All Atheists/Scientologists/Agnostics will burn!

[Asmodean]

I'm intrigued. If all religions say they are right, and all have the scripture to prove it, how do I know I'm making the right choice of god? "Because I say so" doesn't seem a strong enough argument.

Ah! But they cleverly say "Because the True God says so" and that is a statement not easy to disprove, although it IS fairly easy to dismiss as nonsense.

[michellepaulsbelle]

Come on now, mate!! The lad a few posts before me was right! Don't lump us in with Scientologists!! Do I LOOK like Tom Cruise?? We respect you, show us some respect! R-E-S-P-E-C-T!!! Like Aretha Franklin said!!!  

[Asmodean]

Do I LOOK like Tom Cruise??

If you do, congratulations! Tom Cruise is not the worst-looking guy out there  

[afreethinker30]

Come on now, mate!! The lad a few posts before me was right! Don't lump us in with Scientologists!! Do I LOOK like Tom Cruise?? We respect you, show us some respect! R-E-S-P-E-C-T!!! Like Aretha Franklin said!!!    South Park  

[nikkixsugar]

Come on now, mate!! The lad a few posts before me was right! Don't lump us in with Scientologists!! Do I LOOK like Tom Cruise?? We respect you, show us some respect! R-E-S-P-E-C-T!!! Like Aretha Franklin said!!!    South Park  

One of the best episodes. When R. Kelly sings, it's pure genius!

"Toms, stuck in the closet. so i'm gunna PULL OUT MY GUN! AND COUNT TO THREE! 1......2....."
"Now, I'm stuck in the closet."

[afreethinker30]

Come on now, mate!! The lad a few posts before me was right! Don't lump us in with Scientologists!! Do I LOOK like Tom Cruise?? We respect you, show us some respect! R-E-S-P-E-C-T!!! Like Aretha Franklin said!!!    South Park  

One of the best episodes. When R. Kelly sings, it's pure genius!

"Toms, stuck in the closet. so i'm gunna PULL OUT MY GUN! AND COUNT TO THREE! 1......2....."
"Now, I'm stuck in the closet."

Naughty use of words.But so funny. R.Kelly Trapped In The Closet Part 9[youtube:3clq7lk6]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyvzfgxY0kc[/youtube:3clq7lk6]

[NearBr0ken]

Wow guys, that was really convincing. We atheist will now pickup your Bible and start worshipping that evil moster that you call God.

How dare you call our god 'Moster'.

There you go! Proof that Atheists are idiots!

How dare you try to communicate with an entity that doesn't exist.

There you go! Proof that theists are idiots!

...It's all propaganda...

[Promethium147]

LOVE THIS ARCHIVE.

But it is a terrible shame to ban these guys. The entertainment is beyond price. People would pay good money for this, you know - seriously! Maybe they could be placed in an Active Troll Digital Containment Facility - tickets cheaper than the San Diego Zoo! A fine counterexample for SDZ - here evolution stopped dead, and the result is - Differential Reproductive Failure, you may be assured.

OHMYGOD what a good idea - sort of a "speed dating" format, not between male and female, but Atheist and Fundy. You could video record - what a gas! Live Trolls on the hunt - and starving! You'd need lotsa security glass and a metal detector tho - a Breathalyzer, too.

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I simply ADORE Trolls - but I was Born to Tease. Nothing irritates the already angry more than Evident Contempt with Laughter. Then get them to POP, like a pretty roman candle HEHE.

And LO, if a Troll be Teased, it pleased the Teaser as well as those the Troll might otherwise be teasin', en toto.

I like my Trolls tough, tho, and dese cats were mighty wimpy.

[McQ]

LOVE THIS ARCHIVE.

But it is a terrible shame to ban these guys. The entertainment is beyond price. People would pay good money for this, you know - seriously! Maybe they could be placed in an Active Troll Digital Containment Facility - tickets cheaper than the San Diego Zoo! A fine counterexample for SDZ - here evolution stopped dead, and the result is - Differential Reproductive Failure, you may be assured.

OHMYGOD what a good idea - sort of a "speed dating" format, not between male and female, but Atheist and Fundy. You could video record - what a gas! Live Trolls on the hunt - and starving! You'd need lotsa security glass and a metal detector tho - a Breathalyzer, too.

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I simply ADORE Trolls - but I was Born to Tease. Nothing irritates the already angry more than Evident Contempt with Laughter. Then get them to POP, like a pretty roman candle HEHE.

And LO, if a Troll be Teased, it pleased the Teaser as well as those the Troll might otherwise be teasin', en toto.

I like my Trolls tough, tho, and dese cats were mighty wimpy.

I hear you, but it's not really the sort of feel we're going for on the forum.

[Loffler]

Maybe if you rounded them up and stuck them somewhere else, maybe a single thread like this one, or even an offsite forum?

[Promethium147]

INFORMATION IS EVERYTHING.

Letting them speak gives us information about them.

I'm not sure what the "intended tone" of the forum is - being FreeThinkers, I thought it was Free Speech.

