Should reconsider and just take it with a grain of salt. There all kinds that make the world go round.
I'll say it again HAPPY EASTER Glenn....

I am sorry, but there is no grain of salt big enough to make this right. I have endured several years of heavy handed censoring on this site without protest. Political comment is excluded, I can almost agree with. When a political decision from the king and congress flies in the face of decent reason, I bite my tongue and soldier on. However, when the mention of God and his son Jesus is banned, it just sounds too much like Hitlerism for me to stomach.
Our entire country was founded on a strong belief in God. Now, we worry about "offending" someone who does not believe? Excuse me, but if you want to live like that there are several other places in the middle east that would welcome such a narrow view.

Here's my opinion: if something offends me be it political, religious, cultural, or the best type of food, I go on with my life. I try not to get offended by something that I don't agree with. But one thing that really does offend me are people that whine and complain that they are offended by something. Grow up people, when we lose the ability to express our opinions no matter what they are then we are no longer a free country. If you don't like something just pass it by and enjoy life. Hey I don't like bananas and can't be around someone eating one because of the smell. But I certainly would never tell anybody they can't eat bananas.

Yes I am a Christian and Easter is one of the most sacred times of the year for me and my family. I honestly don't care what other people think about that. And I am surely not offended when someone posts Happy Hannukah, Ramadan, Vesak or anything else for that matter.

Why is it that some people think they have a right to say whatever they want... The first amendment does not prevent free speech in so far as the government is concerned and the government cannot ask you to leave because your rights to free speech in that area are protected.  Even with free speech there are consequences to saying things that are inappropriate, inaccurate, untruthful, inciteful, or potential dangerous to others. If you were a guest in my house and you said things that I found inappropriate you would be asked to leave if you did not stop when asked. Such is my right in my own house. So it is here on this forum.... This is Howard and Linda's house and we are all guests.  They make the rules of decorum. When one feel passionate about something, perhaps one should re-read the posting guidelines before posting potential contentious comments and save so much grief on all sides.  

Terry, I find nothing heavy-handed in your moderating.

As a spectator in the tapestry of humanity there will never be 100% agreement on any subject including agreeing to disagree. Sadly God or whatever deity you believe in, or not, has got to be wondering about the potential of the human race to survive long enough actually mature into a stable member of the universe. Surely religion is a personal thing and being virtuous in your faith will draw others to you. Conflict, or more correctly discordant feelings, is a sign of some measure on one or both sides of a debate/discussion that "so called" virtuousness has been ignored and thereby caused a schism in one's faith. The persons involved must resolve such contradictions if they wish to stay on the selected path of their faith.

I'm with Jack, as an RV forum there are better place to post or discuss those subjects which are not related to RVing.

Howard, Terry and Gene, I apologize if I have gone over the line... I am putting away my soapbox.  You may delete my comments as you wish, I will have no hard feelings.

Brian

-- Edited by biggaRView on Monday 6th of April 2015 08:14:37 AM

Oh boy, I just became aware of all of this.  For the record, I don't know what the prior post said or what was deleted.  I have sent a private message to Glenn.

Dear members, all we are trying to do here is maintain the integrity of the Forum as a place where people can go and get RV information without being laughed at, ridiculed, or subjected to off-topic, irrelevant posts.  Yes, we have established the Community Chat sub-forum so members can have fun and discuss some light, non-RVing subjects.  But our experience has been that the deeply passionate topics of politics and religion can lead to heated debates and make enemies out of people that would otherwise remain friends.  So, that is one of the reasons we have rules against religious and political topics.

As Forum owners, we have to deal with a lot of "What ifs?".  What if people with differing viewpoints challenge your political or religious viewpoint?  You will feel obligated to respond and then others will chime in and then we end up with a political or religious debate that rarely stays civil.  Furthermore, the longer we let it go on and remain in the Forum, the more the search engines find the debate and then we get members that care nothing about RVing that sign up to make sure their "voice is heard".

