I see this Sunday once again some Apologist came here with the same trick. Unlike last Sunday this one got stopped cold. Yay for our team. We have to watch out for this.

What they do is pull an old un-closed topic from the archive, and post a new apologist comment somewhere in the middle, so it floats back to the main page.

They did this again today on the “boobs” topic. You notice it is from 2012 but “Lola “ the apologist posted a defense of morons down near the end(marked with ‘new’).

Luckily this one was caught and closed. But let’s all be aware that they are coming home from ‘church’ Sunday afternoon and trying this here.

Just scan any new topic and make sure it has a current date. If not, look for any new post on these old topics and if they are apologist, report them to the mods.

These cultists disgust me.

Those apologists should be careful reading things on this board. The truth might set them free!

shine,

Ha! You’re so right!!!

General Conference is in a couple of weeks. Conference time always seems to lure trolls out from under the bridge.

CrispingPin Wrote:
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> General Conference is in a couple of weeks.
> Conference time always seems to lure trolls out
> from under the bridge.

Aha! Well with vigilance we shall repel their scurvy attacks!!!

Sometimes I find it interesting to see what the Mopologists come up with. 99% of the time, all they succeed in doing is showing how clueless they are. Usually, it's a standard form of cluelessness that we've seen hundreds of times (and which many of us demonstrated ourselves when we were under the influence of the cult). But sometimes it's a new type of cluelessness...and those can be quite entertaining.

Wally Prince Wrote:
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> Sometimes I find it interesting to see what the
> Mopologists come up with. 99% of the time, all
> they succeed in doing is showing how clueless they
> are. Usually, it's a standard form of
> cluelessness that we've seen hundreds of times
> (and which many of us demonstrated ourselves when
> we were under the influence of the cult). But
> sometimes it's a new type of cluelessness...and
> those can be quite entertaining.

Mopologists! “Under the influence” ... good ones, Walls!

My personal interest in these resurrecting posts is usually the Point of View (POV) of the person who resurrects the threads.

S/he must have to scan a great many different, and probably unexpected, topics and subjects, facts and personal stories, to find "the one" they choose to resurrect....

....and I am sure that, along the way, they are being introduced to a much wider worldview than they likely anticipated.

A wee question here, a wee crack there--and down the road, a newly-hatched apostate!

I think this board is the greatest!

Yes the boob topic was quite funny and entertaining till I came to the apologist defense of her ‘standards’.

I am glad the mods caught this one quick. Yaay mods!

And yes this board is the greatest. I am just pointing out this tactic so we will be aware and not let them go off feeling they have cleverly snookered us or have ‘won’ against us.

Unlike you and Wally, I have zero interest in their apologist POV, also it is clearly stated in the guidelines and on the sticky their views are not welcome to this privately supported board. Their underhanded tricks like this need to be stopped. I heard more than enough from them and of their views when I was”in”.

Constant vigilance is the price we pay against these attacks, I fear, to keep our precious board for us and not the trolls!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/2019 01:13AM by mel.

Mel, the mods have always been great about getting apologist posts off of the board. But we can help them by promptly reporting such posts. The apologists used to post in the very early morning hours as well. I'm not sure if they've been doing that lately.

It's weird to see old threads resurrected by some internet stranger. I figure they come up through web searches. Sometimes it is a board regular who is perusing old posts.

Yeah, how do they find these threads?

If it popped up on Google, I have to wonder exactly what they were searching for to find a 5 1/2 year old RfM thread about Mormons and boobs.

Or else, they are wading through years of posts here looking for something to be offended by. In that case, I think there are lots of posts that would be more offensive than that one was.

nonamekid Wrote:
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> Yeah, how do they find these threads?
>
> If it popped up on Google, I have to wonder
> exactly what they were searching for to find a 5
> 1/2 year old RfM thread about Mormons and boobs.
>
> Or else, they are wading through years of posts
> here looking for something to be offended by. In
> that case, I think there are lots of posts that
> would be more offensive than that one was.

I'm guessing they just look through the old ones. Easier than googling. For example, on this Sunday's trick, I googled "boom Recovery from Mormonism" and did not get any hits on the first page anyway. It is probably faster just to go through our archives and look for ones that weren't closed.

Just my guess.

