremely volatile too.

People say to get off the net, but I remember when the net was good. I think the body-lessness of it contributes to the warfare. There's something about physicality that makes us sympathetic to one another. Also, people thrive on anonymity.

I did Telegram and Gab for a very short amount of time. Was on Parler up until the app stopped working. Never heard of Carm...is it any good? Twitter is cancer lol. I am one of those red-pilled types. And I was kind of expecting the "mildness" of CF...just to have something a bit more positive. But I suppose the internet will always be the internet lol.

 

[Thatgirloncfforums]

We've roughed and tumbled together, but she's one of the Good ones!

Same. I really appreciate you being there for me last night. It was rough.

 

[Thatgirloncfforums]

I did Telegram and Gab for a very short amount of time. Was on Parler up until the app stopped working. Never heard of Carm...is it any good? Twitter is cancer lol. I am one of those red-pilled types. And I was kind of expecting the "mildness" of CF...just to have something a bit more positive. But I suppose the internet will always be the internet lol.

Carm is Matt Slick's website and forums. It's apologetics based, so no. In my opinion, most apologetic sites are just drama waiting to happen. I checked it out the other day, most people I knew from there were gone. It was madness.

 

[LeGato]

Carm is Matt Slick's website and forums. It's apologetics based, so no. In my opinion, most apologetic sites are just drama waiting to happen. I checked it out the other day, most people I knew from there were gone. It was madness.

Oh wow, thanks.

 

[Thatgirloncfforums]

If people just attack what I say, that's one thing, but once they start attacking me as a person, they go on ignore. The CF world becomes a much nicer place.

Report them. I've never reported anyone (I like a challenge ) , but I really think you should if it's affecting you negatively. No one deserves to be abused. You are a child of God and his good creation.

 

[bekkilyn]

Report them. I've never reported anyone (I like a challenge ) , but I really think you should if it's affecting you negatively. No one deserves to be abused. You are a child of God and his good creation.

This was a while ago, so no point to it now, but I've kind of made it a "policy" so that I have boundaries for what I will and will not tolerate. Plus, I like to keep my reports rare for the really bad stuff and not just because someone snidely keeps calling me an "anti-vaxxer out to murder everyone" or whatever. I just ignore them and move on. I've probably only reported someone only a small handful of times the whole time I've been on CF and usually because they were persistently and willfully violating the rules of a faith group (even after being warned) and causing a lot of havoc for multiple people.

 

[Lady Bug]

I might add that in the Recovery sections, you are probably safer here than most other parts of CF. I don't even think there's debating allowed in this area of CF, so that's a plus. But anything that has to do with News/Current Events/Politics, and the Theology sections may drain the life out of you.

 

[1watchman]

We all need to learn to be nice when talking to others --even if we disagree. Discussing things have helped many posters here, I see.
I try to avoid extremists, and as do most others who spot them too. The questions and issues set forth should be our focus; to try to be of some help; and always exalt Jesus Christ and honor our Creator-God in all contacts.
I hope you keep coming, Strathos!

 

[turkle]

I should have admitted this long ago, but these forums simply aren't healthy for my mental well-being. Every single time I post here, I end up leaving in a worse mood than when I arrived. It's mainly because there is so much anger, confrontation, and intolerance among the posters here, especially in certain subforums. Of course, not naming any names, but whenever I return to the forums, I dread seeing notifications, because most of the time they're people quoting my posts to tell me things like:

'This verse clearly means X and not Y, and if you disagree you're a heretic who's going to Hell'
'You can't call yourself a Christian if you voted for such-and-such'
'The earth is totally flat, here, watch this 20 hour long youtube video that proves it, and no I don't care about any of your counter arguments'
'I'm still right about this, all of your evidence doesn't count'

etc.

Which brings up another thing. It's impossible to effectively debate anything here, because no matter how much time you spend finding and linking evidence, people are just so set in their opinions that they will never be swayed by it, and just call your sources biased without justifying that (and then expect you to never question any of their sources).

