Posted by:
Nightingale
(
)
Date: December 15, 2010 01:10PM
DCP was called as an expert witness in the Smart/Mitchell trial. He and others discussed it on the MAD board a few months back. My understanding of what DCP explained was that he was asked to comment on the "revelations" Mitchell supposedly had and whether that was consistent with LDS doctrine or not. My impression was that his area of expertise was strictly defined and narrowly focused. (Of course, my understanding and recollection may not be 100% accurate, especially as some time has gone by and my recall isn't 100%).
This matter was also discussed on at least one exmo board I know of, as well as here, but not in any depth that I recall.
As the trial approached and certainly once it was underway, some posters on various boards raised the issue of the wisdom of discussing a current trial and especially specific testimony not yet presented, as well as the advisability of a scheduled witness being involved in the discussion, or even being under discussion himself regarding specifics of his testimony.
I am somewhat guessing now but perhaps the witness himself, DCP, as well as Admin at the various sites, had second thoughts about this public discussion and speculation, as well as about airing the often contentious commentary between apologists and critics (or mos and anti-mos if you prefer - I don't particularly care for the labels 'anti' or 'critic' but that's the parlance that's used).
As the time came for DCP to testify, it seems that an abundance of caution took hold (never a bad idea). Discussion of the matter was discouraged (on the two main boards I read beside this one, one MAD, one another exmo site), I don't know about elsewhere).
In what may have been a coincidence (although a massive one, if so) the MAD board completely closed down in the same time period as DCP was testifying at the trial. The reason given was that Admin there was doing maintenance and taking time to discuss changes to the board.
Around the same time, a thread at the other exmo board discussing DCP, his role as expert witness, and his apologetics body of work was deleted (put on ice?), with the explanation from the head mod there that some of the comments could be legally problematic for the board owner (personal comments against DCP made by detractors as well as specific remarks about the testimony, DCP's status as an expert witness, and other trial details, including much speculation).
Another aspect was that in and around this time DCP announced he was leaving the message board scene (including MAD) as he was "sick of it" (the constant turmoil around him and his postings, on various boards, as I understood it). Ironically, it seemed to be comments by one of his fellow MAD posters that turned the tide for DCP and he had finally had enough, as he said.
Regarding MAD's shut-down, I think it lasted about a week and when it came back people started saying they couldn't find many DCP posts. Speculation during the closure and after the board's return was that the MAD mods were expunging DCP's posts to protect his status as an expert witness, etc (given some of his exchanges with critics, etc, as well as the recent speculative posts about the trial itself).
A current post by one of MAD's admins explains that they are upgrading their software (a somewhat frequent occurrence there, I have observed, so not unusual in itself) and so want the "database to be lean" for a switchover to new ware. It would appear that they are "archiving" many of the past threads as part of this endeavour. I think they have also done that in the past. As to whether the archive is available to view, that I do not know. It would make sense that they would save their past threads rather than expunge nearly their entire board history, as they have some major discussion threads that are of timeless importance and great interest and import to people on all sides of issues about Mormonism (eg: students, scholars, experts, writers, historians - mo, exmo, non-mo, members, etc).
I just did a search on DCP posts at the MAD board. Only 36 results showed up. That is what I call "lean"! DCP can make 36 replies in one thread! It is well known that he has written thousands of posts at MAD over the years. Perhaps his more substantive work will be preserved in MAD's archives.
I'd say the matter is inconclusive at the moment. It remains to be seen whether the MAD board will be upgraded (new software?), whether the archives will be open to view (and what is stored therein) and whether DCP will change his stance and return to posting on MAD and/or other discussion boards.
So ends this segment of As the (MAD MAD) World Turns.
(And despite possible appearances to the contrary, yes, I do have a life outside the boards!) :)
(All the edits here pertain to tech difficulties I was having. I'm not OC, I'm not!)
Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 12/15/2010 01:14PM by Nightingale.