Other Religious Forums

[Kawazu]

Do any of you frequent other religious message boards, in addition to LDS.net? If so, please share. (It does not have to be an LDS site, but a Mormon presence would be nice.) Why do you suppose thoughtful, helpful religious spaces are so hard to find online? There are many religious websites; what aspects help you differentiate "good" online communities from "bad" ones?

[NeuroTypical]

I'm hugely hopeful for The World Table, which recently started and hopes to increase civility and decrease trolling and meanness.

I head over to the Non-Catholic Religions Forum at Catholic Answers whenever I want to get the crap kicked out of me by uncharitable spewers of hate. I'm still getting used to the mindset over there where personal attacks and slander will get edited by the mods if someone complains, but the mean posters themselves seem to suffer no other consequences.

Nauvoo.com is a great place for LDS only talk. Not as active as it used to be.

[Vort]

Nauvoo.com is a great place for LDS only talk. Not as active as it used to be.

Are you LM there, too?

[Vort]

Nauvoo.com is a great place for LDS only talk. Not as active as it used to be.

Are you LM there, too? Could you ask my question over there and see if anyone there has an answer?

[NeuroTypical]

Done.

[andypg]

I head over to the Non-Catholic Religions Forum at Catholic Answers whenever I want to get the crap kicked out of me by uncharitable spewers of hate. I'm still getting used to the mindset over there where personal attacks and slander will get edited by the mods if someone complains, but the mean posters themselves seem to suffer no other consequences.

Before I became LDS I was a regular poster on CAF, though I tended to stay out of the Non-Catholic Religions section. I tended to be in the News, Popular Media or Traditional Catholicism sections.

Now that I converted, I post under a different name. I made a thread about a "friend" (me) converting to Mormonism. Mostly because I was curious as to what Catholics would think if someone they knew did. Anyways, by page 3 a conversation on excavating the Hill Cumorah started and now on page 10 it's turned to an all out war about Hill Cumorah. I had to go in now and ask to stop going off topic.

The ex-LDS on there can be very nasty. But then again, the traditionalist Catholics on there are so harsh on there that when I first joined that forum and saw how nasty they could be to other Catholics, I had a crisis of faith, I mean, "real Catholics" can't be that nasty.

I will give them this, their criticisms of the LDS faith that I find when discussing Mormonism with them (or other LDS debating them) strengthens my testimony. How? They say "Mormons believe x" I say, "That can't be. if it is, I'm out." So I come on here, ask and work it out and strengthen my knowledge and testimony of the Gospel.

[Roseslipper]

Are you LM there, too? Could you ask my question over there and see if anyone there has an answer?

lol Vort, what is your question there I'm curious:eek:

[Kawazu]

I'm hugely hopeful for The World Table, which recently started and hopes to increase civility and decrease trolling and meanness.

I head over to the Non-Catholic Religions Forum at Catholic Answers whenever I want to get the crap kicked out of me by uncharitable spewers of hate. I'm still getting used to the mindset over there where personal attacks and slander will get edited by the mods if someone complains, but the mean posters themselves seem to suffer no other consequences.

Nauvoo.com is a great place for LDS only talk. Not as active as it used to be.

Thanks for the recommendations; I'll check these out. Would you say that LDS.net is currently the most active LDS message board? Also, how do you keep your cool under fire at Catholic Answers? What style works best in a critical environment online? (I'm nonconfrontational in such places, so I tend not to reply very much.)

[bytebear]

I used to post on some other general religion boards, but the LDS discussions just end up being dominated by antis and no one ever actually discusses anything. Even Wikipedia is impossible to contribute to unless you are really dedicated to the effort. Most LDS just give up and it becomes anti-centric.

[Kawazu]

It's interesting that you bring up Wikipedia. Once, I spent half an afternoon reading the whole talkback page for the entry on Joseph Smith. (The talkback page on any Wikipedia article is the "behind-the-scenes" discussion between the people making edits on the articles.) Essentially, it went like this:

Person A: This page is horribly biased. I've edited some misrepresentations.

Person B: Your information is inaccurate. See corrections.

Person A: Your IP address indicates that you are posting from Prof. Somebody's Bible College. According to the institution's website, the school seems unfriendly to Mormons. I have reverted your changes.

