Thoroughly enjoy forums provided the community has the right feel. The only Christian forums I've posted on are the string of BF > OCF > PCIM, and BF is the only forum I've been perma-banned from out of the ~dozen or so that I participate or have participated in.
I find that my brief time as a mod over there was generally well respected among the other mods, yet I was coffee'd for telling an admin that if he was going to engage in personal diatribe in a thread, he had to take his licks in the public forum as well. Ah, duplicity. Gotta love it. Hey, it's the Super Tuesday primaries here in the South today. Vote early, vote often.
Yeah, when you look at the ProphecyLessTess and say "Sorry, she's full of skubalon," it tends to irritate the knickers of the SelfAppointed One.
Oddly enough, I was asked if I would be interested in re-joining the mod team even though I had just defied the proclamations of the Prophetless.
Forums in general I approach with "eat the chicken, toss the bones". I'm a member of Christian forums, and of non-Christian forums. Honestly as far as forums go, the more specific and narrowly focused they are, the less stupid you end up seeing, because people are really just there to exchange information and help someone else out. BF and the Christian forum I was a member of before had more ego posturing than most non-Christian forums I've participated in (and I've either participated in or read my way through a lot of forums over the years). The level of cray-cray there is pretty terrifying, really, especially after taking a time of absence and reading everything with a fresh eye. *shudder* I guess the nekkid emperor don't like it when you tell him he's nekkid. ;~: I love our little group here. Y'all genuinely care about one another, and it shows. That's why I'm still here, personally.
In general, the moderation of a forum can make or break it, especially on a large board. I've probably mentioned it before, that over at Cracked.com, they have one of the best serious discussion forums that I've come across. But they make it clear that they are closely watching the threads and anything off-topic, flippant, or derailing will be deleted. And it is enforced. Therefore everyone is generally pretty clear on the expectations. Over at BadAstronomy, now called something else, if mods took action against a member it was mentioned in a specific thread as to what the issue was and the suspension time and what-not. It at least gave a sense of what was going on behind the curtain.
Yet curiously, even as a former admin, I posted to a certain *cough* admin-then-minster-then-admin the exact words "you just don't get it, do you?" on the open board and had no repercussions whatsoever. I was really expecting to get slapped, if not served coffee, for that one. After being somewhat unceremoniously removed as an admin I was offered a green suit a few months later. But I wasn't going to accept a new role until I knew what had gone wrong previously (by "knew" I mean in the sense of getting some sense out of the people behind it all) and a certain admin (who wasn't amazin' in his own right but knew a man who was) made it very clear I wasn't going to get any more. So that was the end of that.
Isn't long before said admin begins to dominate the threads with what I consider incoherent spamming. An extremely difficult person to talk with, imo. I am familiar with the associated doctrine since my brother had been a pastor in the denomination, so I was leery from the get-go, and mildly let him know. A unique brand of highly centralized hyper-charismatic. It is at that point that so many began to leave the board. If you can't dazzle them with your brilliance, try confusing them with your bologna 8)
Interesting! I was just contemplating a German sausage sub with some spicy mustard and kraut 8) Shall go for it!
Assuming we're talking about the same person (I assume you're talking the Perfect Person rather than the Amazing One), he seemed fine as long as you were "on side" and then less fine when you weren't on side. What denomination are you describing? I'm starting to wonder if some snails have crawled in here.
Right. Church Of God In Christ. In my brother's case it was bizarre, and I understand them to be centrally controlled.
Three outstanding views seem to dominate in the COGIC language that I have noticed, and at least two were definite issues with the aforementioned pastor. The indwelling Holy Spirit enables a believer to live a separated and holy life. The usual translation for this group is that sin, any sin, is a demonstration that a professing believer is actually not saved. Gifts of the Holy Spirit, particularly tongues, are mandatory for ministerial qualification, and the lack of such sign-gifts call a believer's testimony into question, though baptism of the Holy Spirit is a dispensation separate from that of salvation - a second baptism, in COGIC doctrine. The shed blood of Christ brings physical healing. - The ironic tragedy with my brother's group is that rampant, open sin, destroyed and scattered the entire congregation, not to mention my brother's family. As an aside: My having physical disabilities and lacking sign-gifts presented quite an opportunity to my brother's associates, and has made me especially wary of the group.