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What is the best possible approach a missionary could take on an atheist website?
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What is the best possible approach a missionary could take on an atheist website?
(03-02-2020, 02:58 PM)Dānu Wrote: Reminds me of the old joke about the guy who goes to his doctor and says, "Doc, it hurts when I do this." and the doctor replies, "Well, then don't do that."

If they're keeping to specific threads, and they're on-topic, and they're not pushing themsleves on people, and you have the ignore function, then I don't see what the problem is.  Or, I should say that I don't see a problem with them.  The people complaining about them, though, may be another matter.  If you can't control yourself well enough that you can avoid and/or not interact with these folks, then maybe you should not be on the internet.



the problem is fascists HATE any perceived opposition. So they first move to vilify the opposition. once they feel morally obligated to act, then they can move to strike/empowered to do whatever it takes and feel justified in doing so. Any opposing thought is always perceived and handled like a threat to one's personal safety.
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What is the best possible approach a missionary could take on an atheist website?
(03-02-2020, 02:58 PM)Dānu Wrote: Reminds me of the old joke about the guy who goes to his doctor and says, "Doc, it hurts when I do this." and the doctor replies, "Well, then don't do that."

If they're keeping to specific threads, and they're on-topic, and they're not pushing themsleves on people, and you have the ignore function, then I don't see what the problem is.  Or, I should say that I don't see a problem with them.  The people complaining about them, though, may be another matter.  If you can't control yourself well enough that you can avoid and/or not interact with these folks, then maybe you should not be on the internet.


If only for their own happiness and well being.
"Talk nonsense, but talk your own nonsense, and I'll kiss you for it. To go wrong in one's own way is better than to go right in someone else's. 
F. D.
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What is the best possible approach a missionary could take on an atheist website?
(03-02-2020, 02:58 PM)Dānu Wrote: Reminds me of the old joke about the guy who goes to his doctor and says, "Doc, it hurts when I do this." and the doctor replies, "Well, then don't do that."

If they're keeping to specific threads, and they're on-topic, and they're not pushing themsleves on people, and you have the ignore function, then I don't see what the problem is.  Or, I should say that I don't see a problem with them.  The people complaining about them, though, may be another matter.  If you can't control yourself well enough that you can avoid and/or not interact with these folks, then maybe you should not be on the internet.

Or they could find places that are actually for them.  This place is not.  That was not its purpose.
“Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet. 
Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.”
― Napoleon Bonaparte
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What is the best possible approach a missionary could take on an atheist website?
(03-02-2020, 02:23 PM)Mark Wrote:
(03-02-2020, 08:26 AM)Chas Wrote:
(03-01-2020, 07:45 PM)Mark Wrote: I suppose there is some cache in being open to all comers .. give us your tired, your poor, your socially stunted and cognitively limited morons.  That would be the only reason I can see for keeping him around.  Maybe no one wants to take on the responsibility for making that kind of judgment apart from explicitly disallowed behaviors?

Maybe there is, but that does not square with what appears as our mission statement, to wit:
Forum Rules Wrote:This forum was created to foster community between atheists, to provide an outlet for closeted atheists, and to help curious and doubting theists understand what atheism is.  We are open to all regardless of race, creed, sex, or sexual preference. 

Where exactly do drich, theophilus, SteveII, Link, et al. fit? 

Hint: They don't.


To state ones purpose in creating a website isn't quite the same thing as forbidding people with different purposes from participating for their own purposes.  For some of us a closed group consisting of nothing but the choir would be a bore.  Personally I find drich disingenuous in the extreme as well as uninteresting, to the extent that if the site was my play thing alone I would ban him.  But if I accepted the responsibility for banning on the basis of established principles, I'd need more than this mission statement to go on.

People can have whatever principles they want - this is about behavior. Facepalm
“Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet. 
Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.”
― Napoleon Bonaparte
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What is the best possible approach a missionary could take on an atheist website?
(03-02-2020, 02:58 PM)Dānu Wrote: Reminds me of the old joke about the guy who goes to his doctor and says, "Doc, it hurts when I do this." and the doctor replies, "Well, then don't do that."

