A general statement to the members of CAA

[Slater]

Preamble: I'm not gonna bring up any of the "hot, volatile" subjects that I have become so well known for addressing in this thread, so I request the mods to delete any posts of anyone who even alludes to any one of them in this thread.

Part 1: The appology.
I'm not sorry for the discussions and debates that I've brought up in the past. A human being has not learned how to think on a higher level if he or she has no motivation to rationalize or debate.
I am sorry for any discord that I've caused in this place and am sorry for any debates that flared up into more than just debates. I never enter any forum with the sole purpose of causing trouble or angering the moderators and administrators, and CAA is no exception.
I am sorry to those of you who think that I try to say that political party affiliation is more important than one's walk with Christ. The point I was trying to get across was that it is imporant to support Christian ideals in government over non-Christian ideals in government whenever possible, and that's where I'm gonna drop this topic because I fear that people will make further implications that will lead to me getting in more trouble.
I'm sorry to the administration and moderation in this site if I have come across as disrespectful in any way. I never meant to state, overtly or implicitly, that those in charge of this site are doing poorly at their job. I simply stated my opinion when I felt it would be good to do so. It's always been a rule of mine to respect those around you whether they respect you or not, and at all times I will continue to stick to this. Thus be the idea that I disrespect any person or group of persons here far from everyone's minds

Part 2: To shooraijin and the other mods and administrators.
I honestly don't think that you realize how much more impact your words have than a normal member's words. You all act as the representative voice of CAA in what you say, so naturally your words hold a lot of weight behind them. shooraijin made a comment directed towards me yesterday that was really augmented by the fact that he's a mod. It came neigh-close to ruining my entire day. Suggesting to someone that it'd be better if they "[found] somewhere else to post" other than the forum that they're already in and trying to act as part of the community in is very insulting and hurtful considering that you're one of the representative voices of this grand forum, and I'm not the only one who thinks that. I know someone's probably gonna come up with the whole "Sticks and stones... words will never hurt me" thing at least in their mind, but that statement is false. The pen is stronger than the sword, and so are words. Your words made me feel very unwelcome here, as have the words of the other representative figures when they state, overtly or implicitly, that I am a bad member or am trying to destroy the community of this place. I'm still hurting. Therefore, I, as one who's had experiance as a representative figure in large-scale online communities, will give you a piece of advice that you may or may not chose to follow (for I, as a simple member in this place, do not have the job of telling mods or admins how to do their jobs): when taking administrative action, do the action and provide a reason why you did it. Don't offer a critique on a member's behavior while you're at it. If you feel the need to address a member's behavior, do so in a PM; it's as effective as it needs to be.

Part 3: Conclusion.
I love this place, I really do. I told SonicRose earlier today that I hate this place, but that was just a moodswing of mine that I had in response to something else that happened here. I repent of that sin against you guys and ask for forgiveness; I was wrong in saying that. I pray that God bless this place and every membere herein, and I pray that the gates of hell will not prevail against this site in any way. I pray that any strife going on still will be alleviated and that friendship be built and restored where its needed. Everyone, be strong in your walk with the Lord and let nothing shake you from your unashamed faith in Jesus Christ. Amen.

[Hephzibah]

Well, this might not mean much frwl, but please let me congratulate you for taking the time and pain to write this post. There seems to have been a fair bit of bickering in CAA over the past day or so (might just be my feelings, but o well), and I too was a bit hurt, though it was completely unintentional I know.

Anyway, back on topic. I think it was a good thing that you expressed your feelings on this matter, because that way we can all learn from this experience.

I am sorry for any discord that I've caused in this place and am sorry for any debates that flared up into more than just debates. I never enter any forum with the sole purpose of causing trouble or angering the moderators and administrators, and CAA is no exception.
I am sorry to those of you who think that I try to say that political party affiliation is more important than one's walk with Christ. The point I was trying to get across was that it is imporant to support Christian ideals in government over non-Christian ideals in government whenever possible, and that's where I'm gonna drop this topic because I fear that people will make further implications that will lead to me getting in more trouble.

Dont feel sorry frwl. We Christians need to be aware of the issues of today. I am thankful that God raises up people to make others aware of these issues. Don't ever be ashamed of doing the right thing matie

I am sorry that you are hurting frwl. I'll pray for you ok? Also, I think it would be a good idea to pray, as you mentioned, that the Enemy will not prevail against this site. We should pray that no arguments will break out here, and that we can all grow further in the Lord through the awesome community of CAA.

