Thoughts on lds.net forum?

[_Polygamy-Porter]

That place is a [deleted] and circle jerk for members to stroke one another to the point of mo'gasm.

[_honorentheos]

You generally get three stages of response at LDS.net:

1) The informative stage. You continue to get this stage as long as you accept without critical analysis the things you're being told about the church. When you start engaging in critical analysis on the board about core Mormon truth claims and cultural bugaboos you'll find things moving on to the next stage relatively quickly depending on just what time of day it is and who just happens to be online.

2) The argument stage. Particular posters see themselves as champions of orthodoxy (to be fair I saw myself like that at one point) and will go head to head with you. You don't have to necessarily agree with the things you were told, but if you critically question, doubt, or analyze them, unless the conclusion is favorable, things will move to this stage. This starts fairly gently and gets increasingly energetic. The battle cry is mostly, "If you're offended by what I post it's because you're offended by the truth." If your question is diplomatic and/or innocuous enough for some, you'll go directly to this stage.

3) The "You're anti-Mormon" Stage. If the argument stage persists long enough those particular posters and a fair few of the moderator staff will conclude you're either actively anti-Mormon or that you're there under 'false pretenses', those of the moderator staff will start combing through everything you say looking for a way to infract you off the board or try and smack you into behavior more to their liking.

There are many fine individuals on the board, even those who I'm talking about above as particular posters, but the end result is that unless you walk a perfect tightrope and aren't just looking to uncritically accept (or at least not engage in analysis on the board) you end up shouted down by the champions of Mormondom who have the tacit support of the moderating staff to do so. Then if you rub some of the moderator staff the wrong way they will work to get you off the board, they'll comb everything you say with a fine tooth comb, hunt down your contributions to other boards (so they can justify vendettas easier to themselves), and if necessary do their best to bait you into violating the rules. If you rub enough of them the wrong way a consensus among the mods will get you banned without the pretense of infracting you out through the process laid out in the ToS.

If you want a place to either observe or engage (using kid gloves or as skilled tightrope walker) with Mormon orthodoxy it's a great place. Otherwise you can find yourself in for a rough ride, and the Champions of Orthodoxy don't only aim themselves at non-Mormons, they'll happily cook off at Mormons who aren't sufficiently orthodox for their taste (though for 'teaching false doctrine' rather than being 'anti-Mormon').

Well put. I didn't stick around long enough to get banned, but it only took a couple of threads to realize I had found the online version of attending Church on Sunday. Yeah, not interested.

[_sock puppet]

That place is a [deleted] and circle jerk for members to stroke one another to the point of mo'gasm.

Must be damn nearly the experience for them of listening to a recording of an old Paul Dunn talk.

[_Maureen]

You generally get three stages of response at LDS.net:

...There are many fine individuals on the board, even those who I'm talking about above as particular posters, but the end result is that unless you walk a perfect tightrope and aren't just looking to uncritically accept (or at least not engage in analysis on the board) you end up shouted down by the champions of Mormondom who have the tacit support of the moderating staff to do so. Then if you rub some of the moderator staff the wrong way they will work to get you off the board, they'll comb everything you say with a fine tooth comb, hunt down your contributions to other boards (so they can justify vendettas easier to themselves), and if necessary do their best to bait you into violating the rules. If you rub enough of them the wrong way a consensus among the mods will get you banned without the pretense of infracting you out through the process laid out in the ToS...

Really Dravin, I would never guess that the moderators would want to spend the time hunting down posts from another forum. Do you have experience with that? I always got the impression that most moderators were on the "orthodox" poster's side most of the time; but I did "Report" a post once made by a very rude, negative, "orthodox" poster and because it was his third infraction, they did ban him. I was surprised.

M.

[_cwald]

Maureen, why are you defending the douche bag moderators of LDS.net? What's in it for you?

[Guest]

Really Dravin, I would never guess that the moderators would want to spend the time hunting down posts from another forum. Do you have experience with that? I always got the impression that most moderators were on the "orthodox" poster's side most of the time; but I did "Report" a post once made by a very rude, negative, "orthodox" poster and because it was his third infraction, they did ban him. I was surprised.

M.

Google snooping was generally reserved for when a moderator had a hunch that someone might be there to start trouble, starting with a pretty standard line of questioning that wasn't phrased sufficiently innocuously for instance. All it takes is a copy and paste of a post into Google or sometimes for the more persistent a search of the username when it was someone distinctive. It's hard to know just how common the attempt was made though, it would only come up if someone found something so for all I know some of the other mods may make the attempt with every new poster. I do know once or twice individuals were summarily banned, others were short listed to be infracted out, because they were traced back to another forum providing unflattering play by plays of their activities on the board.

As far as the deference given to the orthodox posters, you kinda have two factors at play. First, by and large they agree with the arguments being made so there is a subconscious slack that tends to be given because the moderators secretly want to tell folks off but can't. Second, generally due to familiarity longer time posters are given more slack than new posters. I don't think it's anything conscious, just since they know old timers better they read the 'tone' of messages differently because they weren't coming into them cold. So instead of reading cold hostility they'll see blunt declarations for an established poster. Honestly, I suspect this second aspect is something that pops up on many boards. I don't know how common these factors are in general, but they were at play when I was a mod.

[_cwald]

Dravin is correct.... in my opinion, and experience.

For all I know, Dravin may be one of the douche bag moderators that banned me for life?

[_Maureen]

Maureen, why are you defending the douche bag moderators of LDS.net? What's in it for you?

They're not douche bag mods to me. The forum has specific rules, and since it is a pro-lds site, I am careful how I phrase things and ask questions. I am a longtime poster. I'm familiar with many of the other posters and not every post is about Mormonism, it's a diverse selection. There are also posters who are not orthodox, they are very articulate and I usually like what they have to say.

M.

[_RockSlider]

Ceeboo.

Spill the beans ... what did they ban you for?

[Jersey Girl]

Ceeboo and I were both banned. Ceeboo certainly did not deserve it since he was always polite and courteous with to his fellow posters.

Dravin, weren't you the moderator who called attention to the picture I posted of Joseph with his head in the hat as coming from the Salamander Society, which lead to my first suspension? The irony of that picture being removed, was that the thread was about how the Church did not seek to hide the usage of the seer stone in the hat.

I am curious as to whether any of that sizable chunk of funding the Church provided the More Good Foundation ever made its way to the pockets of the lesser moderators.

Give Maureen a break. She was one of the nicest posters at LDS.net.

Anybody remember Snow? I got a kick out of him. I miss Elphaba too, although she posts here once in a thrice blue moon.

I miss imagining how red in the face John Doe got whenever a joke was made about Glenn Beck. Many of the posters took their conservative devotion quite religiously. Too much tweaking of that devotion shortens the longevity of any LDS.net poster.