But if "solemnity" is the desired tone, I say - YOU ARE MAKING A FATAL MISTAKE. Humor is an Implacable Weapon, which we own - and they do not grasp. "Solemnity" is ENTIRELY THEIR IDEA, don't fall for THAT!

The simplest of ironies is quite beyond them. I do not try to reverse THEM, for Lo, they are lost - but we must help those on the fence, or fail ourselves!

This battle is quite real. It will literally kill you if you don't fight back - it may anyway, but for Heaven's sake, TRY!    

[Whitney]

Maybe if you rounded them up and stuck them somewhere else, maybe a single thread like this one, or even an offsite forum?

A potential use of this part of the forum is as a holding area for trolls which show some potential for deciding to behave yet, for whatever reason, are not able to follow basic posting rules.  However, as McQ said, we are trying to keep a peaceful atmosphere here, so how often a troll will be corralled in this area will probably be low.  Like, this might have been a good area for a poster that was around along time ago whom I had to eventually ban named onlyme/fundie memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=48.  She was disruptive but maybe wouldn't have been so bad if kept in one place.

As for offsite forums....I can't make them join other forums.  However, I'm sure a true troll would love to be directed to a new home to bother, i mean, grace with their presence.  If you want to start a forum just for trolls, I know some other admins who would love to help drive that sort of traffic in your direction.

[afreethinker30]

Well laetusatheos I think you are doing a great job at keeping the peace for everyone on the board.Yes some of the stuff they say is funny,but alot is just offensive.They don't know who we are,how can you know someone just by something they call themselves.It just spreads more hate and it's good for no one.Alot of us do not bother anyone,other then joke around on here with other who think the same we do.If only they could walk a day in our shoes,but then we must walk in theirs.And other people's shoes bother me..  

[McQ]

INFORMATION IS EVERYTHING.

Letting them speak gives us information about them.

I'm not sure what the "intended tone" of the forum is - being FreeThinkers, I thought it was Free Speech.

Even though freethought is desired, it is one thing to engage in constructive debate with someone who is willing to do the same, and a completely different thing to engage in attemtping to debate with people who are just in here to "dump and run". Or people who just want to yank your chain and sit back and laugh while the so-called intellectuals answers their inane posts. This is still a forum with rules. Don't assume it to be something it is not just because you wish it were so. We encourage and defend rational thought and encourage discussion and debate with anyone who wants to do so. But this forum does not exist as a place to simply debate and/or argue for the sake of argument. It is a place for people to be able to enjoy themselves as well and share ideas, likes, dislikes, philosophy, etc. But in a meaningful way.

But if "solemnity" is the desired tone, I say - YOU ARE MAKING A FATAL MISTAKE.

You can think whatever you like and express it in all caps. Go right ahead. Again, meaningful discussion and debate is fine. Blathering with the "dump and run" trolls is the mistake and makes one look pretty foolish.

Humor is an Implacable Weapon, which we own - and they do not grasp. "Solemnity" is ENTIRELY THEIR IDEA, don't fall for THAT!

The simplest of ironies is quite beyond them. I do not try to reverse THEM, for Lo, they are lost - but we must help those on the fence, or fail ourselves!

This battle is quite real. It will literally kill you if you don't fight back - it may anyway, but for Heaven's sake, TRY!    

No one owns humor in this. Drawing an imaginary line between "us" and "them", and grouping all believers of all types and stages of belief together isn't even logical or right. It is painting with the broadest brush possible. But we aren't even talking about those types here (the serious religious who want meaningful discussion). We're talking about trolls. If you want to run a forum that is "Debate with Trolls 24/7", by all means, start one up!

We strive to not feed the trolls here. And the forum is a very happy place, despite not feeding them.

[Promethium147]

I never intended to feed any trolls. I intended to Milk Trolls.

Religious Trolls, specifically. Debate is not the point with a Troll, as Trolls are incapable, and debate is a two-way street. Psychological dissection, on the other hand, might be most illuminating. They are the Enemy - and you know it - because you DO act upon that, as you do even now.

All I say is - isolate them, but don't eliminate them. You have already done that, so we agree here. I'm just saying - don't kill the thread. The thread dies of its own accord when no one responds anymore. If you don't want to tease (good info) out of a Troll, don't go there, don't respond to them. Others might find it useful, enjoyable, or both; otherwise - why did you save the old thread at all?

Some here openly worry about - apparently fear - being offended, and I can't relate. No one may offend me unless I permit it. Try it sometime.

If you really, truly want to avoid offense, never, ever go outdoors or communicate in any way, ever again. I do not think it a viable solution.

I recall particularly a patient who was deeply and pathologically offended by pornography that some junior high kids had sent her anonymously, and - she simply couldn't get over it. It filled her dreams, it destroyed her work - a single email, with a single small photo. It hospitalized her. She ALLOWED it to be so. It is pathological to render oneself completely defenseless to minor insult - and it is all just a matter of degree.

It is an image on a screen. The image does nothing, it is completely harmless - the interpretation is everything, and it is hers, and she has complete control - but instead, she paid big bucks to find the perpetrators. She never did, but of course, had she, what relief does that grant?

I will reflexively defend others, but not when they refuse to defend themselves on the most basic level - it's hopeless.