Person B: You must be a Mormon or Mormon apologist because what you say is unfounded. I am only examining Joseph Smith from common historical and theological points of view. The changes I am making now only reflect mainstream thinking.

The battle goes on for a terribly long time until some kind of Wikipedia head honcho pops in, accepts half of Person A's changes and half of what Person B said, blends everything, edits for clarity and calls it a day. Watching the whole thing tanked my expectations about Wikipedia articles in general, though I suppose this kind of infighting happens often in religious and political topics.

[bytebear]

I read an article interviewing Richard Bushman about Wikipedia. He said the articles were "technically correct" but lacked any feeling or meaning behind the facts. One excellent point is that if you read the articles from an outsider view, you would be absolutely bewildered as to how thousands of people would follow (the obvious fraud) Joseph Smith as a prophet. Nothing about why one was a believer or what drew people to the church.

[Guest]

Also, how do you keep your cool under fire at Catholic Answers? What style works best in a critical environment online? (I'm nonconfrontational in such places, so I tend not to reply very much.)

Not replying is the only thing that works. I was there a while and if you're familiar with my discussions here on LDS vis-a-vis Catholic, I am very respectful of Catholic beliefs. I clarified some mis-statements about LDS beliefs in the Non-Catholic section and I got banned for proselyting.

I got re-instated a few months later and some guy asked a question about Melchizedek on the Non-Catholic section so I replied with what I know of Milchezedek and I got banned again for proselyting.

So, unless you're willing to talk nothing else but Catholic catechism and the weather, it's really quite pointless.

[pam]

Thanks for the recommendations; I'll check these out. Would you say that LDS.net is currently the most active LDS message board? Also, how do you keep your cool under fire at Catholic Answers? What style works best in a critical environment online? (I'm nonconfrontational in such places, so I tend not to reply very much.)

I don't know the stats of other LDS message boards, but we average between 80-90K hits per month.

[Kawazu]

I read an article interviewing Richard Bushman about Wikipedia. He said the articles were "technically correct" but lacked any feeling or meaning behind the facts. One excellent point is that if you read the articles from an outsider view, you would be absolutely bewildered as to how thousands of people would follow (the obvious fraud) Joseph Smith as a prophet. Nothing about why one was a believer or what drew people to the church.

I believe I had the same feeling about the PBS Mormons documentary.

Bytebear, do you have a link to the Bushman interview? I agree with the sentiment about non-LDS presentations lacking feeling/failing to relate what drives Church members to connect with their faith.

[Kawazu]

I don't know the stats of other LDS message boards, but we average between 80-90K hits per month.

LDS.net comes up first in a Google search for LDS message board. You're #1!:) This I attribute to the awesome mods and friendly fellow posters. In my searching, I came across forums that were loosely moderated to the point of mean-spiritedness towards the Church, one potentially friendly place, some places aimed at people wanting to leave the Church, (which I don't think is the right environment for me), and a forum affiliated with FAIR, which appears to be down.

One of the most interesting groups I observed was a message board designed to help people stay connected with the LDS faith, despite negative feelings towards doctrine or LDS culture. On the positive side, a brief glance indicates that the moderator will remove posts which are deemed overly critical of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints. On the negative side, it seems that the community feels the Church is an organization more of men than of God–then again, the seem to be folks who have undergone some sort of crises of faith. Nevertheless, I am inspired by the effort such people make to support their active family members and maintain even a small connection to the Church.

[Traveler]

LDS.net comes up first in a Google search for LDS message board. You're #1!:) This I attribute to the awesome mods and friendly fellow posters. In my searching, I came across forums that were loosely moderated to the point of mean-spiritedness towards the Church, one potentially friendly place, some places aimed at people wanting to leave the Church, (which I don't think is the right environment for me), and a forum affiliated with FAIR, which appears to be down.

One of the most interesting groups I observed was a message board designed to help people stay connected with the LDS faith, despite negative feelings towards doctrine or LDS culture. On the positive side, a brief glance indicates that the moderator will remove posts which are deemed overly critical of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints. On the negative side, it seems that the community feels the Church is an organization more of men than of God–then again, the seem to be folks who have undergone some sort of crises of faith. Nevertheless, I am inspired by the effort such people make to support their active family members and maintain even a small connection to the Church.

