"Lutheran only" or "Catholic only"

Josiah

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I notice the site now has some threads with a limitation: "Lutheran Only" for example. Does that mean that only those who are Lutheran may post there?

IF so, my opinion is this is unfortunate: The site should not severely restrict discussion (for example, this label is now on a thread I started - and I had absolutely NO intention WHATSOEVER of it being restricted to Lutherans - only of special interest to Lutherans) I think our various faith communities should WELCOME guests, just as our churches WELCOME guests. We should WELCOME and encourage questions and comments. My hope for interdenominational sites like this is taht they will work to ENCOURAGE questions, discussions, etc. - not build walls against that.

Just my half cent.


- Josiah
 

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Hi Josiah, thanks for the question.

We're just fleshing out exactly how we want to make that work, looking to strike a balance between the desire to interact across denominational boundaries as you say with the desire some have to be able to discuss their own denomination without others jumping in. For example if Catholics want to discuss something about Catholic traditions regarding Mary they don't necessarily want endless non-Catholics jumping in telling them to ignore Mary.

You may be able to edit your thread to remove the "Lutheran Only" tag (I would try it myself to find out, but the advisor role may give me extra privileges there). If you can't then we'll see if one of the mods/admins can do it for you.
 

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I notice the site now has some threads with a limitation: "Lutheran Only" for example. ...

If it was "Lutheran only" why mention "Catholic only"?

Just saying ;)
 

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When we condensed those forums we made attempts to determine which ones the OP would want to remain as discussions only for their denom. I can change the tag if you tell me which thread it is?
 

Josiah

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If it was "Lutheran only" why mention "Catholic only"?

Just saying ;)


I don't know. Some threads are marked "LUTHERAN ONLY" some "CATHOLIC ONLY" I asked what this means. IF it's LUTHERAN ONLY are you forbidden to post in it? Read it? IF so, I would hope for reconsideration as I suggested.
 

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When we condensed those forums we made attempts to determine which ones the OP would want to remain as discussions only for their denom. I can change the tag if you tell me which thread it is?

I thought 'condensing' them was a bad idea and I still do.
 

Romanos

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I don't know. Some threads are marked "LUTHERAN ONLY" some "CATHOLIC ONLY" I asked what this means. IF it's LUTHERAN ONLY are you forbidden to post in it? Read it? IF so, I would hope for reconsideration as I suggested.


Hi Josiah,

The reason for the tags being introduced was that the denominational and faith forums were removed and merged into one large forum due to inactivity in those forums. The various tags being placed on some threads were done at a quick scan of the thread, so we do apologize about that. The tags have been removed from the current threads. In regards to your policy question, we are currently working with the Advisors on a policy for those.
 

Romanos

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I don't know. Some threads are marked "LUTHERAN ONLY" some "CATHOLIC ONLY" I asked what this means. IF it's LUTHERAN ONLY are you forbidden to post in it? Read it? IF so, I would hope for reconsideration as I suggested.

I thought 'condensing' them was a bad idea and I still do.

Would you two rather see the old setup with the separate forums?
 

Josiah

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Would you two rather see the old setup with the separate forums?

I lack the ego to think all should be according to MY thoughts/feeling/desires. And besides, it's NOT my website: I'm just a freeloading guest here, lol.

As I mentioned when this came up, I'm in favor of having community forums: Catholic, Lutheran, Orthodox, Baptist, Reformed, etc. BUT I'm not in favor of them being "closed" forums. I look at community forums at these interdenominational websites not unlike a parish - one that WELCOMES even ENCOURAGES guests to come! And WELCOMES questions! It's not JUST for those of the same community to chat (which has value) but for discussion from that perspective. Now, when I go to say a 'CATHOLIC' forum, I consider myself a GUEST - and that suggests a certain respect. If I want to convey why Catholics are WRONG, IMO that's better done in an open debate forum (here the Christian Doctrine forum). And (sadly) Lutherans may well disagree with other Lutherans (God knows it happens!), in an HONEST community, we learn Catholics disagree with other CAtholics, too. IT's OKAY.

Now, I appreciate - fully - that CH is yet very small and there's a valid point to not having forums where nothing happens; we should grow as our membership and threads do. I "get" that. But we have a number of Lutherans, a number of Catholics already.


MY point was my displeasure over threads being LOCKED - a wall of separation against those "others". For example, my thread remembering the 500 year anniversary of the myrtredom of Jon Hus would PRIMARILY be on interest to Lutherans (and probably Reformed) and I really didn't want it to be a DEBATE as to whether Hus should have been burned at the stake. But I have no hesitation at all in Catholics chiming in.... MAYBE even to say his burning was wrong, or EVEN to say, "From the perspective of the RC Church AT THE TIME......."


Friend, I come to sites like this NOT for fellowship (I go to church events for that), and NOT to convince anyone that I'm all-knowing and smart and right (just handsome), I come here above all to LEARN, and under that, to pursue truth with other Christians who care about truth and agreement. And if I just wanted to talk to Lutherans (who would say AMEN to all I post), I'd go to a Lutheran forum (there are many) but I NEVER go to those. They won't challenge me.


Providence seems to be pushing me here...... I'm wondering why....... but in any case, I'm just ONE bloke, one freeloading GUEST here. If I remain, I will try to adapt to what is here - not ask here to adapt to me.




