Nostalgia

[Philo Sofee]

Kevin Graham, cksalmon, Chris Smith, beastie, Blixa, all great reads, among many others.

When I first discovered the LDS boards, Kerry Shirts was posting on the MADD board as an apologist.

Yes!

If I recall correctly, both Kevin's and Kerry's apologetics foundered on the rocks of the Book of Abraham. I don't recall - was Shulem ever an apologist?

That is correct. Kevin saw the light first, then Paul did, then I slowly became the caboose and saw the light bringing up the rear so to speak. Both Kevin and Paul went way beyond where I did by actually contacting the Egyptologists and getting their inputs. I haven't seen Kevin much at all for years. Paul is now the singular most powerful force against the Book of Abraham and papyri on the planet. Er, maybe I should say Dan Vogel is so far as the actual scholarship and attitude goes, but Osborne simply won't lose because he has it down cold. True his attitude does his approach far more damage than good, but his information is incredibly powerful!

[Whiskey]

Yes!

If I recall correctly, both Kevin's and Kerry's apologetics foundered on the rocks of the Book of Abraham. I don't recall - was Shulem ever an apologist?

I remember reading an exchange between Paul and someone in which Paul was defending the Book of Abraham. I can’t remember who was taking the opposing view but it was a very interesting exchange. Paul even had a webpage if I remember right. So yeah, he was.

My favorite feature of that time was going after Michael Otterson. Did anyone see his feature column at the Washington Post? Good lordy lordy lordy. That was a trainwreck. I think the attempt by the WP was to have an On-Faith section with host authors. There were some hitters on there. And then came Otterson. And then came the comments. And holy crap was it a train wreck and it was so damn fun and funny. Belaja was absolute nails. Her, Froggie and Sister Mary Lisa were firing guns in those forums and coming in hot, hot, hot.

Most of the organization in the comments was happening here and in Cherry, if I recall correctly. Great times. Such great times.

[Fence Sitter]

I miss Darth J, Blixa and Runtu.

Though Runtu drops in once and a while.

[Philo Sofee]

I remember reading an exchange between Paul and someone in which Paul was defending the Book of Abraham. I can’t remember who was taking the opposing view but it was a very interesting exchange. Paul even had a webpage if I remember right. So yeah, he was.

My favorite feature of that time was going after Michael Otterson. Did anyone see his feature column at the Washington Post? Good lordy lordy lordy. That was a trainwreck. I think the attempt by the WP was to have an On-Faith section with host authors. There were some hitters on there. And then came Otterson. And then came the comments. And holy crap was it a train wreck and it was so damn fun and funny. Belaja was absolute nails. Her and Sister Mary Lisa were firing guns in those forums and coming in hot, hot, hot.

Most of the organization in the comments was happening here and in Cherry, if I recall correctly. Great times. Such great times.

I don't recall Otterson, was he an apologist Whiskey?

[Philo Sofee]

I miss Darth J.

YES! And who was the one who always discussed Mesoamerica in the Book of Mormon with Brant Gardiner? Man they had some looooooooong threads!!!

[Whiskey]

My favorite feature of that time was going after Michael Otterson. Did anyone see his feature column at the Washington Post? Good lordy lordy lordy. That was a trainwreck. I think the attempt by the WP was to have an On-Faith section with host authors. There were some hitters on there. And then came Otterson. And then came the comments. And holy crap was it a train wreck and it was so damn fun and funny. Belaja was absolute nails. Her and Sister Mary Lisa were firing guns in those forums and coming in hot, hot, hot.

Most of the organization in the comments was happening here and in Cherry, if I recall correctly. Great times. Such great times.

I don't recall Otterson, was he an apologist Whiskey?

He was the chief apologist of sorts. The biggest of them all. He was "President Newsroom" as Equality called him. He was the man and the face behind the LDS Newsroom, websites and propaganda. He transitioned the institution from the church news and deseret news into the internet era. He was involved up to and maybe including the awful interviews of Christofferson and others before during and after Prop 8. A bad damned dude. Real bad. Very bad. Reach out to Equality if you want to know more about that POS.

[Philo Sofee]

I don't recall Otterson, was he an apologist Whiskey?

He was the chief apologist of sorts. The biggest of them all. He was "President Newsroom" as Equality called him. He was the man and the face behind the LDS Newsroom, websites and propaganda. He transitioned the institution from the church news and deseret news into the internet era. He was involved up to and maybe including the awful interviews of Christofferson and others before during and after Prop 8. A bad damned dude. Real bad. Very bad. Reach out to Equality if you want to know more about that POS.

Ah! OK, got it. I thought you were talking about him being involved with the Book of Abraham stuff.......sorry, my bad....... I vaguely remember the topic being slaughtered all over the place.,.,... I do remember seeing many times the Presidential Newsroom comments. What amazes me is how long the church took that tactic for responses! Or do they still do so? I honestly haven't kept track of the blithering idiots all that much these last several years. I'm having too much fun doing what I'm doing now to worry about what they think. ("They" being church leaders.)

[Limnor]

I miss Darth J.

YES! And who was the one who always discussed Mesoamerica in the Book of Mormon with Brant Gardiner? Man they had some looooooooong threads!!!

Beastie was all about Mesoamerica but I don’t remember if her discussions were with Gardner.

[Fence Sitter]

for what it's worth it's Brant Gardner.

[Whiskey]

He was the chief apologist of sorts. The biggest of them all. He was "President Newsroom" as Equality called him. He was the man and the face behind the LDS Newsroom, websites and propaganda. He transitioned the institution from the church news and deseret news into the internet era. He was involved up to and maybe including the awful interviews of Christofferson and others before during and after Prop 8. A bad damned dude. Real bad. Very bad. Reach out to Equality if you want to know more about that POS.

Ah! OK, got it. I thought you were talking about him being involved with the Book of Abraham stuff.......sorry, my bad....... I vaguely remember the topic being slaughtered all over the place.,.,... I do remember seeing many times the Presidential Newsroom comments. What amazes me is how long the church took that tactic for responses! Or do they still do so? I honestly haven't kept track of the blithering idiots all that much these last several years. I'm having too much fun doing what I'm doing now to worry about what they think. ("They" being church leaders.)

I said then and I still believe it. The forces behind the janky essays from the newsroom/church were from us. Us being — the DAMU. I do not think that Peterson and Midgley were a force leading to those, neither do I think the rabid RFM crowd was a force. It was the smart as hell writers that were repeatedly hitting heads with Midgley and the M* and Archipelago writers. Also, remember that around that time, even Dehlin and Carol Lyn were playing the NOM cards while the rest of us were smacking the hell out of Otterson. Dehlin was playing games for the years he was in school and playing politics on the campus of USU for a BS degree. The rest of us were playing FU with the newsroom.