I had asked for old Steve Benson posts to be upped so I can archive them. Also, if you see a good thread that should be converted to pdf and archived please send me a note. I am working on updating the topics section so common questions will have resources a newbie can be referred to.

gets better with age? Glad to hear his popular posts are finally being archived. Benson's the best exmo General Authority we have.

:::::::::::::::::glaring:::::::::::::::::::

AND just what's wrong with being 62??????

> AND just what's wrong with being 62??????

Nothing, it's the answer to the question of life, the universe, and everything!

Oh, wait...that's 42, not 62.
Damn, my memory's going...and I'm not even 60 yet!

May Steve and his posts live on a thousand years!

And I'm older than you. I ought to know.

I am making the same request of RandyJ and Nightingale and others. There are great threads daily. I just can't archive them all. I wish I could.

Eric, I'm not sure I'm reading you correctly. I'm embarrassed if not - but are you lumping me in with this group of RfM big-hitters? If so, I am immensely and amazedly flattered.

But. I don't know how my posts can be in the same category. Not false modesty, just a statement of truth, as far as I'm concerned. I don't have any family background in Mormonism or any great history as one of those odd beings (according to many) who (so-called) 'converted' to the church (I never believed in JS but stupidly got baptized anyway. I was so focused on just getting baptized - I should have just gone with the first one - Catholic - as an unknowing infant - less trauma for me, less self-imposed misery).

I don't think I've written (m)any posts for the ages. If anybody thinks so, you have my surprised face and my sincere thank yous.

But from now on, I'll try to be wiser, maturer, more relevant, etc.

If that's not what you meant, Eric, to put me in the archives, please ignore this whole thing and meanwhile I'll work on finding good posts to be highlighted and saved (there are many).

Just off the top of my head I'd say let's save donbagley's posts and Elder Berry's that mention his complex and intriguing Mormon family background. Any that ask for help with common issues that so often receive the best of RfM responses from sensitive and helpful fellow travellers. The ones that 'rescue' mishies and support someone in crisis. The unusual ones. The heart-rending ones. The informative ones. The funny ones, because laughing about things is often very good medicine.

And this reminds me of the time I spied my own "Please Help Me" post from back when I was new on the board. I was so shocked about finding out about racism and other dark sides of the Mormon Church. I felt embarrassed to be so clueless and to express such an emotional reaction. It's not like me. (Clueless, yes, emotional in public, no).

One of the things that has helped me the most on the board (as someone who doesn't fill up a 30-post limit on a thread and now it's zoomed up to 60 - a walk in the park for a Benson or RJ thread but uh, me, not so much) was your post the other day, Eric, about how you can tell that thousands of people read many of the posts, although of course only a handful may ever respond in writing. It is an affirming thought for all of us, not to judge ourselves by the number of replies any given thread may glean but to know that countless others read our words and experiences and feelings and may be helped in ways we will never know. You can kind of tell this too when a poster leaves or passes away and the many condolences express their importance to lurkers and posters here, something the person in question may never have known.

Infinite thanks, Eric, for taking the time to do the archives. It is a great resource for people who come after to catch up with some of the big topics that have been covered through the years and for us old-time RfMers to review them. Like me, after all the years and dozens of posts about resigning, I am finally going to the archives to look up how to resign and then I'm going to do it. I want out, out, out. For ever and ever, amen.

Nightingale Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I don't think I've written (m)any posts for the
> ages. If anybody thinks so, you have my surprised
> face and my sincere thank yous.

Put on your surprised face...'cause I think so.
One I found the other day (it was from a few years ago) was priceless. I'm certain there are many others.

hie: You have made my day, seriously.

Can you recall which post? I'd like to read it again. :)

What I meant with my remarks, partly, is that I don't have the in-depth knowledge of posters like randyj and Steve Benson, as well as many other scholarly types through the years. So my impression of my posting history is that it's all been about ME, ME, ME. What happened. How I felt. Questions I had. What now. Why? Why? Why? Etc.

I have written zero essays on the Mormon Church, historical differences between Christianity and other faiths (seems to be a favourite around here), what the Top Three really knew and when they knew it, etc. I was certainly interested in that type of topic when I first washed up here. I remember devouring Deconstructor's posts, discussing JS/BY and abortion, flagrant philandering, meanness, mayhem and murder. I loved Insomniac's posts about the effects of his "apostacy" on his marriage (heart-wrenching). And a group of guys who often discussed topics like anachronisms in the BOM, such as steel swords, as well as the dearth of archaeological evidence for the BOM's major battles, and the ever popular hunt for the tapir of old.

