SF/C Forum is a lot quieter than it used to be?

[KingZzub]

It's not due to proselytizing Jim. It's due to Pete's forum being a place where people actually care about building each other up more than winning brownie points.

I have been a member of many forums, I love the internet, I type fast and I enjoy meeting people from all over the world. None of them are like Pete's forum. Not one has the same atmosphere of love, kindness and graciousness with each other.

We are not all WoF, we are not all clones, we are just grown up. I have made some great friends, and yes a few of them are from here but in His Grace Oasis (google it) we can actually talk about life, the universe and everything and know that someone is not about to come down on us because we misplaced a comma or disagreed with their pet doctrine.

So, that is my plug for Pete's place, and my plug for Pete as well. He is a mature, generous Christian and I am grateful to know him. Certainly where we disagree he never says things like "ri-i-i-i-ight" or "you can run but not hide".

Signing off because I don't want to add to the traffic in this place. If it continues, bless it. If it doesn't, I shall still sleep easy. I don't miss strife (see James 3.13).

Love and kisses,
Benjamin (ZZ)

 

[JimB]

It's not due to proselytizing Jim. It's due to Pete's forum being a place where people actually care about building each other up more than winning brownie points.

I have been a member of many forums, I love the internet, I type fast and I enjoy meeting people from all over the world. None of them are like Pete's forum. Not one has the same atmosphere of love, kindness and graciousness with each other.

We are not all WoF, we are not all clones, we are just grown up. I have made some great friends, and yes a few of them are from here but in His Grace Oasis (google it) we can actually talk about life, the universe and everything and know that someone is not about to come down on us because we misplaced a comma or disagreed with their pet doctrine.

So, that is my plug for Pete's place, and my plug for Pete as well. He is a mature, generous Christian and I am grateful to know him. Certainly where we disagree he never says things like "ri-i-i-i-ight" or "you can run but not hide".

Signing off because I don't want to add to the traffic in this place. If it continues, bless it. If it doesn't, I shall still sleep easy. I don't miss strife (see James 3.13).

Love and kisses,
Benjamin (ZZ)

If you say so, ZZ. But I take another view, shared by others in this forum. IMO, the ones who left SF/PC are the ones who found it difficult to press their WOF brand of theology in a forum that had Christians with better theology than theirs. Solution: start a WOF subforum. But apparently that hasn’t worked as well as some hoped, so the next solution seems to be to start an Oasis (?) forum where you can “fellowship” and talk about your beliefs without anyone questioning them. That is perfectly fine with me and I have no intentions of raiding the forum any more than I ever raided the WOF subforum.

Pete may be “a mature, generous Christian” (and FTR, I really like him although I strongly disagree with much of his theology) but I have found that he really does love to mix it up with those he disagrees with. It does seem odd, though, that Pete, who has spared no words at others and me with whom he disagrees, is suddenly calling for peace and tranquility in this forum. Maybe he should take the lead and show us what he means rather than just lecture us.

Anyhow, that’s my view on it.

~Jim

I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. ~C.S. Lewis​

 

[KingZzub]

He did take the lead. Led us to His Grace Oasis.

Thanks for proving my point better than I ever could.

Sweet dreams,
Ben

 

[probinson]

IMO, the ones who left SF/PC are the ones who found it difficult to press their WOF brand of theology in a forum that had Christians with better theology than theirs.

What is this, kindergarten? "My theology is better than yours, neener neener."

Solution: start a WOF subforum. But apparently that hasn’t worked as well as some hoped, so the next solution seems to be to start an Oasis (?) forum where you can “fellowship” and talk about your beliefs without anyone questioning them. That is perfectly fine with me and I have no intentions of raiding the forum any more than I ever raided the WOF subforum.

If you spent even just a few minutes reading some of the threads at HGO, you'd see that there are many different viewpoints expressed, all respectfully, and all without "bloodletting". It's quite possible.

FTR, the WOF forum at CF is doing just fine. In fact, some days it generates as much (and sometimes even more) traffic as this forum. The non-WoF forum? Not so much.

Your timeline and facts are wrong also; The WoF forum here at CF was created long before I registered here, and HGO's inception had nothing at all to do with it.

Pete may be “a mature, generous Christian” (and FTR, I really like him although I strongly disagree with much of his theology) but I have found that he really does love to mix it up with those he disagrees with.

I enjoy discussing things with people who have different beliefs than I do. I don't enjoy discussing things with people who are unable to do that respectfully.

