Tom Strange

whatever

JL... hmmm... briefs that lift and seperate?... hmmm....

Zixar, I quoted your post in it's entirety and left no words out... later I wanted to comment on the part that I found in contradiction to your thread. You're wrong about how I feel about you...(like or not like, I don't even know you)... but I don't like it when I feel you (or anyone else) is trying to manipulate people. We have opposing views on some things, other things we have the same views on... this one we're opposed on I guess. Doesn't mean I don't like you.You're right, I've never been accused of being subtle. There you go again... If I would only look at what you are saying... how others have voted... THEN I might SEE...!! There's hope! NO... Zixar, I'd still see how YOU thought, and how THEY thought.. BUT it doesn't mean it's how I have to think. BECAUSE I DON'T THINK IT HAS gone downhill or jumped the shark. NOW you take the stance that I disagree with the last six words (which were "we should hold the same manners") because I didn't comment on them??? VERY GOOD ZIXAR! Get the people thinking that I want a wild free for all here with nastiness and rudeness and no common decency! But that's not what I said nor what I believe... BUT YOU'VE PUT IT OUT THERE FOR THE GOOD FOLKS TO SEE! If you've read any of my posts concerning "the outsiders" I've always been in favor of decency and good will and common courtesy. I've posted that here. I've posted that to the outsiders in private topics. So now your crusade is "people posting nicely with respect for each other"... if that's it... I'm there with you.If it's your attempt to manipulate others and sling mud all over the place... count me out.

well... he was cute!

Well... gee... let see... people have been getting pounded with the "GS going downhill" message for over 24 hours...

Sharon Stone's new publicity photo.

I voted "the little train that says 'I think I can'"... because I think that means: Which is just how it is.

I wish you'd quit being so manipulative when you post.You put all that in there and then close with "we don't all have to hold the exact same views, ideas, or beliefs"... which is (IMO) to make it all look and sound nice. IF that's what you really thought, why on earth would you start a thread like this in the first place? I don't think ANYONE thinks that this place hasn't changed. This place changes as the people in this place change. Some are no longer into "it" or "feel right" here... many do. I don't appreciate it when someone tries to "herd" the folks in a certain direction like this. One of the things I like here is the diversity of opinion. I do not appreciate subversive posts.

Psalmie, I guess we see it differently (not much, just a little). What I saw was Refiner getting "all sorts of support and backslaps" NOT for his thread that offended, but for being attacked for having different views and (IMO) not being TWI. I don't think anyone "gave him all sorts of support and backslaps" because of his post. Some may have agreed with it, some disagreed. I saw folks (again IMO) "defending him" against the thought police. The way he was treated was so TWI-ish. I don't have to agree with what he says to agree with his right to be here. I wasn't put off by his "in your face" style of posting, but some were. I don't agree with the nastiness of some of his posts either. I told him that via PT. I warned him also that he needed to tone his style down a bit as that sort of display doesn't go over too well here. He was reacting to being attacked but that's no excuse to get nasty and I told him so. I understand, but it's not "how we do things here". We try to get along with each other even though we disagree about things. Yes, but she also stated that she wasn't happy with herself for not "taking a stand" when other posters had posted "anti-Christian" sentiments and that now she felt she must. (at least that's what I got out of it) She is doing what she feels she needs to and that is her choice. She will be missed. BUT I didn't see any "she's the one who gets lambasted!"... Refiner posted about her on another board and that wasn't "fair" and he apologized for it (I know, the horse was already out of the barn)... but I didn't see anyone else "lambasting". What did I miss? I've seen nothing but support for her posted.Yes, things change... that's the nature of this board isn't it? We grow, we change, we (hopefully) are different than we were a month or a year ago... but to cite that "she got lambasted" and then infer that was one of the changes is unfair. There was only the one post and it wasn't even posted "here" until someone went and got it. Her leaving has stirred emotions and I care for her more than you or others know... but it's her choice to leave to a "Christian" board. And folks are reacting emotionally because they care for her (IMO). but if she truly wants to be on a "Christian" board she's not coming back here even if the outsiders leave. I wish her the best. But I do not blame Refiner or GFO or any other poster for her leaving or anyone else leaving for that matter. GSC is a community, a neighborhood filled (mostly) with folks of a common background in TWI. But it's also filled with folks who are EX-culties. Again, I'll quote from the last paragraph in the "About Us" section of this site: You may get caught in a food fight now and then, but unlike TWI, GreaseSpot Cafe is a place where questions are encouraged and people make up their own minds. Unlike TWI.