The reason this site is #1 on Google is not because the mods are so awesome - it is because the keywords use in a search while Goggling are best optimized on this site. The # of hits is believed to be used by Google by various experts but is not the main reason. Longevity is another considered feature that Google considers. The fact that many posters use key words such as LDS or Mormon are also very helpful.

No doubt this site does a great deal to help in understanding - both for LDS and non-LDS that come to this site for clarification or to express their understanding of things.

The Traveler

[bytebear]

I believe I had the same feeling about the PBS Mormons documentary.

Bytebear, do you have a link to the Bushman interview? I agree with the sentiment about non-LDS presentations lacking feeling/failing to relate what drives Church members to connect with their faith.

I will try Googling it. It was about Wikipedia and the Mormon articles and Bushman was more of a sideline. But it was an interesting article. Apparently there is one minister who shepherds the Mormon pages to make sure they aren't too sympathetic in tone.

[bytebear]

Found the article. Totally worth a read.

Mormonism and Wikipedia: The Church History That Anyone Can Edit

Wiki Wars: In battle to define beliefs, Mormons and foes wage battle on Wikipedia | Deseret News

"But we have to remember that Joseph Smith was even more controversial in the 19th Century than he is now," Bushman said. "What I think is the real failing of this piece is that it lacks scope. It just picks its way along from one little fact to another little fact, all of them ending up making Joseph Smith an ignoble character of some kind. And it never really assesses Joseph Smith's achievement. What was the significance of this person in history? After all, he was the founder of a church that is remarkable for continuing for a couple of centuries. Yet it doesn't give you any sense of how he did that. There's no explanation of how he acquired all these followers. … The article doesn't say anything about the impact of new revelation on followers or even make much of the fact that Joseph was continually receiving revelation. So it becomes a picky piece that isn't inaccurate, but it sort of lacks depth. It ends up being shallow, I think."

Edited October 11, 2013 by bytebear

[skalenfehl]

I'm on

LDSFF - LDS Freedom Forum -

[Mahone]

The reason this site is #1 on Google is not because the mods are so awesome - it is because the keywords use in a search while Goggling are best optimized on this site. The # of hits is believed to be used by Google by various experts but is not the main reason. Longevity is another considered feature that Google considers. The fact that many posters use key words such as LDS or Mormon are also very helpful.

No doubt this site does a great deal to help in understanding - both for LDS and non-LDS that come to this site for clarification or to express their understanding of things.

The Traveler

You missed the most crucial one - links. Google won't even know the site exists unless there are hyperlinks pointing to it. And the more people linking to it, the higher it will rank.

Constantly changing content is another crucial one.

Number of hits a site gets don't even factor into google's search ranking algorithm . Google have no idea how many hits each site gets, so it's impossible for them to take this into account.

[Guest]

I thought it's against site rules to link to another forum?

[HiJolly]

In my searching, I came across forums that were loosely moderated to the point of mean-spiritedness towards the Church, one potentially friendly place, some places aimed at people wanting to leave the Church, (which I don't think is the right environment for me), and a forum affiliated with FAIR, which appears to be down.

The FAIR affiliated forum was taken down by FAIR because they didn't want to be associated with the mean-spirited bickering on the site. So the vast majority of those participating went over to Mormon Dialogue & Discussion Board to continue the arguments. I think that site is very good but not for the faint of heart. Many from the old Zion's Lighthouse Message Board (ZLMB) went there when that board folded as well.

I can't handle the snarkiness that is found at the new order mormon site. I've tried three times, and just can't abide the spirit that prevails there.

One place I could spend every waking hour of my life at are the LDS oriented blogs. This is a good gateway site to some of the most popular ones: ldsblogs org. But they are missing a lot of really good ones like templestudy com and patheos .com/ Mormon

One of the most interesting groups I observed was a message board designed to help people stay connected with the LDS faith, despite negative feelings towards doctrine or LDS culture. On the positive side, a brief glance indicates that the moderator will remove posts which are deemed overly critical of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints. On the negative side, it seems that the community feels the Church is an organization more of men than of God–then again, the seem to be folks who have undergone some sort of crises of faith. Nevertheless, I am inspired by the effort such people make to support their active family members and maintain even a small connection to the Church.