Anyway, Jesus loves you so much frwl!

[Mave]

Hey frwl,

There are times when I do want to think about some of the 'hot and volatile' topics you may have brought up but if you've seen how awful past debates ended up, you might agree that such topics are best left out in this community. <.<;;;;; Point is such discussions usually end up stressful and pointless (i.e. name calling etc.etc.), which is what the admins/mods are trying to save us all from. It's no one's fault in particular. The community is growing bigger and everyone comes from different backgrounds/opinions. Huge conflicts are just going to happen if given the opportunity. When I first learnt about this policy, I didn't think it made much sense but after getting into conflicts with CAA members, I'm grateful.

It's most likely that you'll be able to post on such topics at Anime Angels (but they're down ). Theology can go to the theologyweb. *points above* It's just a matter of picking the right place to post stuff. ^__^ Quite a number of members here are active in a few forums at the same time.

I'll see you around.

[Mithrandir]

Hi frwl,
Let me first say, thank you for you apology. Not many people who "get into it" with the administration do. Despite how it may seem to some, we (mods/admins) really are in the business of promoting community, and it's refreshing when we have members who don't "throw the baby out with the bath water."

I know someone's probably gonna come up with the whole "Sticks and stones... words will never hurt me" thing at least in their mind, but that statement is false. The pen is stronger than the sword, and so are words. Your words made me feel very unwelcome here, as have the words of the other representative figures when they state, overtly or implicitly, that I am a bad member or am trying to destroy the community of this place. I'm still hurting. Therefore, I, as one who's had experiance as a representative figure in large-scale online communities, will give you a piece of advice that you may or may not chose to follow (for I, as a simple member in this place, do not have the job of telling mods or admins how to do their jobs): when taking administrative action, do the action and provide a reason why you did it. Don't offer a critique on a member's behavior while you're at it. If you feel the need to address a member's behavior, do so in a PM]
I *personaly* wouldn't use the sticks-and-stones line on anyone, but that's probably because I dealt with a lot of that growing up. (Having all the jocks in my PE class serve up a fresh batch of "your mother" jokes on the day I returned to school following her death was, needless to say, poor timeing and a proverbial camel straw on that one.)

Now then:

I'm not sorry for the discussions and debates that I've brought up in the past. A human being has not learned how to think on a higher level if he or she has no motivation to rationalize or debate.
I am sorry for any discord that I've caused in this place and am sorry for any debates that flared up into more than just debates. I never enter any forum with the sole purpose of causing trouble or angering the moderators and administrators, and CAA is no exception.

This may not go over very well here. We DO understand the need for debate in it's proper place; the place for it is not here, any more than a sermon debate is proper while a pastor is preaching it. (No I don't think we're a church service, it's just a bad metaphore). We strive to promote a family friendly atmosphere, and our experience is that those kind of thread almost never work out friendly. For that reason, we do not allow them. If you want to discuss it, take it to Theology Web. If you *must* discuss it with CAA members, do it over PM. We really don't mind that. If people get sick of debates over PM, they can just stop responding.

Since NO administration posting on this thread would indicate agreement, I'm going to touch on this; I don't think this idea deserves a lot of face time, though:

It should probably be noted that trying to explain to our over 2000 members the subtle nuances of everthing we do is not always possible. Sometimes efficiency just wins over asthetics. (In shoobys case, it can actually be a matter of life-and-death when he cuts a post short - but that's a different story). We do try to be fair, and we do try to sensitive in our responses. We realize that not every post will appear to be "seasoned with salt" to the reader. To be perfectly frank, though, shooby's post was likely more tactful than mine would have been.

I think I'll end this here. Any addtional discussion of *our* actions would be backlash, and any additional discussion of *your* actions would not serve any purpose, as this thread shows you seem to understand our reasoning.

[shooraijin]

Suggesting to someone that it'd be better if they "[found] somewhere else to post"

I'm going to only respond to this to post the original statement you made in the referenced thread:

Mods, put some thought into what this post says before deciding to delete it, although you've made sport of doing so to most of my other threads so I won't hold out much hope...

