DiscussMormonism.com

My last post on MAD/FAIR was on 8/19/2006. I was a pundit and never had been dinged (though I had a dust-up with Juliann). I didn't like the moderating style there. Who else has decided voluntarily to stop posting on MAD? KG has written that the most effective tactic is for critics to stop posting on MAD. If apologists want a discussion, they will migrate over to here where there is a level playing field.

I also stopped posting on MAD voluntarily. I had been banned after my first arrival, for supposedly "not cooperating with moderators". Who knows what that meant. Juliann repeatedly called me a liar and a plagiarist on my first round there. I actually complained about Juliann's behavior on my last thread. The moderators would not ding Juliann, but did not punish me as Juliann demanded. So Scott (at that time the head pooh-bah of FAIR) swooped in and banned me, going above the heads of the mods.

Some time later (not sure how long, I believe less than a year) Brant Gardner mentioned missing our conversations and the mods "invited" me back. (although Juliann hotly contested that word, I don't know what else to call it). I posted for a short while and decided I couldn't tolerate the moderating style and left. I went back for a short period to debate The Politics of Apostasy with Juliann because she refused to do so at Z. I was made a pundit at that time for that discussion. Shortly after that discussion I left the board permanently. I don't remember how long ago that was, I'm guessing around a year.

With a few exceptions of very high-profile apologists, it appears to me that MAD moderators want either critics who will be persuaded by their arguments, OR critics who will engage in obsequious pandering while inserting a few modest criticisms here and there. Since that, by and large, doesn't happen, they remain in a near constant state of frustration, and attempt to "fix" things by going on periodic purges.

They want a board that cannot exist in reality - which is a board on which critics appear but are easily and effectively refuted by believers and apologists. The reason that cannot exist in reality is because the church really isn't "true", and that results in their constant frustration.

I have largely stopped. Every once in a blue moon I pop in and make a comment, which is usually ignored. I find it a relief that I have not been sucked back into MADB. These days it is not only pointless, but a huge bore as well.

I have mostly stopped posting there. Occasionally, though, the Book of Abraham threads call my name and I just can't help myself.

Hi Richard...

Who else has decided voluntarily to stop posting on MAD?

Me.

;-)

~dancer~

Well, I did and I didn't. :-D I stopped posting there a year ago October because I didn't like the way mods handled something. I found out via this board that I was banned a month later on Nov 5th 2006. I un-banned myself ;-) to straighten something out that I thought was posted in error or at least not in full and didn't fully convey what I intended when I posted it here. (Are you confused yet?) That was sometime this past Spring, I think. I hardly ever post or even read there, though I did post recently.

I still post on MADB. The creationists amuse me.

This evening Daniel Peterson just started a thread "promoting" the intelligent design movie Expelled, starring comedian Ben Stein. It seems that it (the movie) will mostly be about bone-headed academicians rather than evidence for intelligent design in nature. So either way, DCP has a stake in the film's popularity.

I wander over there every few days or so, but nothing catches my attention anymore. That probably has everything to do with the fact that many of the more prolific critics have reduced their contributions to that forum. They are the ones who make it worth visiting. Without them MADB becomes nothing more than another pot hole in cyber space.

Now if we can just get the Dude and Uncle Dale to avoid the temptation, maybe we can lure more people like Bokovoy and Peterson over here. It is just a matter of time I think.

dartagnan wrote:I wander over there every few days or so, but nothing catches my attention anymore. That probably has everything to do with the fact that many of the more prolific critics have reduced their contributions to that forum. They are the ones who make it worth visiting. Without them MADB becomes nothing more than another pot hole in cyber space.

Now if we can just get the Dude and Uncle Dale to avoid the temptation, maybe we can lure more people like Bokovoy and Peterson over here. It is just a matter of time I think.

Of course, as has been noted in the other thread, such TBM luminaries tend often to avoid actually engaging any of the important issues. (Less so with Bokovoy, of course. And, I guess it's true that we did have a good talk with DCP on the use of the term "magic.") In any case, I agree that this latest MAD purge may spell doom for them. It will be juliann and her so-called "harpy" crew, and that's it.

You peole who have posted don't understand the psyche of the majority of the posters on MA&D. We are there for the intelligent discussion. Evidently, a lot of the really good posters are flying under your radar. Of course, Bokovoy is a star. But you are missing a lot.

The MA&D board doesn't live or die on the types of critics who have been booted. You should also be careful about talking about encouraging people to leave them so they dry up and blow away. How many critics of your point of view do you have here? You are much closer to being a "pat each other on the back" crowd than MA&D.