Categorisation

[Akaroa]

Hi, team. I'm finding the categorisation and sub-categorisation over the top. It's darned hard to track al the posts you've entered across threads. It doesn't need this level of categorisation IMO. The moving of threads around is over the top. It shows that people are not categorising in their minds like you do. The reality is that a thread - even on OP - can have both 'devotion' and 'christian life' and 'theology' all in it. You are shifting it around based on how you yourself interpret the OP or the thread, not how the writer interpreted it, nor necessarily other posters.

[DaveW]

Yeah - you should have been over on the Christianity.com forums before they closed.

There were tons MORE categories and they even had a whole bucketload of one-stop threads.  Sometimes the mods had no clue where to stick something. There were a dozen one-stops for Catholic doctrine and practice, there were 4 or 5 for marriage and divorce issues, 2 for homosexual issues, so if you got one about someone who was catholic, got a divorce and married a gay partner there were 3 or more different one stops that it would have gone to and only THAT part of the topic could be discussed.

The mods here are doing their best.

[Akaroa]

Yeah - you should have been over on the Christianity.com forums before they closed.

There were tons MORE categories and they even had a whole bucketload of one-stop threads.  Sometimes the mods had no clue where to stick something. There were a dozen one-stops for Catholic doctrine and practice, there were 4 or 5 for marriage and divorce issues, 2 for homosexual issues, so if you got one about someone who was catholic, got a divorce and married a gay partner there were 3 or more different one stops that it would have gone to and only THAT part of the topic could be discussed.

The mods here are doing their best.

I appreciate that. But have you checked out the General Discussion board. The first page is just about all MOVED threads. That's over the top control. It's actually unnecessary. I prefer more of a hands-off style.

[JohnDB]

we would send out notices but then again when you can't seem to read the big "THIS IS NOT THE THEOLOGY FORUM" at the top of the page as a sticky then....we seriously doubt that you can read any personal messages we would send to you explaining the movement of a thread.

There are forums here with designations for a specific reason. Certain members like the forum designations. They are also part of the RULES as all forums have rules.  Some members are here solely for fellowship and don't want to wade through all kinds of theological debate or political debate to get to the threads that interest them. And if they can't find the threads that are of interest to them they will go elsewhere to find them.

There are non-moderated Christian forums in existence out on the web if you wish to battle atheists.

But this is a forum that isn't that large or difficult to navigate. Just take a moment and look before posting.

[OldDad]

LOL - Don't you just love it when a newbie comes in ready to tell a 10+ year old board how things ought to be done?

Membership here is voluntary, last time I checked.

[Akaroa]

LOL - Don't you just love it when a newbie comes in ready to tell a 10+ year old board how things ought to be done?

Membership here is voluntary, last time I checked.

Hi, a newby, but an old hand on MBs with respect. And they are run very differently all over the world. There are rules and then the interpretation of the individual moderators. OldDad, that was patronising and not necessary for this conversation. This is exactly the place for a conversation of these things and I'm not feeling anything but curious to understand why so many were moved - I look at the moved ones, and some were very marginal calls. What I do like is the access to the moderators which isn't available on MBs around the world.

[DaveW]

I appreciate that. But have you checked out the General Discussion board. The first page is just about all MOVED threads. That's over the top control. It's actually unnecessary. I prefer more of a hands-off style.

I have checked it out.  The very first thing on the list is "This Is NOT the Theology Forum."  And yet most of the 'moved' threads are theological issues.

On the equivalent folder in CC, they got moved as well.

[Supplanter]

Yes. Moderators do use their own judgement to determine how to categorize a thread. I fail to see how that is not appropriate, Obviously, we are all human and that won't be perfect, but often we know from experience which topics will be of interest to certain boards. So, even though you may not agree and you are more than welcome to express your disagreement, we try to do what we can for the benefit of the board as a whole.

You can set your account to receive e-mail notices and believe that you also have an option on each individual thread to receive an e-mail notice when their are new posts. That should help you to easily find your posts. If you posting on mostly theological topics then it isn't hard to navigate the theology forum. It is one of the major forums just like general and it is an extremely active board and you will have many others willing to discuss those topics with you.

[Akaroa]

Thanks to the moderators for their views on here. Much appreciated. And as I said earlier, being able to chat so freely to the moderators isn't a luxury on most MBs.

[Cally]

I used to think of "theology" as a more abstract discussion. Theology = the study of God. Not especially crossing over into what someone is doing in his personal life, but a study of scripture and such.

These days, mention a Bible verse or even too much mention of God and even refer to scripture and the thread is off into the theology forum. I thought distinction has been better in the past: detailed study of scriptures and spiritual beliefs NOT related to one's day-to-day life or casual thoughts = theology. Referring to one's Christian beliefs as a part of day-to-day life? I would think, on a Christian forum, that's not a strange thing to see in general discussion.

If the purpose was to avoid debate, well, I remember what happened in that thread about hunting--just because we're not talking about God doesn't mean debate won't break out (and, of course, it might involve our Christian beliefs).

My two cents, take it or leave it.

[yogi bear]

Understand and was that way for the longest time. Times they are a changing aren't they.

[Cally]

Understand and was that way for the longest time. Times they are a changing aren't they.

In my opinion, it was better in the past. Maybe the intent was to find "middle ground" to avoid too much argument and in the general discussion. I guess that's a nice idea, but it's the same kind of attitude that infects the secular world today: We all have to agree on red meaning "stop" and green meaning "go"--THAT will give us peace, but our beliefs in God can be different and we can still get along. Wrong. Hence, there is still fierce debate in secular discussion.

[DaveW]

Yep, "the times they are a'changin." (you prefer the Dylan original or Peter Paul and Mary's cover?)

Over at the now defunct (moved to Facebook) CC forums the Theology folder had these sub-folders:

The Bible
Christian Doctrine
The Church
God
Morality & Ethics
Prophecy & End Times
Salvation Issues
Science & Origins
Theo House

As you can see it covers about anything to do with doctrinal issues.