Precisely. 
Dunno You can't be forced to read posts or threads you don't want to.  It's easy to ignore the blowhards that get you riled up.  There may be others on the forum, however, who enjoy the mud slinging matches and don't mind having them show up.  It's a big place with lots to see and discuss.  To be honest, I am actually getting more fed up with the constant harping of the disgruntled ones who want to wield the ban hammer.  Leben und leben lassen.
No gods necessary
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What is the best possible approach a missionary could take on an atheist website?
(03-02-2020, 11:23 PM)brunumb Wrote: ...You can't be forced to read posts or threads you don't want to.  It's easy to ignore the blowhards that get you riled up.  There may be others on the forum, however, who enjoy the mud slinging matches and don't mind having them show up.  It's a big place with lots to see and discuss.  To be honest, I am actually getting more fed up with the constant harping of the disgruntled ones who want to wield the ban hammer.  Leben und leben lassen.

I take your point about choosing not to read the posts from Link and the other religious nutters
on this forum, but they invariably take over multiple threads, usually devoted solely to pushing
the alleged advantages of their religions, and declaiming how ignorant atheists are.  They offer
virtually nothing across the broader spectrum of topics, and often seem unaware that they're
posting on an atheist site.  They refuse to discuss anything relating to the sciences, and base
the majority of their arguments solely on the purported existence of God or gods, and the archaic
dogma of millennia-old texts written in a time of scientific ignorance.

If SteveII, Drich, and Link were to disappear from this forum (wishful thinking LOL?) then nobody
would shed a tear.  All three are arseholes, and maybe should think of starting their own forum
wherein they can spend their spare time fudge-packing each other.

—At any rate, none of this trio is prepared to let us  live and let live; why should I return any favour?
I'm a creationist;   I believe that man created God.
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What is the best possible approach a missionary could take on an atheist website?
(03-02-2020, 04:09 PM)Chas Wrote:
(03-02-2020, 02:23 PM)Mark Wrote:
(03-02-2020, 08:26 AM)Chas Wrote: Maybe there is, but that does not square with what appears as our mission statement, to wit:

Where exactly do drich, theophilus, SteveII, Link, et al. fit? 

Hint: They don't.


To state ones purpose in creating a website isn't quite the same thing as forbidding people with different purposes from participating for their own purposes.  For some of us a closed group consisting of nothing but the choir would be a bore.  Personally I find drich disingenuous in the extreme as well as uninteresting, to the extent that if the site was my play thing alone I would ban him.  But if I accepted the responsibility for banning on the basis of established principles, I'd need more than this mission statement to go on.

People can have whatever principles they want - this is about behavior. Facepalm

No, the post you just responded to was me saying under what circumstances I'd be willing to ban someone like drich.  What I said was I'd need sufficiently spelled out general principles -defining what behaviors are not permitted, obviously.  So I think you'd have done better to cite the specific rules you think he is in violation of rather than a statement of founding purposes.  I have no idea why you lump Steve and MK in with drich, but I don't.
"Talk nonsense, but talk your own nonsense, and I'll kiss you for it. To go wrong in one's own way is better than to go right in someone else's. 
F. D.
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What is the best possible approach a missionary could take on an atheist website?
(03-02-2020, 02:58 PM)Dānu Wrote: Reminds me of the old joke about the guy who goes to his doctor and says, "Doc, it hurts when I do this." and the doctor replies, "Well, then don't do that."

If they're keeping to specific threads, and they're on-topic, and they're not pushing themsleves on people, and you have the ignore function, then I don't see what the problem is.  Or, I should say that I don't see a problem with them.  The people complaining about them, though, may be another matter.  If you can't control yourself well enough that you can avoid and/or not interact with these folks, then maybe you should not be on the internet.

You can ignore my posts if they bother you. Deadpan Coffee Drinker
“Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet. 
Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.”
― Napoleon Bonaparte
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What is the best possible approach a missionary could take on an atheist website?
(03-03-2020, 03:24 PM)Mark Wrote:
(03-02-2020, 04:09 PM)Chas Wrote:
(03-02-2020, 02:23 PM)Mark Wrote: To state ones purpose in creating a website isn't quite the same thing as forbidding people with different purposes from participating for their own purposes.  For some of us a closed group consisting of nothing but the choir would be a bore.  Personally I find drich disingenuous in the extreme as well as uninteresting, to the extent that if the site was my play thing alone I would ban him.  But if I accepted the responsibility for banning on the basis of established principles, I'd need more than this mission statement to go on.

People can have whatever principles they want - this is about behavior. Facepalm

No, the post you just responded to was me saying under what circumstances I'd be willing to ban someone like drich.  What I said was I'd need sufficiently spelled out general principles -defining what behaviors are not permitted, obviously.  So I think you'd have done better to cite the specific rules you think he is in violation of rather than a statement of founding purposes.  I have no idea why you lump Steve and MK in with drich, but I don't.

