Our New Website & the Forums

[kara speltz]

As many of you may have already noticed, it's a bit tricky at this point to find the forums via our new website. From what I understand at this point, the new website will eventually mean the closure of the forums. We're trying to do a bit more investigating to see if there will be a way to keep them open, but at this stage of the game it isn't looking likely. I'm not exactly sure how long we'll have access via the archives, but I'll try and contact our webmaster and see if he can give me a timeline.

So first I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who has participated in the forums and to suggest that you get direct email addresses from those friends who you have made connections with and want to keep in contact.

My email address is kara4peace@aol.com and I would love to keep in touch with people.

I hope you'll continue to visit our website on a regular basis to follow the latest Soulforce activities

Fondly, Kara

[Daniel]

As a member who has met quite a few people here online, and now count them as friends in 3-D, I am thankful for what the Soulforce Forum created, and as all those who have given of their time and energy.

I send everyone who has frequented these pages much love, warmth and light.

[antiochian]

Well, the forums do seem to have come to a standstill from which it's not recovering. Still sad though. I'm just grateful that they existed several years ago, when I first came to this site. I want to thank all the people who have engaged me in good conversation, comforted me with kind words, and given me advise... hope I was able to return that favor a few times.

Also, I know I can be opinionated, and hope anyone I've unwittingly hurt by my words can forgive me.

I hope to see Soulforce continue in its work for years to come. But even more, I hope the day will come when Soulforce will no longer be necessary. Maybe even in my lifetime!

I've grown a lot since I started posting here in fall 2007... and the journey continues. Love and bright blessings to all!

gospidipemiloi@yahoo.com

Jeffery

P.S. Does anyone care to share other websites with similar forums, religious and/or secular? I know there are LGBT forums on beliefnet.com and religionforums.com, though I'm not a regular at either.

[BrianB]

I'm thankful for the support I received through this forum while I was in the process of coming out to my parents. It saddens me to think that the forum may be closing. I have met some nice people both here and in RL.

Jeffrey, recently several of my regular message boards have slowed down to comatose levels. I'm looking for new message boards as well.

[Matt Algren]

Originally Posted by kara speltz

As many of you may have already noticed, it's a bit tricky at this point to find the forums via our new website. From what I understand at this point, the new website will eventually mean the closure of the forums. We're trying to do a bit more investigating to see if there will be a way to keep them open, but at this stage of the game it isn't looking likely. I'm not exactly sure how long we'll have access via the archives, but I'll try and contact our webmaster and see if he can give me a timeline.

So first I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who has participated in the forums and to suggest that you get direct email addresses from those friends who you have made connections with and want to keep in contact.

My email address is kara4peace@aol.com and I would love to keep in touch with people.

I hope you'll continue to visit our website on a regular basis to follow the latest Soulforce activities

Fondly, Kara

Might have been a good idea to keep the unpaid volunteer moderator in the loop on this so he didn't have to find out that the forums were being killed when tried to log in to do the thankless free work he's been doing for you for a very long time.

That's some pretty shitty management right there, and that's before I even get to the Christian part of it.






Also, you might tell whoever's running the blog that dates on time-sensitive articles would help. FYI.

[Matt Algren]

Originally Posted by BrianB

I'm thankful for the support I received through this forum while I was in the process of coming out to my parents. It saddens me to think that the forum may be closing. I have met some nice people both here and in RL.

Jeffrey, recently several of my regular message boards have slowed down to comatose levels. I'm looking for new message boards as well.

(Message boards in general are dying. None of the message board/forum software has seen a major upgrade in close to a decade, for one thing. For another, social media has effectively taken over much of the purpose for all but the most firmly planted boards, and even there it's slowing down. My advice to everyone is to sign up at facebook to keep in contact and continue the conversation.)

[kara speltz]

Originally Posted by Matt Algren

Might have been a good idea to keep the unpaid volunteer moderator in the loop on this so he didn't have to find out that the forums were being killed when tried to log in to do the thankless free work he's been doing for you for a very long time.

That's some pretty shitty management right there, and that's before I even get to the Christian part of it. FYI.

Dear Matt: I'm not sure exactly what you're talking about when you say the unpaid volunteer. I've been the moderator since Jamie left. Steve and Nathan have assisted me. While I knew that this was being discussed, I thought we had a bit more time before the change, and I too had a bit of trouble finding the forums. We're a very small organization, less than a dozen employees, and we're doing the very best we can. I am sorry that I didn't get to post the first announcement of the change, prior to it happening.

Kara

[bnmoore]

I confess to not always visiting the home page first and didn't notice the absence of the forums link right away. I will miss it and all of you.

The United and International Centers for Spiritual Living voted to undo our 57 year old schism in San Diego last week.

We have some upcoming joint events with First MCC Atlanta. In The Life Atlanta is also having their community meetings 2nd Mondays at the MCC Church.