Yes, what "may" happen is all speculative because the establishment of our rules and the moderation here have prevented us from having major problems.  But we have to be vigilant to maintain the integrity of the Forum as an RVing Forum and one where discussion is civil even when there is disagreement.  We have to make calls in the Forum on what we consider to be mean, unnecessary, offensive, off-topic, and irresponsible.  We have to make decisions on who is being belligerent, who is overly sensitive, and who is just here to spam everyone else.  And we have to make decisions on what is or isn't religious or political keeping in mind the long view of the "what ifs" should the topic expand.  It's not perfect, but we are trying.

We always hate to see people leave the Forum, but we can't always make the "right" call from every single person's perspective, especially when we are trying to protect the ultimate goal of being a friendly, informative RVing Forum and nothing more.

I’m glad this is an RV forum, just as I’m glad BentRider Online is a cycling forum. Neither venue seems an appropriate outlet for the religious and political views I have evolved over a lifetime.

So, I applaud Terry’s moderating and Howard’s effort to maintain the integrity of the forum. I get enough of an adrenalin rush on Facebook.

I come to this forum of RV-life-loving folks to get and give support for this crazy life. I genuinely care about this community. For political debate and activism I go to a different forum where I express my views passionately. For spiritual discussion and celebration I interact with others in appropriate places. I also pay attention to the parameters of each of these venues out of respect for those who do all the work of making them run smoothly and the others who participate.

I appreciate not only Howard and Linda and the moderators but the rest of you who come here for this wonderful RV Dream. Let's keep it what is was meant to be.

Jodee

Dog Folks wrote:

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I too am sorry to see any member leave. 

I would ask you to have tolerance and stay.

Also, I follow five very active RV forums and all five have the same rule. There is a good reason for it.

As Howard explained clearly:"......But our experience has been that the deeply passionate topics of politics and religion can lead to heated debates and make enemies out of people that would otherwise remain friends.  So, that is one of the reasons we have rules against religious and political topics."

You will be hard pressed to find an RV forum without that rule.

So let's just discuss the RV life here and discuss our faith somewhere else.

Happy Camping

-- Edited by Dog Folks on Tuesday 7th of April 2015 06:17:40 AM

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"I second that emotion."

Rob

Happy Tooosday TrailerKing. Let's make every day a positive and great one folks.

FWIW: I've been reading this forum since it's inception, albeit not registering until a few months back when wishing to make contact on private message with someone that was in my area. This forum of all I've always felt whilst not necessarily as active on postings, offered some of the neatest folks in the RV planet, and for me has always been the most enjoyable. I sure hope we can move on and keep it that "family" feel way.

So Happy Toosday (Tuesday!) everybody, it's a wonderful, wonderful day.

53 Merc wrote:

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" heavy handed censoring on this site"

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 I hear that.. I now only visit this site on occasion, and is no longer my go to site , because of this.. Plus I think some take things personal, and act out, personally..

While i love a good argument.. When 90% of my posts get deleted.. It's just not worth the effort to make a point to people who who could care less, anyways..lol Have at it..

-- Edited by The Junkman on Wednesday 8th of April 2015 05:56:10 AM

Junkman, I personally like your posts and I like a good argument to keep the brain cells going. True, some people can roll anything off their back feathers and others get their feathers ruffled - it would be extremely boring if everyone were the same. I'm sorry Glenn West may leave us and I definitely was very, very sorry when Lucky Mike left us for a long while.

Sometimes I don't quite understand why a post is deleted but I trust that both the post and the deletion were well intentioned and not malicious. This is still the best forum to gather a lot of information and meet some very nice people.

bjoyce wrote:

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Having met Steve and his lovely bride, I can imagine his facial expressions and body language when I read his posts. Before I met him, I didn't always get what he was really saying. Now I do. Words are not enough sometimes.

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True dat...... 

Well said, as usual, Pieere. Thanks.

Yeah, TRAILERKING,   "Now how about a BIG Group Hug.............."

 

That's just what I needed. Thank-You

-- Edited by rocknb on Thursday 9th of April 2015 10:17:07 PM