Reread the web site's stated purpose until you understand it.
None of those theists mentioned meet the criteria stated. It's really that simple.

If that founding statement isn't actually true, it should be amended or deleted.
“Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet. 
Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.”
― Napoleon Bonaparte
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What is the best possible approach a missionary could take on an atheist website?
(03-03-2020, 03:24 PM)Mark Wrote: ...I have no idea why you [Chas] lump Steve and MK (Link) in with Drich, but I don't.

Each of these three theists is bigoted, patronising, narrow-minded, dogmatic, massively biassed,
and totally unprepared to post comments that should be part of any amicable, productive
dialogue. They post deliberately inflammatory comments intended to obfuscate and derail any
threads—the very few—they participate in.  They have very limited vision, and seem unknowledgable
about any 21st century sciences, preferring to rely on argumentative support drawn from antique
documents written at a time when the earth was believed to be flat, with the sun rotating about it.

All three are inveterate liars to varying degrees, wilfully misinterpreting known history and ignoring
scientific evidence—anything and everything that contradicts their absurd beliefs in the supernatural.

It's really pointless attempting to develop any sort of meaningful dialogue with these types of odious
theists, locked forever inside their tiny skulls filled with fantasy, fabrications and delusions.

       Grumpy
I'm a creationist;   I believe that man created God.
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What is the best possible approach a missionary could take on an atheist website?
(03-04-2020, 07:18 AM)Chas Wrote:
(03-02-2020, 02:58 PM)Dānu Wrote: Reminds me of the old joke about the guy who goes to his doctor and says, "Doc, it hurts when I do this." and the doctor replies, "Well, then don't do that."

If they're keeping to specific threads, and they're on-topic, and they're not pushing themsleves on people, and you have the ignore function, then I don't see what the problem is.  Or, I should say that I don't see a problem with them.  The people complaining about them, though, may be another matter.  If you can't control yourself well enough that you can avoid and/or not interact with these folks, then maybe you should not be on the internet.

You can ignore my posts if they bother you. Deadpan Coffee Drinker

Indeed I can.
Mountain-high though the difficulties appear, terrible and gloomy though all things seem, they are but Mâyâ.
Fear not — it is banished. Crush it, and it vanishes. Stamp upon it, and it dies.


Vivekananda
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What is the best possible approach a missionary could take on an atheist website?
(03-04-2020, 12:07 PM)SYZ Wrote: They post deliberately inflammatory comments intended to obfuscate and derail any threads—the very few—they participate in.  

It seems they inflame certain people, though I'm not sure that is the intention. How do you know that they are intentionally aimed towards these ends?

As far as I've seen, most of their posts have been fairly on-topic. Do you have examples of them derailing threads?
Mountain-high though the difficulties appear, terrible and gloomy though all things seem, they are but Mâyâ.
Fear not — it is banished. Crush it, and it vanishes. Stamp upon it, and it dies.


Vivekananda
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What is the best possible approach a missionary could take on an atheist website?
I can't imagine an atheist forum without a few theists (of whatever variety) on. I imagine it would be a pretty boring place.

I am of course aware that the O.P. wasn't suggesting this but asking what would be considered the best way to behave I'm not sure it's possible to have such differing views and for no conflict to happen, belief goes to the very core of who we are.
Those who ask a lot of questions may seem stupid, but those who don't ask questions stay stupid.
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What is the best possible approach a missionary could take on an atheist website?
(03-04-2020, 12:07 PM)SYZ Wrote:
(03-03-2020, 03:24 PM)Mark Wrote: ...I have no idea why you [Chas] lump Steve and MK (Link) in with Drich, but I don't.

Each of these three theists is bigoted, patronising, narrow-minded, dogmatic, massively biassed,
and totally unprepared to post comments that should be part of any amicable, productive
dialogue. They post deliberately inflammatory comments intended to obfuscate and derail any
threads—the very few—they participate in.  They have very limited vision, and seem unknowledgable
about any 21st century sciences, preferring to rely on argumentative support drawn from antique
documents written at a time when the earth was believed to be flat, with the sun rotating about it.



Bedside manner and intent make a big difference and I see a difference.



(03-04-2020, 12:07 PM)SYZ Wrote: All three are inveterate liars to varying degrees, wilfully misinterpreting known history and ignoring
scientific evidence—anything and everything that contradicts their absurd beliefs in the supernatural.