Pax



- Josiah
 

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The feedback being presented is extremely appreciated and valuable to us growing and structuring the site. As stated, the way the separate forums were running in that there was not enough activity at certain times to justify them sadly. They are a great idea no doubt in that it provides individual havens actually for those groups. I will take this feedback up to the Staff/Advisors and we will go from there.

And as always, thank you to everyone for your continued support. :)
 

Josiah

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The feedback being presented is extremely appreciated and valuable to us growing and structuring the site. As stated, the way the separate forums were running in that there was not enough activity at certain times to justify them sadly. They are a great idea no doubt in that it provides individual havens actually for those groups. I will take this feedback up to the Staff/Advisors and we will go from there.

And as always, thank you to everyone for your continued support. :)

Thank YOU guys for providing this forum!!!

IF I may...... And this is just my half cent..... one of the most common reasons why new ventures fail (including websites) is that they don't have an UBER-CLEAR sense of mission/purpose/reason - what very, very clear and distinctive thing they will offer, and they haven't determined that what they are offering is actually needed (to the extent their new venture will thrive). Too often, people just jump in and wing it. It's almost an insurance of failure.

Personally, I've been a part of probably two dozen websites since I was 10 or so. FEW of them still exist, most have gone either belly up or they are still "up" but completely DEAD. The reason is the same: they never knew why they existed (Or over-moderation and power struggles killed it.... often both). I think there have been at least half a dozen spin-offs of CF (usually begun by former Admins of that site) - at times with some fuzzy idea of "we'll duplicate CF but without the problems" I think a couple still exist but none thrive.

The NAME implies this is a HAVEN. If that's the case, then this is YET ANOTHER of the many, many, many relativistic, feel-good, truth-doesn't-matter, fellowship sites. There are already a LOT of them - WAY ahead of you. If you are going to try to complete with Starbucks by being the SAME THING, I suspect you'll never get anywhere. What the NAME implies to ME is yet another 'kumbyah' site - there are zillions of them already. You might CONSIDER offering something different, something distinctive, an alternative?

But it BEGINS with a very clear, carefully crafted, well thought out mission statement, vision statement. That defines - clearly - how you are different than the zillions of alternative. And THAT impacts everything you do - from how the site is named, how the look is established, the publicity, the staffing. EXample: Some 15 years ago, a medical doctor from Australia - frustated by the theological divisions among us - decided to found a site where Christians of all persuasions from all over the world could come for OPEN, HONEST, REAL and mostly unbounded converstation in pursuit of unity of truth, a unity based on agreement. That site (ChristianForums) became the largest Christian site on the internet - because no other major site was doing THAT and because it was not only his visition, his purpose, his obsession - but he kept it in clear vision. That was forgotten and the site went into decline. I use taht example not to suggest copying THAT mission but to note the importance of having ONE. Clearly stated. Everywhere. And THE reason for all that is done. And make it as unique as possible..... "me, too" is never cause for any to join (when there are already bigger, better sites doing the same thing).

Just my half cent. Ignore if you like.



Again, thank you for the site!



- Josiah
 

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may i throw in an opinion? .. yeah you know me..i will any way haha

i quite like the format of the open forum without too much distinction between the denominations ,because it does allow some real honest thrashing out of doctrines .

AND i ALSO quite like the OPTION for the OP to tag the thread a "whatever ONLY " and so narrow the scope of the discussion on a topic .

though i don't agree with the charismatic tag -iv identified with the pentecost term over the years but never really felt great about the charismatic term

.. possibly an "evangelical" tag would be a better option as it narrows the scope of the discussion but not to the point that there is no discussion .

i wasn't sure at first about the strictness of the "only" tag and did contribute in a thread with one .. but mostly if i see the tag i do avoid it out of respect for the Op's Tag .

that's better then binding the place up in piles of rues .. just have everyone generally respect the Tag on the thread .

oh well . that's my little say :)
 

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Yes, I want a Word of Faith tag to limit the dissention, I have backed away from many threads because of one poster and I would really like a thread that doesnt turn into a giant pain for me.
 

Alithis

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Yes, I want a Word of Faith tag to limit the dissention, I have backed away from many threads because of one poster and I would really like a thread that doesnt turn into a giant pain for me.

bro.. you ask a lot haha there is no forum on the net that wont have some one some where that will get under your skin :p
 

Romanos

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may i throw in an opinion? .. yeah you know me..i will any way haha

i quite like the format of the open forum without too much distinction between the denominations ,because it does allow some real honest thrashing out of doctrines .

AND i ALSO quite like the OPTION for the OP to tag the thread a "whatever ONLY " and so narrow the scope of the discussion on a topic .

though i don't agree with the charismatic tag -iv identified with the pentecost term over the years but never really felt great about the charismatic term

.. possibly an "evangelical" tag would be a better option as it narrows the scope of the discussion but not to the point that there is no discussion .

i wasn't sure at first about the strictness of the "only" tag and did contribute in a thread with one .. but mostly if i see the tag i do avoid it out of respect for the Op's Tag .

that's better then binding the place up in piles of rues .. just have everyone generally respect the Tag on the thread .

oh well . that's my little say :)

We are working on a policy to define the workings and boundaries of the tag, so we will have something up soon. And yes while the open forums can allow for great discussions, we do need to maintain some level of respect when discussing. I have renamed the Charismatic tag to Evangelical. :)

Yes, I want a Word of Faith tag to limit the dissention, I have backed away from many threads because of one poster and I would really like a thread that doesnt turn into a giant pain for me.

Added. :)
 
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