Posted by Rick on March 14, 1999 at 00:55:54 {MWSZV6.08fSjY}:
In Reply to: *Excessive Quoting of Material posted by N.H. on March 14, 1999 at 00:22:17:
I'm sorry to see I failed to communicate some simple rules of quoting to help protect your rights to use quoting in backing your position. I had the mistaken notion those who claim they are superior in intellect to JWs would find it refreshing to avoid wasting bandwidth downloading large posts with nothing but quotes. I didn't say anything about not breaking down posts into more manageable chunks.
Massive quotations shows a gross lack of disrespect whether intended or not, for those with slow internet connections or expensive bandwidth charges. Methushael in Germany who used to post asked H2O to implement FTP downloading (which we did), because he was spending a lot of money in bandwidth downloading huge posts. His argument if I recall correctly (and if I didn't recall correctly I apologize in advance), and my argument in any case, is that why should those who *PAY* for bandwidth in some countries download quotes they have on their own Watchtower CD's? Why can't we just provide a citation to those quotes and allow the reader to lookup the quotes themselves? Certainly you don't believe JWs are so lazy or in such denial as to refuse to lookup citations in the Watchtower to your arguments?
You seem to easily lose respect for those who don't further your agenda, I've observed. You use the board freely to promote your beliefs, most of your posts are allowed by moderators, but you repeatedly criticize myself and others running this site. If you would calm down and listen to reason, you would see that many JWs including myself are not out to put a muzzle on "apostates."
You are also wrong that I'm in any way dishonest or hypocritical. The truth stands for itself. Remember the fable of the little boy in Holland who put his fingers the holes of the dike to stop the flow of water. That is a great analogy to anyone who tries to stop the flow of truth. If you perceive the moderators as trying to put their fingers in the dike to stop the flow of truth -- rather than to stop abusive speech -- each time they delete a post, then you should know very well their efforts would fail.
I also want to state emphatically that the guidelines in my post were not an effort at moderator apologetics, but a genuine and sincere attempt to help stabilize the situation.
Why would I provide links to the deleted posts (see new links top of board), if I wanted to suppress what moderators are deleting? The sole purpose of deletions is to focus the board on its intended purpose, which is to openly discuss issues impacting JWs and their future. You must not follow many of my posts lately, Norm, or you would know that I have been highly supportive of reform including the Liberal Elder's efforts to bring doctrinal errors in the blood issue to the Society's attention.
Rick