I have been a daily lurker and frequent poster for about 8 months. You guys have helped me through some tough times. Lately though I have found fewer and fewer of the posts that interest me, and politics are becoming a regular topic in posts.

Is it just me or is the board in a very vitriolic phase or am I just getting healthy enough to not need it?

Just wondering if anyone else is feeling the same.

Some days I can come here and there is a lot I want to read--and others not so. When i first found the board many years ago, I read endlessly for a long, long time. Now it is my "recreation"--a chance to take a break from work for a few moments.

May I suggest that you read the ex-stories, instead of the board, on board "political" days.

Or the great archives of "short topics"

http://www.exmormon.org/mormon/mormon_shorts.htm

I have read all of them and most are really good. But thanks. I check for new content all the time.

There's a different mix of people at different times, each with a different out look and different reason for being here and sometimes you won't connect to anything.

In the long run, sifting the wheat from the chaff, it is a gold mine. Thank you RFM.

Now, I don't.

I feel like it's me.

... for everytime this question is asked.

Been a regular since 1998. The dynamics can change hourly depending on who's around. The last few years have seen several periods of massive newbie influx which also causes the board to alter certain courses. In my mind, its all good.

I would be real put-off if RFM showed any measure of consistency. The recovery process is, by nature, evolutionary. Wouldn't have it any other way.

Timothy

and it is a LOT less volatile/dynamic... Post Mormon... it has some nice features too! i dont hang there as much as i used to...but it is a cool place as well! so take your pick...or not! :)

I call it JR's Fluff 'N' Stuff.

Lots of sparkles and s**t, not much substance.

I lurked for a while but never posted.

Agreed, to each his or her own!

Timothy

Events in the world around us often drive recovery.

The fact that a Mormon is receiving a lot of press for his political actions will likely influence the recovery process for lots of people here. They, in turn, will influence the direction this board takes.

I'd say it is about the same. If anything it seems less vitrolic to me now that I have gotten used to it.

I see all different kinds of threads on here - some are vitrolic some, are silly, some are serious requests for help and support.

The answer to your question that is to be hoped for is both, that the board changes and that we change.

The board will change with or without us; but whether we change or not is up to ourselves.

(As for vitriol and politics, this board as seen much much more of it, and much worse, in the past.)

Cheers

Human

You change a lot from the time you first start lurking here. It's only natural for things that interested you or hit you one way in the beginning aren't the things that interest you so much now.

But it is also true that the board goes through phases. I've been here 11 years and have seen it go through many of them as people come and go, as I get involved and uninvolved in it, as things change in my life and all of our lives change. In fact, sometimes, the better things get in my life, the more I come here. Because I get so mad that I couldn't experience life as I know it now for the first 45 years. I see more of what I missed. I see how different things could have been for me or my family and although it's a thousand times better now, I fantasize about what it could have been and I get angry that my parents, who are smart and should have easily been able to see through it, can't.

You know, this is interesting. Last weekend I had gone back through the old pages to about a year ago and was reading posts from then and thought that the postings then weren’t half as interesting as the ones recently.

I have the exact opposite impression.

But other days I'm totally absorbed. I just know that deep inside of me, I feel a prompting, yea even an intuition, of love and gratitude for Eric and Susan because they have more charity in their middle fingers than all of the general authorities, yes even the quorom of the twelve old geezers.

I am glad we live in this age, when the *actual* truth is so readily available.. at least until ldscorp manages to bury everything "anti" on google by flooding it with self-righteous, indignant crap written by a bunch of robots.

I say these things in the name of raptorjesuschristwith ramen.

It's like a newspaper, varies from day to day, full of current events quite often. It all depends on what is of interest to each of us on any particular day.

Read what appeals to you and ignore the rest.
Pick and choose what will work for you in the posts.

I do notice that some posters cannot handle anything that does not match their thinking. Some even go so far as to personally attack and stalk other posters. They have a problem with tone, and clarity at times.

There is a tendency with some former Mormons at least initially, to be stuck on the "only one true way" to do or say things and reject anything that is different.

It's probably a little bit of both... you out-growing the need for the board and the vitriol increasing due in part to the possibility of a Mormon US president being so close at hand.

Also, the board has changed quite a bit over the last several years due to the lack of contributors posting historical, doctrinal, and philosophical examinations like the ones that Deconstructor and some others used to do.

I've been off and on this site for many years. It changes often and as topics change but if you stay around you'll always find something that helps or makes a lot of sense.