M C : I think I saw a shark over there with a thong on!

You IT guys have your own secret language and your own secret agenda... don't you? Of course I know you cannot tell us because we are not in the brotherhood!

It's on the list C.C.! Don't know how they "square it" though...

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about... hmmm... I see where you're coming from. Okay, so maybe there'd be just as much war, but I still think there'd be less hate and bigotry. I agree. That's kind of what I was talking about.

Toad... I have that same problem! A HEARTY CONGRATULATIONS! TO ALL OF YOU GRADUATED CORPS! :D-->

Y-E-P !

Well... I was under the impression (from reading Dot's post) that she kind of felt bad about not taking a stand in the past when other posters had said things against or not agreeing with Christianity and decided that what she needed to do for her walk, to feel right, was to go to a "Christian Site". The post from Refiner was sort of "the straw that broke the camel's back".I totally disagree with the analogy of the "holocost denial on a Jewish board" (or the other one offered in it's place). You certainly go way "out there" when trying to make your point. IF I were an outsider, and I came here and read all of the posts, I'd conclude that there were a lot of Christians here but also a lot of people who didn't believe as well as some who were on the fence. Others have posted "anti-Christian" posts here. What's the difference? The difference is that Refiner is a little more "in your face" in his verbiage AND that Refiner is an "outsider". The message he was posting was not that different than others here have posted concerning why they reject Christianity. There's a little triangle to click on if someone is offended by a post. Did anyone click it? If paw was notified, perhaps he felt similarly to me and others, that Refiner's post wasn't that much different than those posted by other non-Christians here. That's your opinion and your welcome to it of course. Like paw said, if you don't like here... I wouldn't want them to go away. I sometimes tire of the predictability BUT have learned a few things there I didn't already know... or at least looked at them from a different angle.It just seems there's been a sort of witch hunt going on since soon after they got here. I am genuinely sad to see folks go, but all I can do is wish them well... one thing I've learned since leaving the cult I was in was tolerance for others' beliefs and feelings... AND to fight the urge to manipulate people.

what about me myseestorEx? can I stay?

But they have (or had) their own "religions" don't/didn't they?

well... come on back if you ever feel like it... we're really no different than any other neighborhood except we used to belong, or still do, to the same cult (well, most of us anyway! ;)--> ) stay or go... good luck on your journey...

ahhh... another day here fellowsheeping with my brethren and sistern...

I know it doesn't... and it shouldn't. And I didn't think anyone "stuffed the ballot box"... I think more than a thousand views now and only 37 votes is hardly stuffing... I think it means that folks don't think the poll is valid that's all... ...and I don't think you're a son of a bitch... don't see eye to eye with you all of the time... but don't think you're a son of a bitch...

WD... well, I got the same message that you did from her. It was an, in effect, "straw that broke the camel's back"... is how I took it.

I gave up letting others tell me how to think and react over 20 years ago. I gave up letting others pressure me, either subtly or openly into behaving or thinking what they wanted me to. IMO This is underhanded. This is low. This is not done out of a "genuine caring for the well being of GSC". IMO

What "ISSUE" Zixar? "The growing unrest"???? What "unrest" is growing? You a little ticked off about something? That's nothing new. Others ticked off as well? Emails and PTs flying around? That's nothing new. What I saw was when a very few GS posters tried the heavy handed approach with the "new" folks, FAR MORE came in to say "leave them alone, we have no problem with them" than tried to force them either out or to conform. Is that the "growing unrest"... ???? Give me a freaking break. You, nor anyone else of your "growing unrest" are going to force anyone else into that crap. Nothing but innuendo, backbiting and B.S.

yeah... over 800 viewings yet only 32 bothered to vote... I think that tells the story... Refiner didn't come in here to do anything other than what he first posted was his intent... and his views have not proven to be any different than a number of folks here... except that he is not from the same CULT we are... a poster decided she wanted to hang out at a "Christian" board... she wasn't "run off" by the interloper... like I said earlier... if you don't like it here, or the way things are here or the people who hang out here... why not take a break or go somewhere else??? It seems there's some un-necessary S stirring in our little corner of heaven...