A Meltdown of Epic Proportions

[_Jersey Girl]

While it may not be true of him in real life, on these boards, Peterson is a one-way street.

[_Scottie]

I agree with everything you say, Jersey Girl.

It's too bad. But, Liz's health is more important to me than DCP's immune staging ground for attacks on posters here.

[_Blixa]

It would have worked if DCP had not dragged this board onto the Cafeteria. I said it from the first post that he made over there regarding Scratch. At that time, some folks defended his "right" to vent over there.

The second time he posted about it, most of the posters advised him to "let it go".

This is what happens when you don't let it go. You screw up what could have been a really nice board and I fully blame Daniel for this.

Not once did he take responsibility for creating this nightmare. He cavalierly blamed it on every one in sight.

When Liz posted about the stress, he IGNORED her post.

Daniel tainted the Cafeteria by engaging THIS BOARD on the other board under the guise of being a non-participant here.

He is NOT a non-participant. He actively engages this place (and Scratch) everywhere but here.

Grow a spine, Peterson.

If you have a beef with Scratch or anyone else on this board, bring your beef HERE and engage it in full public view. Do not expect someone like me to cooperate with your stirring the pot on a non-viewable board and making a complete mess out of a new board that could have been one of the most pleasant LDS related boards in existence. Stop asking other people to do your bidding for you. Stop splattering this nonsense on other boards while at the same time claiming you don't want to be the focus of attention and then blaming everyone else for the choices you make.

Or shut up about Scratch.


Jersey Girl/Chickdeario the Witch

Thanks, Jersey. This sums up how I see it and why I, briefly, entered the contrempts over on the cafeteria: to give another poster the back history of the quotation in Scratch's sig line. One of the dynamics of message boards is their discursive history, which includes how discussions have been framed, their subsequent development, the relationship between various posters, as well as the poster's "board personalities."

On a message board which has existed over any length of time another layer is added: the relations between people which develop off board; people may develop friendships through other online spaces as well as in real life.

This is the difficulty of any newcomer to a message board. He or she enters into space where discussions can initially seem strange or unintelligible without knowing any of the (multi-layered) back story. That's why many people start their participation slowly, trying to pick up on the board dynamic before they risk jumping in with potentially embarrassing, offensive, or banal arguments and assumptions. Others, well, others just run right in and wonder why they're the only one who sees how "silly" this all is.

It may seem like a lot of work to catch up to where discussions are that started long before one's own arrival on the scene. But, if the ideas are of real interest, it pays off to be able to add intelligently to their development. And then there's the extras: the possibility of getting to know people, real people, beyond the limits of a couple of posts on threads.

In this particular case, the back history is extraordinarily fraught: the creation and demise of several message boards, a complicated set of real life friendships, discussion of what many believe to be the most essential questions for our present and future lives--all this informs and shapes what plays out on this board.

I completely sympathize with liz's desire to take the best of this process and try to isolate it from the least useful parts of the meta-discourse surrounding this board. I think it's a beautiful idea and one which really highlights those things I like best about the liz I know as a person (both on and off this board): her generosity, her friendliness, her intelligence, high spirits and humor.

I really hope that she does not take this setback personally. I don't think that the "dream" of a better board is inherently doomed (though I have a lot of caveats that would take too long to get into here). But at a time when we all knew liz was facing some serious and daunting health issues, I'm shocked at the persistence of some of her "friends" who made it impossible for the cafeteria not to devolve into another episode their "persecution."

I think liz has called a healthy time-out, albeit one in which she probably feels her hand was forced. It would be nice if this development could be used as an opportunity to reflect on the nearly predictable cycles of board meltdowns. Some may say this is the nature of the beast. I think of it as more a case of the return of the repressed.

[_Mattie]

OK, I figured out what "TBM" means, but someone needs to help me out with "NOM".

[_RockSlider]

OK, I figured out what "TBM" means, but someone needs to help me out with "NOM".