I love the stay LDS .com (NOT the other one) site and used to participate often. It, too, is not for the faint-of-heart because most people there have seen the difficult side of the Church/church history. Hah. I just checked, and they still have my post linked to in the 'library' section:

SEVEN TRUTHS: HOW WE RELATE TO THE CHURCH

By “HiJolly” at StayLDS.com

FIRST: God is in charge. There is an order to heaven and heavenly things. It is not typically limited as we are taught, or as we tend to think it is. If God wants someone 'saved,' then it is so. Our immature reasons and demands are irrelevant.

SECOND: The Church is a facilitator and an introduction to the realities of heaven. I personally believe it is the single best one on the earth today. Even so, it is not the reality itself. For every outward, physical ordinance (Baptism, Marriage, Priesthood, Endowment, etc.) in the Church, there is an inner, esoteric fulfillment to that ordinance. This is the true essence of the Gospel. Everything we see and do simply points to, promises, or leads us to the inner fulfillment.

THIRD: The weakness and limitations of the membership of the Church requires that administrative leaders generally come from the men and women that the body of the Church can respect and look up to, not from the most spiritually in tune or Godly Saints. Rarely, we get both types of leader in one individual. The rest of the time, pragmatism wins, by the will of the Lord.

FOURTH: The Church and the Gospel are not the same thing.

FIFTH: Everything we hear in Church, everything in General Conference, in the Ensign, etc. is what the temple endowment refers to as "the doctrines of men, mingled with scripture". It is all hindered by the limitations of mortals struggling themselves to understand, even within the Church. The temple tells us where to get the 'pure' truth. There is only one source: True messengers from Father. How shall you know...?

SIXTH: The veil is big, and for good reasons. God freely allows us to misunderstand anything, even His own revelation to us. Our task is to have clean hands and pure hearts so the messages we receive are not distorted or confusing.

SEVENTH: There never will be a bigger, more important key to living life than faith. Period.

HJ

[Kawazu]

Found the article. Totally worth a read.

Mormonism and Wikipedia: The Church History That Anyone Can Edit

Wiki Wars: In battle to define beliefs, Mormons and foes wage battle on Wikipedia | Deseret News

"But we have to remember that Joseph Smith was even more controversial in the 19th Century than he is now," Bushman said. "What I think is the real failing of this piece is that it lacks scope. It just picks its way along from one little fact to another little fact, all of them ending up making Joseph Smith an ignoble character of some kind. And it never really assesses Joseph Smith's achievement. What was the significance of this person in history? After all, he was the founder of a church that is remarkable for continuing for a couple of centuries. Yet it doesn't give you any sense of how he did that. There's no explanation of how he acquired all these followers. … The article doesn't say anything about the impact of new revelation on followers or even make much of the fact that Joseph was continually receiving revelation. So it becomes a picky piece that isn't inaccurate, but it sort of lacks depth. It ends up being shallow, I think."

I remember John Foxe and Bob Jones University, now, as I was reading through the talkback pages of LDS articles in 2009. It was all very frustrating. The first article you posted is detailed and fascinating. Multiple times, I have heard interviews with academics who have thrown up their hands and walked away from a relentless Wikipedia editor. One of those kind who camp on an article and beat back any changes. Thank you for the information.

[Kawazu]

They say "Mormons believe x" I say, "That can't be. if it is, I'm out." So I come on here, ask and work it out and strengthen my knowledge and testimony of the Gospel.

I do the same thing. People here generally know their stuff.

[Kawazu]

The FAIR affiliated forum was taken down by FAIR because they didn't want to be associated with the mean-spirited bickering on the site. So the vast majority of those participating went over to Mormon Dialogue & Discussion Board to continue the arguments. I think that site is very good but not for the faint of heart. Many from the old Zion's Lighthouse Message Board (ZLMB) went there when that board folded as well.

I can't handle the snarkiness that is found at the new order mormon site. I've tried three times, and just can't abide the spirit that prevails there.

One place I could spend every waking hour of my life at are the LDS oriented blogs. This is a good gateway site to some of the most popular ones: ldsblogs org. But they are missing a lot of really good ones like templestudy com and patheos .com/ Mormon

I never even thought about blogs–great idea.