Who can forget the stories of parents rescuing their kids from a Mormon mission? I feel bad that I can't recall right now the board name of one of my favourite (short-time) posters but he gave us the fabulously popular acronym "TSCC", used with gusto ever since.

I happen to enjoy the posts about people's experiences with non-Mormon churches. I know that's not everyone's cup of tea. Of course, we could archive every post and only in that way would we capture all the topics and favourite threads of everyone.

Some of my most favourite posts are the ones where people ask for help and support and RfMers come through (maybe I said that already). One great example is when "michael" told us he was scheduled for surgery and said he needed some goodwill, which came forth abundantly. Sadly, he left us, unexpectedly and too soon. I would choose to save threads like that, where fellow posters were so kind and generous in taking the time to reach out, and michael said how much it helped him, as it does countless times in ways we'll never know. Maybe we need an In Memoriam section in the archives, so people can see the names, at least, of those who have passed on who were an important part of the board (everyone is, whether they/we feel so or not).

So now I'm embarrassed, again, because I'm making this all about me, when it started out being about Steve et al. Sorry!

But it's fun to talk about what we think is archive-worthy and it's a chance to branch out and comment about the posters and this place that have touched us through the years.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/17/2016 07:15PM by Nightingale.

This is an excellent example of why I want to archive some of your posts. :-)

You are all too good to me.

But this is an excellent day for it. I have come to the end of my rope with work - I used to love it but my boss is impossible and I've had enough now. It's time to down tools but I still have 5 hours of urgent work to do. I had something akin to food poisoning over the weekend and am still tottering around like an old granny, weak and can't eat. My best friend lives a long way away and I never get a chance to go and visit her. (Two-hour phone calls don't cut it). Technology has overwhelmed me and I have to get the neighbour kids or my nephews to show me how to do simple things, like remember my passwords and join the human race on Twitter (never been there; where is it?). And blah, blah, blah. A real feel-sorry-for-myself day.

And then there's the guilt. Because others are in so much worse shape. All over creation.

But. The sun is shining. I have a fan. My boss only memo'd 5x today instead of his usual 20. I can manage some cereal for supper.

Things could be a whole lot worse.

And OK. I'm going to shut up now. (Good thing we got the extension to 60 posts - now I don't feel like a hog if I write more than one reply per thread).

But seriously - thank you guys. And see what I mean? We never know when our words will help another. That is the best kind of "religion" I know. Sorry - I know that is a dirty word for a lot of readers. But I mean that my North Star in life has always been "Do unto others" and "God is Love". End of. Nothing else needed. No add-ons. And I see that instinct, or whatever you want to call it, in most people, all over the place, at all times. It makes it all the worse that we can mess it up so badly here, there and everywhere and it really doesn't need to be like that.

(Now, if I hadn't read this thread or started posting on it, I would have finished my work faster! Bad NG!)

Always been an inspiration in my book.

Timothy

We do, indeed, Timothy. Good thing I started out here in my teens or I'd be getting on a bit by now (haha) a decade+ later.

Lovely to see you. I miss you every single Friday night (What are you drinking?) although the refrain has been taken up by other board worthies if you don't get there first.

Hope all is well with you and your lovely wife and that life is going absolutely great for you.

Thanks, as always, for being so nice to me. If I thought yesterday was a bad day, it's a multiple of 10 today. Wah! So, as always, a compliment from an RfMer is especially well appreciated. Too bad I can't clock in here full time instead of my day-to-day grind that's getting me down. (I am my own boss so I could give myself a break but my clients won't cooperate). :(

Stick around Big Time. It's nearly Friday!

Who said prayer didn't work...

There are a few posts by Lori C. that merit archive status; will search and share.

I enjoy reading anagrammy she is one of my favorites.

LightfootLouie (I think) who grew up in Provo

lightfingerlouie maybe? I LOVED his posts and was so sorry when he stopped posting, as with so many others. I know people move on, which is always the goal of 'recovery' but so many are eminently missable.

The red pill by the man in black from 12/24/15.