Perfect timing to demostrate part of Blixa's post.

New Order Mormon ... look around here for a better feel.
http://forum.newordermormon.org/index.php

[_harmony]

OK, I figured out what "TBM" means, but someone needs to help me out with "NOM".

New Order Mormon.

[_sock puppet]

OK, I figured out what "TBM" means, but someone needs to help me out with "NOM".

New Order Mormon.

Who coined the term?

[_Jersey Girl]

I agree with everything you say, Jersey Girl.

It's too bad. But, Liz's health is more important to me than DCP's immune staging ground for attacks on posters here.

Okay, people. Have it your way. I'm now cleaning my house and taking the computer with me.

DCP's immune staging ground attacks for posters here had a direct impact on Liz's health. The man saw the post in question and he ignored it.

(This is the part where I am going to tell off a lot of people, just so we're clear about what's coming.)

There are a small group of posters on this board whom I consider close friends. For reasons of respect and trust, we have chosen to allow each other to step into our personal lives.

This year has been particularly difficult for some of us. We have encountered egregious events that have driven our personal lives off into a ditch and we continue to , each in our own way and particular to our circumstances, attempt to strive to overcome said events.

I'm referring to death, tragedy, trauma and serious health related issues. You know who you are. :-)

All of us ended up, by invitation, on the Cafeteria. We like each other, we like to hang out with each other in spite of the geographical distance the separates us. Under the surface of this hanging out, are people who are in the process of overcoming tremendous obstacles and that includes me. I just in fact, spoke to one of these trusted friends on the phone earlier about an issue that has nothing to do with these boards.

You see? People, trust, respect, issues, personal contact. These are all a part of these relationships.

While we were hanging out on the Cafeteria, two things took place. Someone to whom Liz extended a personal invitation, shared the content of the board with Scratch. In my book, this person is total slime.

Secondly, DCP dragged his baggage with Scratch over there. I opposed it from the start. Why? Because I knew where it would lead, and it HAS.

Why? Because DCP has a sense of entitlement and cannot relate to the bonding that has taken place between some of us. He cannot relate because he hasn't bonded to anything more than his own ego.

Let me attempt to hit the third base here.

There are people on this board who choose to function behind the scenes in nasty ways. They too, have failed to bond to anyone else (that's their choice) and choose to employ their tactics on others in order to hurt, offend, do damage to others.

Earth to you folks: Don't do nasty ass stuff in front of me and expect me to hide it for you. You know who you are. Got that, gramps?

Liz, had a great idea for a board. It should have brought her much pleasure. She anticipated pleasure. But for the selfish and untoward actions of others, she would have had it.

I am directly referring to whomever transported Cafeteria content to Scratch and to DCP.

Contrary to what some of you appear to believe, there are real people behind these keyboards. Real people with real lives and your corrosive actions have impacted them in adverse ways.

Liz being a case in point.

I will not sit idly by and watch this stuff impact my friend who did nothing but to open a board for her own enjoyment and the enjoyment of others, watch it go down the tubes without calling it like I see it.

The "mole" or "moles" who transported Cafeteria content to Scratch knew what he would do with it.

DCP who dragged his baggage onto the Cafeteria knew what Scratch would do with it.

Thanks to your despicable and self serving agendas, Liz got splattered with mud on this board. You fully impacted her sense of well being and her vision for a little dream she had.

My message to any mole or moles and DCP is simple. Screw yourself repeatedly if you think it will help only don't screw with my friend where I can see it.

Our bonds are greater than your lack of attachment.

[_Mattie]

OK, I figured out what "TBM" means, but someone needs to help me out with "NOM".

New Order Mormon.

OK.

What does it mean?

[_Mattie]

New Order Mormon.

OK.

What does it mean?

Never mind. I found a website about it. Never heard of it before now. I don't think I know any NOMs myself. But it looks as if there are quite a few. Are they mostly in the Salt Lake/Provo/Ogden area? When did there start being NOMs?