My problem was that I came from an era of the church when there was no need to create all these mind bending acronyms like FAIR, FARMS and who knows what else. It was a time when facts were facts and truth was truth. Coming to RFM revealed a two prong fraud. Not only was the church lying about the truth, but it was also heavily involved in creating organizations to spin the truth in a faith promoting direction.

Cult, cult, cult.

messygoop Wrote:
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> Cult, cult, cult.

Yes, yes, yes. !

I believe it would be a lot more interesting and enlightening to engage them than to delete them. Reason will prevail and we have the stronger position. I am not a fan of censorship and it is often a practice of those attempting to uphold the weaker position.

felix Wrote:
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> I believe it would be a lot more interesting and enlightening to engage them than to delete them.

I am fairly new here, but apparently arguments from apologists were a huge problem in the past. I am supporting both the stated Board sticky and the Board guidelines. The Board owners do not want them coming here to argue with us and it is clearly stated. This is a privately-supported Board and the owners make the rules. I want to support them, go by their rules, and point out the tricks the apologists are using to try to get around the rules.

That's my only reason for the post. The post was not to debate the worth of allowing them to come and argue. That has already been decided. My post was just to point out what they were doing, Felix. Thanks for your viewpoint.

Personally, I do not care for them to try to 'enlighten' me any further than they did while a member.

My question is why are they here if they are a good little mormon? I'd never read this board if I were a good mormon. I'd run for the hills if I ran across it and even read one little thing, so my question has always been "Why are you here?"

cl2 Wrote:
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> My question is why are they here?

Trying to make points for the CK. I am grateful for the Board trying to keep them out.

"Why are you here?" and then report them.

I would have felt I was going to be struck down for being here as a mormon. Probably would have thought I needed to repent to the bishop.

Turnabout is fair play, right? How many mormon chat logs have we posted on RfM?

We go to their places and troll, they come to our place and troll. Seems equitable.

allisfairright Wrote:
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> Turnabout is fair play, right?

I've never seen any mormon chat logs posted on RfM. And no, it doesn't seem equitable, we are a small, user-supported board, they have the Billions of ChurchCo money supporting them, or at least possibly supporting them.

The guidelines, if you check, clearly state why they are not allowed here.

You know there's a search function, right?

If its boobs that catches their attention when coming here to troll it has to make you wonder where their brains are?

They aren't interested in getting to the heart of the matter. They enjoy what they're doing because they find it entertaining and disruptive.

Amyjo Wrote:
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> If its boobs that catches their attention when
> coming here to troll it has to make you wonder
> where their brains are?
>
> They aren't interested in getting to the heart of
> the matter. They enjoy what they're doing because
> they find it entertaining and disruptive.

Exactly, Amyjo. You've got it.

I'm thinking every topic we post should now include the word 'boob' in the title line. :)
Just to catch their eye.

Worked for me!!!!!!!!!!..lol

(o)(o)

On the reason why old topics get randomly resurrected, I feel like it's often by accident. Some TBM goes online and searches for some topic for a talk or a lesson. The entire board is searchable via google and often pops up in searches near the top as this is a very active board. Depending on what the TBM searches for, an exmormon.org thread can easily show up in surprising and prominent ways.

When the TBM sees this, they think, "What's that about?" find themselves on an "evil", "anti-mormon" board and can't help themselves from posting a comment. This is why they are often very old threads and comments somewhere in the middle. The TBM didn't get to the board through the main page, so they haven't even seen the sticky with the rules, if they would even care about the rules.

I think this accounts for a great number of "Drive-by" apologetics. I think most TBM's who find themselves here are probably fine with the one comment and never come back, but some can't help themselves. They think they are either going to save us or can't tolerate the idea that they might be wrong and therefore have to prove us wrong.

I think the admins do a great job dealing with things like this, and I agree with the previous poster to stated that it helps to just report such posts and move on.

I only came here when postmormon.org was taken down. There was no "no tbm policy" and there was the occasional tbm rebuttal which I found not only interesting but their lack of ability to adequately defend their position only strengthened mine. I don't view them as a threat. Remember, “Only error fears freedom of expression”. Still not a fan of censorship. I view it as a cowardly practice.

This Sunday afternoon apologist posting has happened the last 3 Sundays in a row. I'm just bringing awareness of it, not here to debate nor defend the Board policies. I'm just someone who likes the Board as it is, and doesn't want it to be attacked.

