Flaming, Religion, Politics and you.

[JD]

If you want to talk religion, go to church, if you want to talk guns, come here.

If you want to talk both, move to Texas

[limatunes]

We do have a few religious and political threads on these boards that HAVE BEEN successful. For instance there is a thread that asks if anyone else is a preacher or in the ministry. Many religious people have gone there and posted and talked and things have faired just fine.

Those who don't agree have stayed out, those who do agree have gone in. It's worked out fabulously.

What DOESN'T work out is when people go into general and non-specific threads and start throwing in their religious and political beliefs into the mix to get others, who weren't expecting that and don't believe similarly, upset and starting a flame war.

There have been threads such as "What do you fellow Christians think about carrying a gun and being a believer?"

That has been allowed to go on.

There have also been threads in regards to local, state, and federal law and the politics behind them that govern concealed carry.

Note, there are all RELATED to concealed carry and though they are watched closely to be sure that they do not digress, most of the time I have seen them as nothing but successful in their dialogue and contribution to the forum.

From my understanding (which is admittedly limited and flawed) if it directly relates to carrying a gun, fine, but if it starts to digress into who's religion is superior or who should vote for whom, or whether a fetus is a life, that's when it becomes a problem.

And it ALSO becomes a problem when people use every means possible as a platform to preach their beliefs even if they try by all means to SOMEHOW make it relevant to concealed carry.

I hope you all can see the difference.

[Pete]

Originally Posted by jdlv4_0

If you want to talk religion, go to church, if you want to talk guns, come here.

Hmm, maybe some people are posting here while using a Blackberry at church?

That was a joke, please don't try it anyone - your wife will kick your shin if she catches you.

[JD]

Originally Posted by 0.02

Hmm, maybe some people are posting here while using a Blackberry at church?

That was a joke, please don't try it anyone - your wife will kick your shin if she catches you.

Either that or Lima will steal my BlackBerry and start moderating from church....

[dr_cmg]

Originally Posted by HotGuns

God forbid that we talk about Politics or Religion and actually learn something.

Personally, I think that some of the subjects get shut down a bit early because some of the Mods know little of either...but thats just me.

Other than that, its still a great forum.

Sometimes some mods know too much about the subject and don't want to get involved opinions rather than facts. That's just my personal opinion as a moderator with an earned doctorate in church history and theology. The other thing about religious discussions is that no matter how you start them someone will go overboard and begin to talk just from emotions. This happens on boards that only do theology as well. My best friend is a moderator on a major theology board and a member of several others. He complains constantly about attitudes and actions on these boards. The one he is moderator on has about 1/5th the number of members we have and about 10 times the number of bans.

Politics I don't know a lot about, but I have seen enough threads go sour to know that they are the same kind of thing as the religion. People very quickly forget facts and move into the "don't confuse me with the facts my mind is made up" mode. Then immediately someone steps over the line and we have to turn on the fire hose. It's a lot easier just to try to stop them early.

With that said, there are threads that have a religious or political content that are permissible. These are few and far between, but they do exist. These threads are not discussion threads, but rather threads that start normally with a question or request for info. They only attract people who really have something to say and usually they stay below the radar. Political humor that is not mean spirited also can usually work out. If the post is caustic it will create a problem.

It seems as though these subjects are at times selectively tolerated. Religion is OK as long as we are bashing Islam, telling religious jokes or someone has died. Politics is tolerated as long as we are bashing Hillary and as long as it is not a Liberal prespective.

I can't speak for other moderators, but Bumper's leadership in the area of bashing any religion is that it is forbidden. We have closed any number of threads that made negative comments about Islam. Religious humor is tolerated if it is not mean spirited. Political comments in humor again as long as it is not mean spirited is OK. The poster may not have been here long enough to have seen some of the jokes about our current president and about his father. Do a search and you can find some. We have had people and still have people who are members here and call themselves gun-carrying liberals. As long as they post within the rules they are OK. We have also pulled some threads or posts from those who are from the conservative side whose comments about persons of the liberal persuasion were deemed to not fit our rules.

We try to be fair, but newer members do not have the background and do not do searches to find that certain subjects even within the allowed area cause problems every time they are brought up. Other subject have been exhausted many times over and when they come up the classic comments about popcorn and beating a dead horse come out.

[HOLYROLLER]

You Mods have a tuff job and you all get my respect. Folks like me make it tough at times, but you guys (and gal, sorry Lima) manage great. This is the best forum I have come across and I doubt it got that way on its own, thank you.

Is an electronic hug possible, or is that against the rules?

[P95Carry]

You forgot Betty - we have two ladies now

As for an electronic hug well - this place is wired 50kV .... so that'd be shocking Cyber hugs are fine

[Rock and Glock]

IMHO this thread needs closing and will be reported asap.

[Scott]

Originally Posted by HotGuns

God forbid that we talk about Politics or Religion and actually learn something.

Personally, I think that some of the subjects get shut down a bit early because some of the Mods know little of either...but thats just me.

Yup..Dat B me. Ignee-ant.

If you only knew...

[Pete]

1. Why flame the Mods?
2. Especially in a thread about 'not flaming'?

My mind just boggled...