TTOC

[Valo]

I think, as the sole prominent believer here, you have a difficult job defending the faith here and I don’t blame you for feeling like you need to disengage more often to deal with it. It’s not usually fun to be dog piled on.

I’m glad you’re staying with us!

I wish he would disengage, if by that you mean simply express his opinion. It's when he combines his opinion with disparagement or ugly innuendo, or even outright bigotry about the character and lives of anyone that he perceives as believing differently than him, that the trouble starts.

Res Ipsa called these types of his remarks "passive aggressive process comments." His advice about that is well worth another read:

...

OK, if you’re sincere about wanting to reduce the vitriol, this is the kind of bullcrap that you need to stop doing. What gets you sideways with people every single time is your passive aggressive process comments.

The problem is not that other people are “sensitive” and take “offense” easily. That’s simply the excuse that dicks use to justify dickish behavior. It’s an arrogant, rhetorical trick that allows you to simply dismiss someone’s words without addressing what they actually said.

Take “I’m okay, you’re okay” seriously. People react emotionally to words, AND THEY’RE OKAY. What’s not okay? Attacking them personally by dismissing what they say because they’re “too sensitive.” Address the words people say, not the people who say the words.

That one simple trick (no process comments) will reduce the rancor. Well, you might need a second simple trick: ignore other people’s process comments — don’t be trolled into giving up on the first simple trick.


If the lesson you’ve learned here is that other people are sensitive, you’ve learned exactly nothing. I’m dead serious. If you can’t grasp that, the tone of your conversations here will never ever ever ever change.


I give up. You’re doomed. One last try.

STOP TALKING ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE’S BEHAVIOR. STOP MAKING EXCUSES FOR YOUR OWN BEHAVIOR. YOU CAN ONLY CHANGE YOUR OWN BEHAVIOR. ALL THOSE OTHER PEOPLE — THEY’RE OKAY.


Nope. Point missed completely. If you can manage to say “I can do better. Full Stop.” You can say “Point taken.”

[holding added.]

STOP TALKING ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE’S BEHAVIOR. STOP MAKING EXCUSES FOR YOUR OWN BEHAVIOR. YOU CAN ONLY CHANGE YOUR OWN BEHAVIOR. ALL THOSE OTHER PEOPLE — THEY’RE OKAY.

[MG 2.0]

Hi board members. A quick interjection.

Within many LDS thread topics I have spent a LOT of time and energy responding to the posts of some board members more than others. The common thread seems to be that these particular folks have multiple ways and means to try and provoke and inflame and steer the conversation towards me rather than engage in honest discussion.

In the past I've mentioned this and my desire to move towards more civil discussion. What occurs, however, is what we saw recently where some posters 'flooded the zone' with posts meant to well, flood the zone. When I post a response with meaningful dialogue it is ignored.

I don't have time for that anymore. Recently I responded to some posts by certain individuals (you might guess who they are) by simply replying "TTOC", which means "Turn The Other Cheek". I could have been doing this before but fell into traps of feeling a need to respond to most posts.

No more.

There may be significantly more responses on my part of "TTOC" when I can see the conversation is going nowhere except downhill with false innuendo, trolling my posts, and the like.

This will save me a LOT of time while still being a participant on the board. Enough is enough.

The downside is that there will be a LOT of 'flak' and other words thrown out there, however untrue, that I will have to take on the chin.

I appreciate folks such as huckleberry and some others that seem to have a sense of fairness.

So, in the future as I see some posts come up from certain individuals I will simply respond with "TTOC".

It's NOT that I am afraid of responding. It's simply that there are some folks I am just plain tired of rehashing and rehashing the same old stuff with.

I am actually interested in sharing ideas that maybe haven't been discussed yet and/or adding some flesh to things being discussed that I believe deserve and alternate point of view

Thanks for your time.

Best wishes to everyone.

MG

This OP is a good example of why you come across as a troll. In fact, a more honest title for it would be “I’m Going To Troll You, let me explain how…”

When someone posts a response to you that you don’t like, you have a choice:

1. Respond appropriately
2. Ignore it
3. Post something that’s irrelevant to the topic and instead post something that you hope will push their buttons.

This thread was entirely unnecessary unless one is intent on trolling by taking the third option. If you wanted to reduce your posting time and avoid posting to what you see as something going nowhere, simply go with option 2, no posting time required. But no, you want the attention that you hope will come from taking option 3. What is particularly telling, is that you have started posting TTOC in response to posts that weren’t directed at you in the first place. You’re doing it in the middle of other people’s conversations. That’s not you saving time, that’s you proactively trolling and attempting to disrupt conversations and discussions. That’s yet more bad behaviour. Stop it, or I will report it.

Thank you for your response, IHQ. There are some concerns I have with the accuracy/truth of the content in your post. I'm not interested in pursuing this with you.

It's essentially a waste of your time and mine.

Have a nice day.

Regards,
MG

[MG 2.0]

Sigh. Res Ipsa called it, still. EXACTLY.

...If the lesson you’ve learned here is that other people are sensitive, you’ve learned exactly nothing. I’m dead serious. If you can’t grasp that, the tone of your conversations here will never ever ever ever change.


I give up. You’re doomed. One last try.

STOP TALKING ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE’S BEHAVIOR. STOP MAKING EXCUSES FOR YOUR OWN BEHAVIOR. YOU CAN ONLY CHANGE YOUR OWN BEHAVIOR. ALL THOSE OTHER PEOPLE — THEY’RE OKAY.

Nope. Point missed completely. If you can manage to say “I can do better. Full Stop.” You can say “Point taken.”