"I view it as a cowardly practice." The censorship you are not a fan of is very real at Fairmormon and on Mormon themed YouTube channels. Those folks won't let anyone post facts and sources that shoot down their flimsy claims. Think about that before putting a label of cowardly practice on RFM.

It is not "cowardly" to create and defend a place for people who are leaving the LDS church. This site helps people who are dealing with very painful personal, social, and family issues. I needed a place where I could feel like someone understood what I was going through and I could talk about what I was dealing with knowing that I wasn't alone.

TBM apologetics and that debate can be entertaining, but it's also a distraction from the purpose of the board.

You think you are defending "freedom of expression", but what you're really saying is that it'd be OK to have sex offenders plead their case at an Victim group meeting. And no that's not hyperbole, many here have been abused by members of the church and their family members in the name of the church. Lives and families have been torn apart, and people come here looking for support and help. You're saying it's OK for people to come here and defend that institution that caused their pain.

Creating a safe place for people is the best argument for the censoring policy of this board - I get it.

I was never bothered by being "triggered" by tbm arguments. I find it refreshing to find one willing to engage as most aren't.

I have gone on their sites to engage them only to be deleted again and again. I find the same thing in the political arena; those who can't win the debate simply silence their opponent or leave the discussion regardless of how respectful my approach.

I enjoy much of what is discussed here but do feel like it is something of a bubble or echo chamber.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/19/2019 01:10AM by felix.

The other eddit site seems to be a mixture of ex-members, new order mormon-cafeteria style members and apologists.

I don't like to be told that I never gave the church a chance or that while the church is perfect the members are not.

I think what really sells RFM is that it's a place that limits all the "Aw man, the church really isn't so bad. It's great for families." blather that tries to guilt members for feeling shunned or excluded.

A terrible thing that can happen is for a person to work up the courage share his/her personal experience and then to be attacked through gaslighting.

messygoop Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The other eddit site seems to be a mixture of
> ex-members, new order mormon-cafeteria style
> members and apologists.

Thanks for updating us, Messy! I haven't been there but appreciate the summary.
>
> I don't like to be told that I never gave the
> church a chance or that while the church is
> perfect the members are not.

Yes. Me too. I heard that a lot while I was in.
>
> I think what really sells RFM is that it's a place
> that limits all the "Aw man, the church really
> isn't so bad. It's great for families." blather
> that tries to guilt members for feeling shunned or
> excluded.

Yes. I like the blather-free zone.
>
> A terrible thing that can happen is for a person
> to work up the courage share his/her personal
> experience and then to be attacked through
> gaslighting.

Yes. TSCC is very good at making you feel that you are the crazy one, not them. So glad to be here. Glad everyone is working to keep this place good for those of us in recovery. :)

As others have stated, the mods do a great job of deleting apologist's posts and the sticky at the top of the page says "Apologists go home" or something along those lines. This thread reminds me that I've always wondered why 'Honest TBM' has been allowed to post here.

Re the poster known as "Honest TBM" - that's satire! S/he's brilliant at it - to the point that often readers don't pick up on that right away. Does sound very TBM but if you read again you can tell it's not actually a serious TBM but rather a great satirist who is criticizing the church by using humour/satire. Just a different way to express how they feel about CoJCoLDS, like the rest of us non-mos!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/2019 03:34PM by Nightingale.

Nightingale Wrote:
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> Re the poster known as "Honest TBM" - that's
> satire! S/he's brilliant at it -

Thanks for clarifying, Nightingale! I'm not familiar with that poster but always glad when people chime in with explanations! Thanks!

Hi mel: It's funny - when Honest TBM first arrived the satirical nature of his/her posts often went over people's heads and they reacted as if it were actually a TBM trying to persuade us about the greatness of the church. Honest TBM is 100% always TBM'ish - never slipping out of the role. I'd love to know the back story. Meanwhile, I enjoy the imaginative posts - unless they start sounding straight on too TBM'ish, lol.

Old posts getting the Lazarus treatment are great. It gives me the chance to see how I've grown over the last decade.

jacob Wrote:
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> Old posts getting the Lazarus treatment are great.
> It gives me the chance to see how I've grown over
> the last decade.

Wow you've been posting for over a decade! You must have seen a lot of cool topics then! For a newbie like myself that is nice to think about, that I could reflect back and see how far I've come.

Thanks, Jacob, for your perspective!