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The FAIR/MAD board and its various participants are a constant issue on this board, yet it's still largely a mystery to me. I was wondering if anyone could give me a overview of its history? Or a history of the online Mormon community in general?

Thanks,

Bond

Other people on this board know it better than I do, so I ask them to correct any mistakes in my account:

UTLM started a MB in July, 2000. They had a moderator, Webguy, who clashed with several LDS. As of result of the perceived unfairness to LDS, ZLMB started in September, 2000. When UTLM ended the MB in July, 2001, a number of its participants, including yours truly, migrated to ZLMB. ZLMB had a mixture of LDS, Ev, RC and secular skeptics as moderators. Over time, some LDS felt that there was too much hostility to their worldview on ZLMB and they moved to the FAIR MB (this occurred in 2003-5). FAIR (and its new name) has only LDS as moderators.

RichardMDBorn is right.

However, I ought to add that the FAIR boards themselves have been around a LONG time. They were very, very slow for several years. It was a little before the time of the mass exodus from ZLMB that they really started picking up speed.

Some of the other posters here have been around for a far, far longer time than I have, so they can better answer this question. A further problem is the fact that the FAIR/MAD search engine only extends backwards about two years. My suggestion to you, Bond, would be for you to go back and read threads by your favorite posters. E.g, you can spend some time perusing Apologetics According to DCP. Or read up on Prof. Hamblin's silly "challenges." Or Allen Wyatt's purchase of "savegrantpalmer.com," etc. (However, that last one may have slipped into oblivion by now.)

Basically, the key evolutions in online LDS/Critic history have been:
---ZLMB
---the migration from Z to FAIR
---and now the shutting down of FAIR

In the time spanning those three developments, there were a bunch of interesting, entertaining, and sometimes shocking issues/debates/threads, many of which are well worth reading, in my opinion.

I started posting in July 2000 on a board called LDS Internet, and also alternated with LDS Talk. I think both are now gone or evolved into something else. Also posted briefly on NOM (New Order Mormons). The owner/moderator of LDS INternet was Jim Radford, a very tolerant and openminded Mormon, in fact it has less moderation than here, which turned out to be bad in the end because it descended into an Armageddon between Mormons and critics. No swearing was censored, and nothing was sacred. Jim spent most of his time scruba diving. LOL.

There was a mass migration from RFM to Exmo-Social in 2003. The ES board wanted to get away from any discussions of Mormonism and only interact socially. But they did have a special forum for Mormon discussions. Antishock was a big poster on ES, and he's now posting on FAIR (MA&D). Philastus was the mod on ES at one stage, and he also posted on FAIR occasionally. He was a very fair mod. He posted on FAIR under his real name, John Hamer.

Just some tidbits.

Sometimes I think that all of us who participate on these boards are a bit nuts.

Whoops, hit submit too early.

I was a moderator for a while on Z, and still an active participant during the mass exodus. The moderators were asking for ideas on how to change to better accommodate the fleeing believers. There were several issues. Moderators at Z really tried to be fair in that we censored people for behavior alone, without regard to beliefs or lack thereof. Just as many (and at times more) believers as exbelievers got into "trouble". Juliann was one of the first to become disgusted with the moderating at Z (she had been censored several times, despite being personal friends of a couple of the moderators, which goes to show how seriously the moderators took the job of being fair and unbiased). See, the unbiased part was a direct reaction to the old Utah Lighthouse Ministry board, where the bias towards EVs (so I hear, I never participated on it myself or even read ny old threads) was just as bad as FAIR/MAD's moderating.

But clearly, in the end, this wasn't the environment with which believers were comfortable. Juliann now claims it is because exbelievers learned to "fly under the radar" and abuse the spirit of the "law" while keeping the letter of the law, but in reality believers - including Juliann and most notably Pahoran - excelled at this as well. Moderating was tiring and difficult. When you present yourself as being unbiased and fair, you allow lots of questioning and probing to take place. When you state you have clear rules, you are analyzed by both sides for fairness in application of those clear rules. And, obviously, believers weren't happy with it. Juliann was one of the first to leave and create a board that, apparently, was designed to "solve" these problems, and actively proselytized at Z to get believers to leave Z for FAIR. So the "resolution' was not even to pretend to fairness or clear rules, but openly declare oneself on the side of believers, and to simply moderate without explanation or feeling compelled to follow clear guidelines and rules.

In other words - they became the LDS version of the Tanner's old board. There is something so inevitable and even logical in that evolution that I find it delicious, despite the fact that it destroyed what was once a very good and interesting board, with noble intentions.

beastie wrote:Sometimes I think that all of us who participate on these boards are a bit nuts.

Addicted nuts.

Ray A wrote:

beastie wrote:Sometimes I think that all of us who participate on these boards are a bit nuts.

Addicted nuts.

Well, we all know how addictive nuts are. Particularly salted ones.