[bolding added.]
There really is nothing at all new under the sun.

TTOC

[MG 2.0]

I wish he would disengage, if by that you mean simply express his opinion. It's when he combines his opinion with disparagement or ugly innuendo, or even outright bigotry about the character and lives of anyone that he perceives as believing differently than him, that the trouble starts.

Res Ipsa called these types of his remarks "passive aggressive process comments." His advice about that is well worth another read:
[holding added.]

STOP TALKING ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE’S BEHAVIOR. STOP MAKING EXCUSES FOR YOUR OWN BEHAVIOR. YOU CAN ONLY CHANGE YOUR OWN BEHAVIOR. ALL THOSE OTHER PEOPLE — THEY’RE OKAY.

TTOC

[malkie]

Seems to me that, instead of ignoring a comment you don't want to respond to, responding with "TTOC" is like saying "look at me - how christian I'm being by not retaliating."

But that's just me.

The funny thing is, many years ago when I noticed that MG was becoming more nasty in his responses, and suggested to him that it wasn't a good example of the teachings he claimed to follow, his reply was that the people he was being unpleasant to deserved it - his retaliation was somehow justified.

If only he had quietly turned the other cheek from that time forward.

Anyway, here we are.

[MG 2.0]

Seems to me that, instead of ignoring a comment you don't want to respond to, responding with "TTOC" is like saying "look at me - how christian I'm being by not retaliating."

But that's just me.

The funny thing is, many years ago when I noticed that MG was becoming more nasty in his responses, and suggested to him that it wasn't a good example of the teachings he claimed to follow, his reply was that the people he was being unpleasant to deserved it - his retaliation was somehow justified.

If only he had quietly turned the other cheek from that time forward.

Anyway, here we are.

Hi malkie, I appreciate your comments and realize that the position/decision I am taking can appear as you describe. The truth is exactly what I've already outlined/said in the OP. At this point I will be happy, now that I've expressed my viewpoint in the OP, if this thread drops off the radar and regular discussions can continue on without further interruption.

This is something I need to do and still have time and energy to participate in what I see to be interesting discussions.

The volume of 'kickback' and flak that comes my way...and in my opinion unnecessary and unwarranted,...requires that I make adjustments as noted in the OP.

Thanks.

Regards,
MG

[malkie]

Seems to me that, instead of ignoring a comment you don't want to respond to, responding with "TTOC" is like saying "look at me - how christian I'm being by not retaliating."

But that's just me.

The funny thing is, many years ago when I noticed that MG was becoming more nasty in his responses, and suggested to him that it wasn't a good example of the teachings he claimed to follow, his reply was that the people he was being unpleasant to deserved it - his retaliation was somehow justified.

If only he had quietly turned the other cheek from that time forward.

Anyway, here we are.

Hi malkie, I appreciate your comments and realize that the position/decision I am taking can appear as you describe. The truth is exactly what I've already outlined/said in the OP. At this point I will be happy, now that I've expressed my viewpoint in the OP, if this thread drops off the radar and regular discussions can continue on without further interruption.

This is something I need to do and still have time and energy to participate in what I see to be interesting discussions.

The volume of 'kickback' and flak that comes my way...and in my opinion unnecessary and unwarranted,...requires that I make adjustments as noted in the OP.

Thanks.

Regards,
MG

I wish you well in doing what is good for you, and in helping to reduce the level and volume of rancor on the board.

I guess you're not all bad ...

[Fence Sitter]

It's Deja vu all over again.

[Marcus]

Seems to me that, instead of ignoring a comment you don't want to respond to, responding with "TTOC" is like saying "look at me - how christian I'm being by not retaliating."

But that's just me.

The funny thing is, many years ago when I noticed that MG was becoming more nasty in his responses, and suggested to him that it wasn't a good example of the teachings he claimed to follow, his reply was that the people he was being unpleasant to deserved it - his retaliation was somehow justified.

If only he had quietly turned the other cheek from that time forward.

Anyway, here we are.

Yes. What's interesting to me is that the quote from Res Ipsa that I posted earlier came from a year old thread where RI tried, for dozens upon dozens of pages, to talk openly with MG about his style of posting. He basically agreed with you, but in his typical way, decided to really dig into the issue. It's quite a fascinating thread.

MG's first appearance in that thread was actually due to a mod moving his post from another thread where it was deemed a derailment! And for the usual reasons-he invoked his brand of religion in a factual discussion, insisting that his position of belief trumped all others, especially any positions held by the godless (who are therefore less than him, a conclusion he states regularly.)

One of RI's first comments in that long discussion went right to the heart of the matter:

...MG, this is exactly what happens when you superficially throw out concepts without understanding them. When you invoke constructionism, you forfeit any claim to any access to objective truth. Full stop.

You cannot claim superior access by invoking God, or the promptings of the spirit.

The entire LDS notion of access to the divine through promptings of the spirit is a social construction by the LDS community, starting with its founder and continuing through today. If you perceive something as a prompting of the spirit, that’s because of the socially constructed notion that what you are perceiving comes from some external source as opposed to any other internally generated feeling or emotion.

Constructionism does not include an escape hatch for believers. You're in exactly the same place as the rest of us. Any argument you make to the contrary can be dismissed out of hand as special pleading.

When you tried to carve out an exception for knowledge from a source other than humans, you confirmed exactly what Gadianton observed upthread...

For completeness, one of the things Gad observed was:

...I see you're back as disingenuous as ever, and not having learned anything...

[malkie]

It's Deja vu all over again.

Yes - I think I've seen that deja vu before!