It does seem odd, though, that Pete, who has spared no words at others and me with whom he disagrees, is suddenly calling for peace and tranquility in this forum. Maybe he should take the lead and show us what he means rather than just lecture us.

It's not sudden. I've been calling for calm, rational, civilized debate since when I was on staff at this forum. It's nothing new.

When I couldn't find it here, I created a place where it is now possible to discuss doctrinal and theological differences respectfully and peacefully.

 

[JimB]

Okay.

 

[lismore]

There may be another reason why the WOF’ers have left this forum … Proselytizing.

I started this thread because I have noticed many people leaving, not just WOF members but many and varied members.

They are sorely missed..............

 

[lismore]

That was said tongue-in-cheek, Lis.

But I think you know that.

I cant judge tone by type alone! Why not use brackets?

 

[~RENEE~]

I pop in from time to time but nothing gets my eye that much anymore it's the same ole same ole argue bicker argue bicker gets really old after a while.

 

[nephilimiyr]

Personally, I have not noticed much of a difference in the number of people who come here. We’re just a little quieter than we used to be.

I still say that people came here when they smelled blood. People sure didn’t go away when we were engaged in the Holy Wars. They came here because they wanted to see a good fight. It’s human nature, IMO. People love to see a spirited contest. That’s why contact sports draws people by the thousands and friendly chess matches draws them by the ones and twos … or not at all. They went away when things quieted down. I would guarantee that if we locked horns again we would draw the same old crowd of blood sport spectators who would come here if for no other reason than to lecture us on how we should all just try to get along. The irony is that the thing that draws them to the forum is the thing they want to stop and when it stops they drift away.

Like I say, it’s human nature.

Hi Jim, everything you said here is pretty much sound reasoning and I pretty much agree with you to a point, the thing about your last comment though is that the strife never stopped it just slowed down a bit at times, IMHO.

 

[nephilimiyr]

I started this thread because I have noticed many people leaving, not just WOF members but many and varied members.

They are sorely missed..............

Well thank you Lismore, I've always considered myself a "varied" member and it's nice to know that someone out there has missed me.

Yeah, I don't think I'll ever get into this day to day message board thing again, or even week to week, but stopping in to say hi every few months I guess isn't too much of a chore.

 

[pdudgeon]

And the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Here’s my view.

First, I have not noticed a drop in the number of people who post in this forum. Many have remained, new ones are added, but some of our chronic complainers have gone away.

Incidentally, the only “complainers” I heard who complained about the tone of the forum were those whose arguments were clearly being shown as weak and could no longer be intelligently defended. Rather than admit the obvious error of their positions, they resorted to making frequent reports of posts they found problematic to the Mods (some of whom, not ironically, shared their theological views and who were no better at answering their critics); occasionally getting a few of their better-versed opponents temporarily banned, and making constant complaints in their posts (which I am hearing revived déjà vu in this thread) about the “tone” of the forum, as though they did not contribute to it, conveniently forgetting that their tone was just as ruthless (if not more so) after they went on the defensive trying to defend the indefensible. I heard that it's the bitten dog that yelps the loudest.

And when these red herring attacks did not stop the truth from being presented, many (i.e., some) of these chronic “complainers” (though not all of them) left the forum to lick their wounds and, not surprisingly, the arguments have ceased to be as nasty (at least for the time being).

But if this thread is any indication, it looks like the brief truce might be evaporating.

As for the Holy Spirit being absent from this forum: I found it to be quite the opposite. The Spirit of Truth resides where truth exists and, if I understnad scripture correctly, He will never leave us or forsake us.

~Jim

I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. ~C.S. Lewis​

how interesting! you affirm your own arguements, while we affirm the words of God.

 

[murjahel]

There are other forums out there...
hopefully many of them are Christian..​

some have their own dogma to present,
some are just attack forums...​

it is a shameful thing in my opinion
to attack by name, on a forum,
mainly due to 'doctrinal differences'...​

this forum does not normally allow personal
attack, questioning if someone is a Christian even,
or insulting...
that is good...​

if we disagree with a doctrine of someone,
we should disagree with Scripture on that
doctrine, on the forum designed for debate,
and not get into name calling, nor insulting the person...​

if another forum is denigrated to
name calling, insulting... that is a shame...​

Jim, I will speak an encouragement to you, ...
'hang in there for Jesus...
He is walking beside you, and
'no weapon formed against you shall prosper...
our righteousness is of Him...'​

 

[Svt4Him]

The reason people leave is because of WOF? Oh man, that's intelligence right there. Could they leave because a. life got busy? b. they have other things to do? c. a forum is not real life, and there are many other forums that meet someone's needs? d. the average stay at any one forum is less that one person's whole life? ...nope, that's not why, it's because they hold bad WOF theology. Man, how silly is that. I was at another site (which I still have vet/admin status on. It was a large game site. I didn't leave because my gaming habits were wrong, it was just time to move on. That may be the case here. Some may leave because of issues, that's the nature of a site. Some leave because it was better in the good old days, again the nature of a site. Granted those of us here in the good old days still saw the same things being said. But nope, not in some people's world, they leave because they're weak WOF'ers. I think it's obvious who's weak.

