Congratulations on being civil.

February 7, 2003 9:08 AM

Congratulations to all who participated in the recent thread on evangelical Christians and why people dislike them. The level of constructive dialogue on all sides of the issue was truly miraculous ...hehe. Why did this thread succeed when so many other religious threads quickly degrade into vicious flamewars?
posted by jsonic to Etiquette/Policy at 9:08 AM (11 comments total)

My reasons the thread worked-out:

1.) I think the well thought-out article the post linked to set a rational tone for the thread.
2.) The post itself didn't contain any flameable statements.
3.) Maybe everyone is tired of Bush/Iraq.
posted by jsonic at 9:19 AM on February 7, 2003

old fight posted by a [often times] religious pseudotroller? wasn't going to bite, also, i'm hardcore atheist but have a bit of respect for RazorMouth because they write Conflicted. They feel and discuss contradictions, and live in a world that isn't quite so black and white, or at least....acknowledge that sometimes it is difficult to stick to their b&w view. [even though saying all along that, of course, it is the right view.]

I can relate to that. If he would have posted a thread about how everybody hates mormons...that would have gotten a bit nasty perhaps...but he is an evangelical, who has generated a lot of flack, and so posting a link that obviously related to his experiences made sense, and it made it Interesting.
posted by th3ph17 at 9:28 AM on February 7, 2003

Yeah, that was one hell of a thread. I've been on the verge of quitting for a while, but now I'm really heartened.

Dammit.
posted by COBRA! at 9:40 AM on February 7, 2003

The original post and the linked article were level-headed and done well. I bet if you tacked on a "...aren't those crazy christians like, super annoying and shit?" the thread would have gone as many religious ones have before.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 9:57 AM on February 7, 2003

Post had a specific topic. Moreover, it was a topic that didn't single out any member of the community as a target. Betcha if we'f had an evangelical christian member posting, it'd have been worse.
posted by Yelling At Nothing at 10:19 AM on February 7, 2003

Perhaps you should thank as well those of us who did NOT participate, cuz if we had, things would have turned out different. ;-P
posted by mischief at 10:44 AM on February 7, 2003

I would like to thank tamin-san... Thank You buddy!
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 11:34 AM on February 7, 2003

mischief x 2.

All I saw was "evangelical" and I ran screaming into the woods. It didn't tun into a vicious bottle-wielding barroom brawl by sheer luck.
posted by hama7 at 6:08 PM on February 7, 2003

As the idjit who was vocal about where I thought that thread would go, I would like to extend my congrats and best wishes to all who participated.
posted by Wulfgar! at 10:07 PM on February 7, 2003

Yeah, yeah, it was a stupendous thread. Nothing heated up enough to spark any flashes of insight, and nobody dropped any startling revelations into the collection plate - it was polite, well-organized, and everyone was very well-groomed. Maybe I'll come back next week, and invite a friend, if that's OK.

When people get passionate, even angry, when they feel besieged or threatened, they tend to thrash around looking for all kinds of non-standard ordnance with which to defend themselves. That's when the Google engine runs hottest, and long-neglected books leap from the back shelves. And that's when lurking crocs like me get to belly roll through the thread, scavenging succulent chunks of fresh, uncommon data.

I ate the thread, and I'm still hungry. It did go down real easy, though.
posted by Opus Dark at 2:58 AM on February 8, 2003

I reckon it was a success as it posited a position(huh?) which was, by the nature of the post, impossible to argue. It's similar to someone beating themselves up by saying, for example, "I am a turd" and all anyone can do is either say "yes, you are" or "no, it's not true". Either way, everyone's a winner. I'd like to think I helped by staying out of the thread although I rarely, if ever, write anything which raises people's hackles. I did actually write a comment but, like many I write, I did not post it.
posted by Dick Paris at 8:34 AM on February 8, 2003