It's really pointless attempting to develop any sort of meaningful dialogue with these types of odious
theists, locked forever inside their tiny skulls filled with fantasy, fabrications and delusions.

       Grumpy


You are certainly entitled to your opinion.  You just aren't entitled to make a decision for the rest of us.  If you and Chas want an atheist or antitheist only sub-forum why not ask for it?  Not sure who would use it but the two of you at least could have a great time.
"Talk nonsense, but talk your own nonsense, and I'll kiss you for it. To go wrong in one's own way is better than to go right in someone else's. 
F. D.
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What is the best possible approach a missionary could take on an atheist website?
(03-04-2020, 07:22 AM)Chas Wrote:
(03-03-2020, 03:24 PM)Mark Wrote:
(03-02-2020, 04:09 PM)Chas Wrote: People can have whatever principles they want - this is about behavior. Facepalm

No, the post you just responded to was me saying under what circumstances I'd be willing to ban someone like drich.  What I said was I'd need sufficiently spelled out general principles -defining what behaviors are not permitted, obviously.  So I think you'd have done better to cite the specific rules you think he is in violation of rather than a statement of founding purposes.  I have no idea why you lump Steve and MK in with drich, but I don't.

Reread the web site's stated purpose until you understand it.
None of those theists mentioned meet the criteria stated. It's really that simple.

If that founding statement isn't actually true, it should be amended or deleted.


Of course it's true.  It represents the founder's intentions in putting this place together.  But it does not unambiguously state "that no one with different purposes should apply".
"Talk nonsense, but talk your own nonsense, and I'll kiss you for it. To go wrong in one's own way is better than to go right in someone else's. 
F. D.
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What is the best possible approach a missionary could take on an atheist website?
As the great Li Li says when she get's healed "I love you so much right now".

Thanks Mark!

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What is the best possible approach a missionary could take on an atheist website?
(03-04-2020, 03:37 PM)Mark Wrote:
(03-04-2020, 12:07 PM)SYZ Wrote: ...All three are inveterate liars to varying degrees, wilfully misinterpreting known history and ignoring
scientific evidence—anything and everything that contradicts their absurd beliefs in the supernatural.

It's really pointless attempting to develop any sort of meaningful dialogue with these types of odious
theists, locked forever inside their tiny skulls filled with fantasy, fabrications and delusions.

You are certainly entitled to your opinion.  You just aren't entitled to make a decision for the rest of us.  If you and Chas want an atheist or anti-theist only sub-forum why not ask for it?  Not sure who would use it but the two of you at least could have a great time.


Interesting comment.  You've obviously forgotten saying this...

Quote:"Naturally there is a class of believer who seems not to get out much, has no
real idea what we believe and is hell bent on keeping us out of hell in order to
get his ticket to heaven stamped.  But how would those missionaries respond to
a polite no-thank-you along with a reminder regarding the forum rules?"

[Image: mqdefault.jpg]
I'm a creationist;   I believe that man created God.
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What is the best possible approach a missionary could take on an atheist website?
(03-05-2020, 02:59 PM)SYZ Wrote:
(03-04-2020, 03:37 PM)Mark Wrote:
(03-04-2020, 12:07 PM)SYZ Wrote: ...All three are inveterate liars to varying degrees, wilfully misinterpreting known history and ignoring
scientific evidence—anything and everything that contradicts their absurd beliefs in the supernatural.

It's really pointless attempting to develop any sort of meaningful dialogue with these types of odious
theists, locked forever inside their tiny skulls filled with fantasy, fabrications and delusions.

You are certainly entitled to your opinion.  You just aren't entitled to make a decision for the rest of us.  If you and Chas want an atheist or anti-theist only sub-forum why not ask for it?  Not sure who would use it but the two of you at least could have a great time.


Interesting comment.  You've obviously forgotten saying this...

Quote:"Naturally there is a class of believer who seems not to get out much, has no
real idea what we believe and is hell bent on keeping us out of hell in order to
get his ticket to heaven stamped.  But how would those missionaries respond to
a polite no-thank-you along with a reminder regarding the forum rules?"

[Image: mqdefault.jpg]


Yeah, they can be as annoying as hell.  But every now and then one of us will feel like talking sense to on of them.  I don't think I ever said I didn't want any around ever and there is always ignore for the likes of drich.
"Talk nonsense, but talk your own nonsense, and I'll kiss you for it. To go wrong in one's own way is better than to go right in someone else's. 
F. D.
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