What makes it worse is that my positions often leave me caught in between extremes, so on one hand I have the more fundamentalist and literalist Christians telling me I'm a heretic and that I don't really believe in God's word just because I don't believe the flood covered the entire planet, and on the other hand I have these atheists telling me that I'm a superstitious fool clinging to old myths if I even suggest that the Bible has anything relevant to say about modern culture or science.

It's the same with politics. Some people see me as a communist for supporting the idea of universal healthcare, and others see me as a fascist for suggesting that maybe abortion shouldn't be available to everyone at any time under any circumstances. And there are so many people with so many convoluted conspiracy beliefs that it's impossible to convince them anything they believe might not be true, even though I always try my best to vet my sources.

And then there are the people who openly declare their support for (from my perspective at least) repellent and harmful policies, and spread false information to do that. And often times when they are called on that, they will even say that they don't care if a certain claim is false, if it supports their agenda, they have no problem repeating it.

It's just a stressful and altogether unpleasant experience. I don't feel a sense of community here like I do at my church. I mostly just feel hostility and hate. So I might not be posting here as often as I once did.

I have found that the biggest waste of time and energy for me is to try to convince anyone of anything. People believe what they believe for their own reasons... including you and me. If your purpose is to educate and enlighten, whether on this forum or any other social media outlet, then you are setting yourself up for disappointment.

I prefer to look at differing views in an attempt to understand where people are coming from. Sometimes it's obvious, often it's not. But I find some beliefs fascinating. But I do not stress myself out by trying to change their point of view. I will challenge from time to time, and if that encourages different thought, good. If not, no big deal. People are who they are, and many are filled with anger and want an outlet.

But if you can't help but want to change people's opinions, it probably is a good idea to stay away from places that encourage controversy.

 

[bekkilyn]

Sometimes I also argue with people in hopes of increasing my own understanding of why I believe what I do, or to even figure out what I think.

 

[Akita Suggagaki]

I should have admitted this long ago, but these forums simply aren't healthy for my mental well-being. Every single time I post here, I end up leaving in a worse mood than when I arrived. It's mainly because there is so much anger, confrontation, and intolerance among the posters here, especially in certain subforums. Of course, not naming any names, but whenever I return to the forums, I dread seeing notifications, because most of the time they're people quoting my posts to tell me things like:

'This verse clearly means X and not Y, and if you disagree you're a heretic who's going to Hell'
'You can't call yourself a Christian if you voted for such-and-such'
'The earth is totally flat, here, watch this 20 hour long youtube video that proves it, and no I don't care about any of your counter arguments'
'I'm still right about this, all of your evidence doesn't count'

etc.

Which brings up another thing. It's impossible to effectively debate anything here, because no matter how much time you spend finding and linking evidence, people are just so set in their opinions that they will never be swayed by it, and just call your sources biased without justifying that (and then expect you to never question any of their sources).

What makes it worse is that my positions often leave me caught in between extremes, so on one hand I have the more fundamentalist and literalist Christians telling me I'm a heretic and that I don't really believe in God's word just because I don't believe the flood covered the entire planet, and on the other hand I have these atheists telling me that I'm a superstitious fool clinging to old myths if I even suggest that the Bible has anything relevant to say about modern culture or science.

It's the same with politics. Some people see me as a communist for supporting the idea of universal healthcare, and others see me as a fascist for suggesting that maybe abortion shouldn't be available to everyone at any time under any circumstances. And there are so many people with so many convoluted conspiracy beliefs that it's impossible to convince them anything they believe might not be true, even though I always try my best to vet my sources.

And then there are the people who openly declare their support for (from my perspective at least) repellent and harmful policies, and spread false information to do that. And often times when they are called on that, they will even say that they don't care if a certain claim is false, if it supports their agenda, they have no problem repeating it.

It's just a stressful and altogether unpleasant experience. I don't feel a sense of community here like I do at my church. I mostly just feel hostility and hate. So I might not be posting here as often as I once did.

