Brenda removed Joel's thread -- Catholic Friends Forum

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Date Posted: 10:49:31 08/11/07 Sat
Author: Joan
Author Host/IP: ip68-0-253-131.ri.ri.cox.net / 68.0.253.131
Subject: Brenda removed Joel's thread
In reply to: Joan 's message, "Paul's "Christianity vs Romanism" on Brenda's" on 07:00:25 08/10/07 Fri

I'm sure that it wasn't to remove anti-Catholic comments, but to remove threads that had degenerated into arguing.

For whatever reason, at least the anti-Catholic garbage is gone.

I know that Brenda would have removed it if the posts were attacking the Baptist church, Judaism, or some other religion. Catholicism and Islam are routinely bashed on Brenda's, and those posts are allowed to sit there. Shame.

Joan

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Re:I'm afraid you've discovered something Joan... -- Phil from AZ, 16:14:55 08/11/07 Sat [1] (71-223-15-110.phnx.qwest.net/71.223.15.110)

...that has bugged me abt forums since the beginning. There are several things that plague INet forums: favoritism, selective censorship, personal whim/taste and harmony over serious discussion. On Brenda's, I'm afraid we can also add the cult of the personality. LoL

Favoritism. It is not what you say that will get you banned, it's who you are. A 'favored member' can say whatever they like abt another member. When another person defends themselves, the second person's lumped into the category of troublemaker. The second person's posts are deleted and other members are allowed to attack them after they're banned or they quit. The forum leader then emails the other members behind the banned members back, stating that the person is banned because they're evil or some kind of psycho. Meanwhile, the favored person's stuff (often drivel) is allowed to stand. I've observed favoritism based on gender, age, geography, political views and yes...religion.

Selective censorship. A forum leader must have a solid set of stds before they open a forum. Most have no such plan, and as such, they often state: "This is my forum, and I will do whatever I want." Thus, they delete whatever they want, and thus, members are at the mercy of the whims of the forum leader. Often, the forum leader pays profuse homeage to Free Speech, but will delete you, without mercy, in a heartbeat. Often, the other members won't ever know what that person posted. The forum leader may then twist what was said by paraphrasing. The forum leader demands loyalty and those to don't pay homage become suspicious.

Personal Taste. What's offensive to one person may not be offensive to another. Forum leaders sometimes have no idea how much effort members put into a post. Yet, they will delete it in a heartbeat because of some small part of the post that they do not like. It's a difficult task indeed to be a forum leader, but they must have a specific set of stds, above and beyond their own (sometimes narrow, sometimes nutty) personal opinion abt things. If the forum leader does not like what a person said in part of a post, they should state that below...not just delete the entire post because of some minor off-hand, but unacceptable, utterance.

On Brenda's, there's the added dilemma of the Cult of the Personality. Its obvious to me that there's a preference to celebs...most of whom hardly ever post there. When they do, no matter how coherent and thoughtful the post, they take priority over all other members...including regular participants. That's sad, since its the posters that keep the forum going, not some occasional post from a celeb...usually when they have something to pitch.

One thing's for sure. On almost every forum, the HARMONY of the forum is more important than anything! Forum leaders will throw folks' posts, thoughtful and intelligent or otherwise, under the bus. With this notion, goes the concept of Free Speech, intelligent discussion, the truth and the right for folks to defend themselves against attack.

Having said that, I think that Brenda's record is pretty good on this stuff, except for the Cult of the Personality. I do not think that Brenda is anti-Catholic, but then again, I did not read much of 'Joel's infamous thread', and you folks may know her better than I. And, of cse, none of this applies to your forum, where intelligent discussion and fair play are the norm.

Hope you are all doing well.

Phil from soccer-crazy AZ

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