The sword you wield cuts both ways. If you dislike the administration's policies, which are stated plainly, and believe that the administration is out to get you, then I'm not sure what else I can say. oldphilosopher stated, for the nth time, why we restrict discussion here -- it's not on-topic for this site and we're interested in Christians who are interested in anime. There are plenty of other message boards for wider topics. This has been said time and time again.

This isn't a personal vendetta against you, but if you feel that it is, then that's something that you'll need to deal with personally. It won't change how the restrictions on topicality are enforced.

[Slater]

I agree from experiance that my first little paragraph in that thread was a bigtime error. The last thing I wanted to see when going into a thread was something like "The mods are probably gonna close this, but [continued post]." I'd say in my mind "Dang, you really think you're doing yourself any good by telling us that?" And I stupidly pretty much did the same thing there, thus doing myself injustice. For not considering what I was saying before I hit the Post Thread button, I pretty much earned the consequences of the thread getting closed. I won't deny any of that.
But that wasn't the point that I was trying to make here. The point that I'm trying to make to everyone in this forum is that we have to watch the "fire" that we have in our mouths (see James 3, for example). It's surprisingly easy to burn someone if not careful. Maybe it seems like I'm burning Shooby for seemingly singling him out, but God forbid that! I'd rather get hurt myself quicker than I'd rather do harm to another brother or sister in Christ.

[The Doctor]

While I love to debate, I've seen what wars between members and admins have caused. At Robotech.com recently, Steve Yun and the admins had to REALLY lay down the law and ban members who did nothing but cause trouble. It was rather troubling that it came to that and I was saddenned that Steve was forced to be so swift and forceful in dealing out justice.

I would caution anyone trying to make war on a forum; it gets really messy and upsets too many people. I write this as one who witnessed Robotech.com's forums bearing the brunt of a harsh crackdown. Let it not come to this.

[Roy Mustang]

I don't know what happen, but I think it took alot of guts to make a thread like this and do an appology. But I don't think you should feel sorry. I have made a thread that turn into a debate and its going to happen from time to time.


Now saying that, I like to say something else. One reason why I love this place is because there is no big time debates here. Most of the reason why I love this place is because its people that love anime and are chirstian and look out for each other, but I like the no debates thing here too. I don't want to sound like, I want to close myself from the outside world when going to a board. We all can learn from each other on problems in life and other things. But debating can cause problems, I know this because I been to a few board that I have to leave because the debates in it got ugly and I understand where the admins and mods are coming from at this board about what kind of problems a dabate can cause.

I only dabate with my IRL friends and my family, becuase they understand and know that I'm being hateful in what I say when I dabate. With an online board, we can't see how the person is acting when he or she posts in a dabate and don't know if they being funny or rude. So this can lead into feelings being hurt and people not talking to each other or in the wrost case, people leaving. So, that why I think its good not to dabate here and not have to worry about name calling and such.

We may not all agree with one another, but we are all brothers and sisters of christ and we should stand together as one. Because if we stand together, we show that we can't be broke as christains when are together.

Wingzero22

[agasfas]

Whatever happened is in the past. I haven't been totally innocent myself.... As individuals we all have our own opinions and beliefs. Although I will agree w/ the Doc that sometimes debates can be fun, the CAA boards aren't the place to do it. It's purpose is to, like the mods/admins have already stated is to provide the proper atmopshere. Debates among friends (including CAA) can sometimes result in bitter feels between two people. One person states their opinion, the other dissagrees. Then words are exchanged in bad taste and so forth.

Anyways, I'm not too sure about what debates y'all are talking about... but whatever, it's in the past. Things happen. Glad to see you're still around

[CephasWhite]

I totally agree with agasfas, it's in the past, no need to worry anymore.

I have to say, it was good that you said what you needed to say frwl, and I respect that. I myself have been in a tangle with the mods and admin in the past but then I just let it go.

I have my beliefs and opinions as well, but I don't inforce them upon others for God gave us the ability of Freewill.

I just want to say to you frwl, that you are a great member and I respect you and SonicRose in everyway. There was a certain thread *we will have no mention of it* that shocked me, because I knew it offended you and SonicRose, no doubt about it, and both of you have a right to your own opinion as I said before.

Take care of yourself frwl and PM me if you want to talk. Maybe give a heads up to SonicRose as well to PM me if she wants.

Lots of love and God bless,
CephasVII

[Slater]

Thanx guys