Clarification · 25 June 2007, 05:57
I feel I should clarify a few things in regard to this blog, its relation to the main site (MormonAnswers.com), what my personal biases are, and how they play a role in this blog, and ideally how they will not play a role in the main site. Also, I hope to make clear what the discussion feature of this blog is for, and what it is not; what will contribute to a good conversation and what will get you banned.
This is a blog.
Yep. It’s a web-log. It’s a journal, of sorts. It is not the actual MormonAnswers.com web site I refer to. Sure, it is hosted on the same server, uses a subdomain of MormonAnswers.com, and is produce by me, Bodhi. However, this is, yes, you guessed it… just a blog. It’s a place to unload personal thoughts, little clips or blurbs I found interesting, etc. It is not the site that I refer to often, the coming site, MormonAnswers. When it does arrive (eventually… keep in mind this is a side project and I am a working adult with many, many other interests and time-comsuming tasks), there will be no confusing the two. I’ve considered changing the address of this blog to bodhi.mormonanswers.com and starting a fresh blog here (ie, blog.mormonanswers.com) solely talking about the progress and news regarding the actual MA site. That may happen, for the time being, keep in mind that this is not the mormonanswers.com main site, it is a personal blog, and as such, the statements made are not necessarily indicative of the outlook and stance of MormonAnswers.com. A person’s personal views to not have to colour everything he or she does. A person can dislike motorcycles but still work as an effective part of an ad agency team creating a new commercial for a Yamaha bike.
So what is your damage, anyway?
It is fair enough to question my motives. Since I am a former mormon, it is easy to see that I’m obviously not a fan of the LDS church. But I’m also a nice guy who enjoys music and hiking. I’m more than just some angry ex-mo, and as I’ve stated exhaustively elsewhere, MormonAnswers.com will be about archiving potential answers for those with questions. I want to keep it neutral in a way that will not promote a certain sect or atheism, as is common of some sites and pages out there. I don’t care if you “come to Jesus,” or eschew religion all together, or whatever. That isn’t my concern. I just don’t want to see the valuable information concerning mormonism fade away from the internet because the posters used some free web host or the web hosting from their dialup provider (far too often that content will vanish if the author does not log in for a few months/years).
So the site certainly isn’t pro-mormon. Sorry. But I’d like to think it won’t be anti-mormon either. It will simply be information. Is Google anti-mormon because it indexes thousands of anti-mormon web sites? Of course not. People can make up their own mind… isn’t that a wonderful concept?
Bias
Yes, as mentioned, I have a personal bias. I’m not a fan of the LDS church. But I do not dislike mormons. Hell, most of my family is mormon… how could I hate mormons? So I do not believe in the tenets of that church formed by Mr. Smith, but I think that members of said church can be fantastic people. It’s the same principle as, say, not liking your school’s rival, but still being able to hang out with your cousin or buddy who attends that school.
Am I Christian? No. Am I religious? No. Do I want everyone who visits MormonAnswers.com to become just like me? No. I honestly don’t care about the results of the information served, I just want it to be available. I’m not going to put up a counter that shows how many people have left the LDS church due to what they have read. I mean, how ridiculous is that?
What am I? I’m a card-carrying Humanist, if you’re really curious. If you want my nutshell explanation of what that means, it’s that I believe in acting ethically and morally without the believe/fear/motivation of an afterlife. Basically, don’t let fear of punishment or desire for reward motivate your life—be good to your fellow humans because otherwise our human family suffers. I am also a pacifist, and hold progressive political viewpoints (another reason I am a humanist). So can expect these beliefs to colour my comments on this blog, but the goal the MormonAnswers.com site is to be set up in such a way that regardless of my viewpoint, your viewpoint, etc, the information/articles will do the talking. Once again, back to the Google example, you never wonder what Google believes about stem-cell research or eating fish on a friday. And when MA arrives, I’d hope the users would not even have to worry about whether the site wants them to leave Mormonism for Catholicism or Islam or atheism or anything. They just want to look something up, see what authors across the net have to say about it, or even better, what some historical documents have to say.
On being a twerp.
It is exceptionally easy to act like a jackass online. If you do so on this site, I’ll warn you. If you keep it up, I’ll ban you. Simple as that. So what entails being a pain, then?
- FLAMING
- Flaming is coming to the site with the sole purpose of trying to piss me or other readers off, in order to elicit a response. Some real asshats get off on this, and nothing makes me hate the internet more than these button pushers. You flame, you get warned. You flame again, you get banned. Simple as that.
- AD HOMONYM
- A fancy way or saying “name calling.” If you can’t seem to speak like an adult and result to calling someone a dooty-head because you disagree with them, you will be on my hit list. Do it too often, and you might not be long in the realm of our discussions.
- OFF-TOPIC DIGRESSION
- If you show a tendency to derail conversations with unrelated topics, you run the risk of irking me. Comments are generally made with the sole purpose of muddling things and distracting people.
- BITCH/MOAN
- Okay, this is just personal. Don’t complain about how long your comment took to be moderated or if it wasn’t posted at all. Comment moderation is there for a reason. Just because you don’t see comments on this site that fit the above descriptions doesn’t mean they haven’t been submitted. I’ve simply sent them to the comment rubbish bin. Just because you typed it in and hit send doesn’t mean it has any right of showing up on the site. Sorry… but to paraphrase Snatch, it’s a free country, but it ain’t a free site. Deal with it.
Why make such a big deal? Because we’re dealing with religion and belief, and dissenting viewpoints. People blow themselves up over similar topics! It is a rather incendiary topic, and if some level of control is absent, things can get out of control quickly.
Bring something to the table, be grown up, stay calm, and we may just have an interesting conversation. Don’t feel discouraged if you are a believing mormon… I welcome your comments as well… just keep the above guidelines in mind. A good discussion should include a number of viewpoints, and you can contribute yours if you are a reasonable person without anger management issues. :)
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