Asguard
Perhaps a word of explanation is necessary. Perhaps? Okay, okay ... yeah, a word or two of explanation seem very necessary.
I didn't really like how people were bagging "KB, T1, TS, ISDAman". I don't even know who some of these people are (i took an intrest because i thought T1 was TI, my GF).
Umm ... these names represent
KalvinB,
Tony1,
TruthSeeker, and
ISDAman. Personally, I exempt TS from that wrath because while he does seem to get under people's skin, it's not quite as bad as others.
But if I, personally, disapprove of
ISDAman, it is because in the past he has advocated violence against children in the name of God. He has, before, baited some of our posters in order to gather material for sermons on his ludicrous website. He generally sticks to his sermons and leaves other topics alone, so I'm not going to criticize him beyond that. But muddying up the water and then hanging the laundry on his website for a sermon was more than a little dishonest.
Tony1 is, in fact, responsible for a good amount of chaos at this site; every now and then you might see one of my posts referring to a more peaceful time when Sciforums was Exosci. (The Exosci url will still lead you here even today.) We had our flare-ups but generally when that happened, it was largely coherent and often relevant to what was going on.
Tony1's posting history is interesting. I can't recall him ever starting a topic, and the most part of his posts have nothing to do with the topics being discussed. T1's barrages consist of biblical distortions, anti-Catholicism, and unsubstantiated accusations. His whole purpose here often seems to be to simply needle other posters. Over a year of this, too. Frankly, he deserves whatever wrath people want to pour on him at this website.
TruthSeeker ... I don't have much of a problem with him. Sometimes I wonder about his gray matter, but that's only because of a recent exchange 'twixt us. If you'd like that exemplified, please see my topic
For the anti-choice religionists, a scenario from life. Like I said, though, I exempt him from the wrath I might point at T1 or others. It might simply be miscommunication.
KalvinB--what can be said here? Some posters have accused him of simply trolling for hits to his website, and I agree that this possibility has credibility. He has a long history of advocating Christianity, excoriating posters, and even denying that he's Christian. His entire presence here seems to be one of bitter hatred. Though I may eventually come to regret pointing you thus,
Asguard, a fine example of what I'm talking about can be found in the
False Christians topic. Nobody can figure out what, aside from temper tantrums and insults, his purpose here is.
There are a couple of other posters whose presence here is largely negative, but in the spirit of this topic I won't name them. In fact, twice that I can recall, Christian posters have threatened their debate opponents. In this sense, I find Sciforums to be at least slightly microcosmic of life. It generally doesn't get hostile here except when KB, T1, and a couple of others get into their element. I'd say that
G0D's observations in the Chat topic are, in fact, quite on the mark, and speak well against the idea of taking Sciforums into the real-time genre.
But it does seem sometimes that these posters are afraid to allow topics to continue for the intellectual damage they will do to a person's chosen prejudices. Academic discussions of religious points frequently break down when theistic posters load up with vitriol and hold a sentimental line that, often, has nothing to do with the topic at hand.
Consider what people say about Christianity, about its nobility, its grace, its forgiving and compassionate nature. You'll find little of that at this website. This, in and of itself, is not the biggest problem, except that the air is thick with such duplicity and scorn.
I don't look at it as intolerance. I see it as posters being sick and tired of putting up with these guys. It's ridiculous. It's shameful. Their presence here serves as a testament to why Christianity should not be allowed. In fact, I've only had one truly good debate with a Christian poster in recent memory (where is
MatticiousG?) and it's been months since I've given up on actually communicating with the angry Christians.
And it's quite sad how one-sided the disruptions seem to be. It used to be that our most uncivil poster was a Christian who liked to put censored (@#*$%) blue-streaks into her posts. These days, it's just litanies of scorn from several of them. First T1, then KB, and I've had a few rounds with others. And they go after their fellow faithful, too. (Where has
Taken gotten off to?)
Last autumn it got so bad that several topics were devoted to T1, including an editorial cartoon implying homosexuality 'twixt two of our most disruptive Christian-advocate posters. And since that time, everyone in the religion forum seems a little quicker to the draw. Patience has, indeed, worn thin. But that seems to be the way these would-be martyrs want it. Some of our better posters, indeed, have abandoned the site because of the chaos, and that just sucks.
But that's about the best I can put it for you on no sleep. It's not
necessarily intolerance that you see in the Chat topic, but rather a pointed observation of an undeniable history. Sure, I might trade a couple of names in and out of that list, but that's beside the point.
It's easy enough to simply ignore, say,
Sir Loone, who is generally incoherent and perhaps even hallucinatory. But a couple of the rabble-rousers can write coherent sentences. And occasionally they do have points that either A) are worth considering, or B) require some attention at least.
I mean, it's not as if they're all like
Lawdog, advocating the murder of non-Christians, but on the one hand, perhaps if you are acquainted with the nature of these posters perhaps you'd understand
G0D's point, and to the other, who knows, you might have some fresh perspective to help us find more civil ways of dealing with this bunch.
However, if you prefer more harmonious and better-thought posts, I can only recommend that you steer about six miles clear of that crew.
thanx much,
Tiassa