 

[Alpine]

I started this thread because I have noticed many people leaving, not just WOF members but many and varied members.

They are sorely missed..............

As stated before, I do not think the whole WOF issue had anything to do with it. Traffic is down with CF in general. The whole site ain't what it used to be. There are some boards on this site that are for all purposes dead now that used to be active. SF is still fairly active but as compared to how it used to be, there is really no comparison.

I stopped coming to CF and the SF board in particular due to the repetitive nature of the postings and the boorish arguments. There's something to be said for simple fellowship and friendly banter and that is what is missing from CF these days.

 

[Optimax]

There may be another reason why the WOF’ers have left this forum … Proselytizing.

BTW, Isn’t this your forum, Pete? Click HERE

I guess the SF/PC WOF subforum wasn’t enough of a shield against the truth.

Like they say, you can run from the truth but you can’t hide.

~Jim

I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. ~C.S. Lewis​

I started posting again late last year, about November and was active thru the winter. Stopped posting in late February as we loaded the Fifth Wheel and went back out to a lake.

The Park we are at installed WIFI recently so have been posting again some.

Thought the traffic was really slow back in the winter.

Seems like "traffic" is almost non exsistant now.

By the way Jim, thanks for the link to the "other" forum.

I will check it out.

 

[nephilimiyr]

As stated before, I do not think the whole WOF issue had anything to do with it. Traffic is down with CF in general. The whole site ain't what it used to be. There are some boards on this site that are for all purposes dead now that used to be active. SF is still fairly active but as compared to how it used to be, there is really no comparison.

I stopped coming to CF and the SF board in particular due to the repetitive nature of the postings and the boorish arguments. There's something to be said for simple fellowship and friendly banter and that is what is missing from CF these days.

Well said! I really did just get bored/tired with it all. The same subjects were always brought up and the same arguements and discussions made.

Have you ever seen that movie called Ground Hog Day? The one when everytime Bill Murray wakes up in the moring the same day would repeat itself? After I realised that this forum was basically a Ground Hog Day thing I told myself that I need to move on.

Of course at the sametime I also got a day job, and when the changes to the forum didn't include any of the things I put forward as being necessary for the healthy survival of this forum I decided it would be best to just forget about this place, which I've mostly been successful at doing.

As you can see, me forgetting about this place is almost impossible, it used to be a major part of my intellectual and spirit growth. I think the reason why I have sneaked a peek now is because I do miss all of you folks and I think I will always feel that I am among friends here. I just hope that I've been a friend to you all as well.

 

[lismore]

There's something to be said for simple fellowship and friendly banter and that is what is missing from CF these days.

Why not start threads with what you want to talk about then?

 

[pdudgeon]

Dark Light, one of the CF mods, has posted a very interesting reply in OBOB, addressing this same problem of member conflict that has reared it's ugly head in this forum.
http://www.christianforums.com/t7572484-7/#post57908149

 

[pdudgeon]

Well said! I really did just get bored/tired with it all. The same subjects were always brought up and the same arguements and discussions made.

Have you ever seen that movie called Ground Hog Day? The one when everytime Bill Murray wakes up in the moring the same day would repeat itself? After I realised that this forum was basically a Ground Hog Day thing I told myself that I need to move on.

Of course at the sametime I also got a day job, and when the changes to the forum didn't include any of the things I put forward as being necessary for the healthy survival of this forum I decided it would be best to just forget about this place, which I've mostly been successful at doing.

As you can see, me forgetting about this place is almost impossible, it used to be a major part of my intellectual and spirit growth. I think the reason why I have sneaked a peek now is because I do miss all of you folks and I think I will always feel that I am among friends here. I just hope that I've been a friend to you all as well.

i was just reading the Beatitudes this morning, and it reminded me that all that we take in of God's teachings is not lost, because it changes us from the inside out. I've seen that change in you and it gladdens my heart.

 

[Alpine]

Why not start threads with what you want to talk about then?

Because I don't care. I hardly can muster the desire to even come here anymore.