@Geech ,
@Travelers.Soul , and now
@TheGirlOnFire have all explained themselves, and I still do not understand how on Earth any of them have flamed Ariel or anyone on this website regarding her picture, and that we are all still flaming each other, that is not the definition of flaming, but I'll get back to that in a second.
Out of everyone who is spoken out against the picture, and
@YankeeGirl all pointed out that the picture was not appropriate for a Christian Singles forum. It is not saying that the dress was inappropriate, immodest, body-shaming, etc. There are numerous factors that determine what is and is not an appropriate picture for this website that goes beyond the type of clothing. I think we call agree sharing a picture of yourself in a swimsuit at the beach is completely different than sharing a picture of you wearing it in the bedroom or bathroom. If Ariel had been at a wedding, or some other type of event and shared a picture of herself wearing that same dress, I guarantee this conversation would not be happening. It was not just the dress itself, but how the dress and picture was presented itself. Again,
that is not flaming her. Nobody was saying anything about her intentions or even her character, in fact she was not even mentioned in the post that was supposedly flaming her. All anyone has said since then it is that it was not wise to post that picture. That's it. That's all there is, there's nothing more to this, almost conspiracy theory that people don't like others posting pictures and we're trying to shame her out of posting on her.
Secondly, it is also my observation that this picture was not such an issue until people responded to
@Geech 's gif. Now, I understand, and that it's natural to defend your friends, in fact, it can only be condoned, but the fact that multiple people are still going after them even after they have explained themselves to the point where they have left the website is something that I do not understand or condone. First off, that's no longer defending your friend at that point, that's an offensive action towards the others. If anything, it seems that the people who are talking about this situation more, and making an issue of out of nothing are those who are supposedly defending the picture.
Before I'm falsely accused of flaming, I am going to say that I like Ariel and I am going to miss her. I usually enjoyed her posts, her pictures, and overall enjoyed her presence on the forum. That doesn't mean I always agreed with her or liked everything that she did, but that's something I can say about every single one of my friends. I've never known anyone that had a 100% approval rating over every thing that they did, but I don't need to have that or pretend to have that with my friends, family, and relationships.
That is something that is part of being an adult. It is not flaming to express disagreement, disapproval, or any kind of dissenting opinion about another's person's actions or even character. That's just expressing that you are a different person. Flaming is a
hostile and insulting attack towards someone. Dictionary.com defines it as directing "a vitriolic or abusive message at someone". We all know
@Travelers.Soul ,
@Geech ,
@TheGirlOnFire , they would never intentionally send abusive messages at someone, that's not in their character. Even if the posts were flaming, the posts would have removed by staff, but they were not. I'm a liberal on a predominately conservative Christian website, I know what flaming someone looks like it. I have not seen it from anyone involved in this fiasco because flaming is something intentional, there's malice behind it. Now, people have gotten close to flaming others in this utterly ridiculous controversy.
The problem is just what Swan said, we all need to grow up and start acting like adults. Part of acting like an adult is learning how to handle it when people express disagreement and/or dissent.
