Re: The "I will be away for a while" thread
Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2011 12:04 am
I think I'm going to take a short break from this site due to recent developments here. I really can't stand watching Fit Man and Fat Man argue because neither of them are helping to produce civil discussion (no offense to either of you, but it is true. Fat Man uses plenty of personal attacks and Fit Man thinks he can be less than civil because Fat Man also acts that way). Again, I don't mean to personally attack either of you, I'm just saying that it's becoming stressful for me to read all of it and I'm going to let you guys handle it while I'm gone.
Then, on top of this, members have been taking offense from the constant religious comments from Fat Man. One member left the site because of this, and Earl has recently (understandably) become frustrated with them. I don't like the comments from any members of this site on historical tyrants' religious beliefs. There have been bad rulers who were strongly religious, and there have been bad rulers who were not religious. But people need to realize that there will always be people who abuse power, whether there is religion or not. So recent comments blaming the Holocaust on Catholicism and blaming atheism for the mass murders in communist regimes, both sides of the argument bother me. I don't take any personal offense from the comments against religion as I'm not religious myself, but I find them annoying when they are used so much, and when other members begin to take offense from them. If it belongs anywhere, it belongs in the off topic section, in a thread with a religious topic. That way people can avoid it if they want to. There's nothing wrong with religious discussion, but only when everyone is civil and willing to participate. Not when people who don't want to hear about it are endlessly subjected to religious insults.
So for these reasons, I plan to leave the site for a short amount of time. In the topic where all of this has unfolded, I planned on making a post addressing these problems, thinking I had some power to magically solve all of the sites problems and end the conflicts. But I realized that I really don't, and all I would be doing would be subjecting myself to more stress by getting more involved with the situation, and I'd be adding just one more post from someone who is convinced they are right like nearly everyone seems to be in this whole mess. As you can see, this situation has frustrated me and I find it stressful. I've got a few tests coming up and projects due, so that's only going to add up the stress in the approaching days, so it's best I don't combine that with the stress from this site. There's nothing wrong with some disagreement on the site, but this is a little too much for me at the moment.
I don't know how long I intend on leaving the site, but if I had to give an estimate, I'd guess a week. I may come back sooner. I may come back a bit later. I can assure you all that I will come back though, I'm not leaving permanently. I know the site doesn't have many active members right now and we need all the activity we can get, but a lot of people are posting right now because of this ordeal anyway, so I'm not concerned that my departure is going to be that noticeable. I think I'll just read any posts on the forum that were made before I posted this, and then I'll sign out, and catch up with the forum when I return. If necessary, I can still be contacted through PM as I'll receive an email when I receive them, but I'd prefer not to be informed about any developments on the site while I'm gone unless there's some totally important happening on the forum (although I can't imagine what that could be, this is just a small forum on the Internet), or if the conflicts on the site have settled down. Sorry for leaving such a long post about something as insignificant as leaving the site for a short amount of time, but I wanted to share my thoughts about what's occurring on this site before I left.
(Read this in a Schwarzenegger voice) I'll be back.
Then, on top of this, members have been taking offense from the constant religious comments from Fat Man. One member left the site because of this, and Earl has recently (understandably) become frustrated with them. I don't like the comments from any members of this site on historical tyrants' religious beliefs. There have been bad rulers who were strongly religious, and there have been bad rulers who were not religious. But people need to realize that there will always be people who abuse power, whether there is religion or not. So recent comments blaming the Holocaust on Catholicism and blaming atheism for the mass murders in communist regimes, both sides of the argument bother me. I don't take any personal offense from the comments against religion as I'm not religious myself, but I find them annoying when they are used so much, and when other members begin to take offense from them. If it belongs anywhere, it belongs in the off topic section, in a thread with a religious topic. That way people can avoid it if they want to. There's nothing wrong with religious discussion, but only when everyone is civil and willing to participate. Not when people who don't want to hear about it are endlessly subjected to religious insults.
So for these reasons, I plan to leave the site for a short amount of time. In the topic where all of this has unfolded, I planned on making a post addressing these problems, thinking I had some power to magically solve all of the sites problems and end the conflicts. But I realized that I really don't, and all I would be doing would be subjecting myself to more stress by getting more involved with the situation, and I'd be adding just one more post from someone who is convinced they are right like nearly everyone seems to be in this whole mess. As you can see, this situation has frustrated me and I find it stressful. I've got a few tests coming up and projects due, so that's only going to add up the stress in the approaching days, so it's best I don't combine that with the stress from this site. There's nothing wrong with some disagreement on the site, but this is a little too much for me at the moment.
I don't know how long I intend on leaving the site, but if I had to give an estimate, I'd guess a week. I may come back sooner. I may come back a bit later. I can assure you all that I will come back though, I'm not leaving permanently. I know the site doesn't have many active members right now and we need all the activity we can get, but a lot of people are posting right now because of this ordeal anyway, so I'm not concerned that my departure is going to be that noticeable. I think I'll just read any posts on the forum that were made before I posted this, and then I'll sign out, and catch up with the forum when I return. If necessary, I can still be contacted through PM as I'll receive an email when I receive them, but I'd prefer not to be informed about any developments on the site while I'm gone unless there's some totally important happening on the forum (although I can't imagine what that could be, this is just a small forum on the Internet), or if the conflicts on the site have settled down. Sorry for leaving such a long post about something as insignificant as leaving the site for a short amount of time, but I wanted to share my thoughts about what's occurring on this site before I left.
(Read this in a Schwarzenegger voice) I'll be back.
(I appreciate a calmer voice. 
)