I hear you and I consider the place a good place to try to practice self discipline, patience and kindness in spite of the responses. But one can only take so much so I do recommend as much time away as needed. It may not be worth the effort.

 

[Blade]

I should have admitted this long ago, but these forums simply aren't healthy for my mental well-being. Every single time I post here, I end up leaving in a worse mood than when I arrived. It's mainly because there is so much anger, confrontation, and intolerance among the posters here, especially in certain subforums. Of course, not naming any names, but whenever I return to the forums, I dread seeing notifications, because most of the time they're people quoting my posts to tell me things like:

'This verse clearly means X and not Y, and if you disagree you're a heretic who's going to Hell'
'You can't call yourself a Christian if you voted for such-and-such'
'The earth is totally flat, here, watch this 20 hour long youtube video that proves it, and no I don't care about any of your counter arguments'
'I'm still right about this, all of your evidence doesn't count'

etc.

Which brings up another thing. It's impossible to effectively debate anything here, because no matter how much time you spend finding and linking evidence, people are just so set in their opinions that they will never be swayed by it, and just call your sources biased without justifying that (and then expect you to never question any of their sources).

What makes it worse is that my positions often leave me caught in between extremes, so on one hand I have the more fundamentalist and literalist Christians telling me I'm a heretic and that I don't really believe in God's word just because I don't believe the flood covered the entire planet, and on the other hand I have these atheists telling me that I'm a superstitious fool clinging to old myths if I even suggest that the Bible has anything relevant to say about modern culture or science.

It's the same with politics. Some people see me as a communist for supporting the idea of universal healthcare, and others see me as a fascist for suggesting that maybe abortion shouldn't be available to everyone at any time under any circumstances. And there are so many people with so many convoluted conspiracy beliefs that it's impossible to convince them anything they believe might not be true, even though I always try my best to vet my sources.

And then there are the people who openly declare their support for (from my perspective at least) repellent and harmful policies, and spread false information to do that. And often times when they are called on that, they will even say that they don't care if a certain claim is false, if it supports their agenda, they have no problem repeating it.

It's just a stressful and altogether unpleasant experience. I don't feel a sense of community here like I do at my church. I mostly just feel hostility and hate. So I might not be posting here as often as I once did.

Hey.. your not alone. For me its different. I've been here 19y and oh its not worth it.. its not the people that post.. oh its just text.. its something that happens here but only after a few years. Something here years ago changed.. I don't know what. But what happens to me here happens no where else on the net. No other Christian forums. Not talking about the people that post.

 

[LeGato]

Hey.. your not alone. For me its different. I've been here 19y and oh its not worth it.. its not the people that post.. oh its just text.. its something that happens here but only after a few years. Something here years ago changed.. I don't know what. But what happens to me here happens no where else on the net. No other Christian forums. Not talking about the people that post.

What happens if you don't mind saying?

 

[Thatgirloncfforums]

Sometimes I also argue with people in hopes of increasing my own understanding of why I believe what I do, or to even figure out what I think.

This is me.

 

[mama2one]

.

 

[TheWhat?]

Yeah, debate is, like, supposed to refine perspectives.

At least I hope most people don't think it exists just to vanquish their enemies.

 

[1watchman]

I truly do not ever intend herein to change anyone to my views, but truly hope to show what our Holy Bible teaches; and hope too that I might help seekers to find a good and Godly way to live and succeed. Sometimes I challenge far-off ideas to compare their ideas with Bible truth. We should not expect everyone to view things as WE like, but seek truth and fair and Godly ways; beside showing grace and offer to help with those who struggle.
None of us can live a life for others! They WILL ultimately do what they want and choose for their course.

 

[Cormack]

I hope you’re feeling better, @Strathos.

 

[Akita Suggagaki]

The interesting thing is how we can go on and on with someone here in a fruitless discussion yet if we met them in person we would just walk away within minutes.

 

[Thatgirloncfforums]

Why would we walk away?

The interesting thing is how we can go on and on with someone here in a fruitless discussion yet if we met them in person we would just walk away within minutes.