[BrianB]

This is the Facebook page where many of us have congregated. http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=38645475985

[Matt Algren]

Originally Posted by kara speltz

Dear Matt: I'm not sure exactly what you're talking about when you say the unpaid volunteer. I've been the moderator since Jamie left. Steve and Nathan have assisted me. While I knew that this was being discussed, I thought we had a bit more time before the change, and I too had a bit of trouble finding the forums. We're a very small organization, less than a dozen employees, and we're doing the very best we can. I am sorry that I didn't get to post the first announcement of the change, prior to it happening.

Kara

Come on, Kara. You may be staff, and you may have some sort of authority, but you're not a message board moderator. When was the last time you took care of the day-to-day business of running a forum? Things like splitting and moving threads, banning troublemakers, checking IP addresses, and well, moderating.

Not that that changes what I said in any meaningful way. Accepting your term, your unpaid volunteer "assistant" who does the heavy lifting and has for some years found out about the change by trying to log in to get to work. You don't think it would have been a good idea to drop him a note before the switch was pulled? Kind of like if you're going to shut down a worship service, you tend to contact the organist to make sure he knows not to show up on Sunday morning.

That way he knows that you, you know, respect him and appreciate his efforts, the way a Christian and a good person-who-has-assistants is supposed to do.

I'm not even saying shutting the forums is a bad idea. Quite the contrary, I suggested it almost two years ago. And I'm not suggesting that forum members deserved anything more than you've given; frankly, we don't. I'm just saying that the way it's being handled with the moderator is, to be blunt, poorly thought out, if it's been thought out at all.





(My words all around, by the way, not Keltic's. He's way more gracious than I am.)

[kara speltz]

Originally Posted by Matt Algren

Come on, Kara. You may be staff, and you may have some sort of authority, but you're not a message board moderator. When was the last time you took care of the day-to-day business of running a forum? Things like splitting and moving threads, banning troublemakers, checking IP addresses, and well, moderating.

I'm not even saying shutting the forums is a bad idea. Quite the contrary, I suggested it almost two years ago. And I'm not suggesting that forum members deserved anything more than you've given; frankly, we don't. I'm just saying that the way it's being handled with the moderator is, to be blunt, poorly thought out, if it's been thought out at all.


(My words all around, by the way, not Keltic's. He's way more gracious than I am.)

The answer to your question was yesterday was the last time I did that. I check the forums at least twice a day. Steve has done a wonderful job and I'm very, very grateful to him. But as I said in my initial posting, I had no idea how quickly this change was going to be made. I couldn't even find the forum myself when I first went to the website.

I'm still trying to determine from our webmaster just how long we may have in terms of continuing the forums. As soon as I hear something for sure I will pass it along. Clearly the communication wasn't great on this situation, and I'm hoping that there will be no more surprises. Our staff is down to just a half a dozen from a staff of more than a dozen and things fall through the cracks.

Kara

[Gennee]

I enjoy reading and contributing to the forums. There are many interesting topics discussed. I'm sure many there have been educated and encouraged. If the forums do go I will miss them.

Gennee

[Renaissancefan98]

Originally Posted by Gennee

I enjoy reading and contributing to the forums. There are many interesting topics discussed. I'm sure many there educated and encouraged. If the forums do go I will miss them.

Gennee

This.

I will miss it too.

[BrianB]

There is a nice message board at The Gay Christian Network. http://www.gaychristian.net/index.php?
That has become my main message board.

[kara speltz]

As you may have noticed, it's now possible to reach the forums from our home page. So at least for the time being there are no current plans to end the forums. The more active the forums are, the more chance the decision will be to maintain them. So I'm hoping we can get some lively discussions going again.

Jimmy Creech, the Methodist minister (and former Chair of our Soulforce Board), who was defrocked has a new book out, called "Adam's Gift." Mel White, in his blog, on our home page writes

"Adam’s Gift is not simply the dramatic, true story of one man’s courageous and sacrificial stand against denominational practices that lead to the denial of full inclusion for Lesbians and Gays. It is also an intimate and powerful look. The war being waged by Christians against the full inclusion of lesbians and gays is also a struggle for the heart and soul of the Christian church.

"Don’t stop reading Adam’s Gift until you’ve been thoroughly appalled by every nasty letter Jimmy received for marrying a same-sex couple; every muttered slur or veiled threat whispered into Jimmy’s ear; every prejudiced and intolerant testimony against Jimmy in the historic trial that robbed the Christian church of his powerful and prophetic ministry."


You can order the book through Amazon by clicking on the "give" button above and then going to Amazon.com. So I hope everyone will take the time to order the book. Kara

[Emily]

I hope the forums stay open, I also hope to see active people around soon

[bnmoore]

Originally Posted by kara speltz

As you may have noticed, it's now possible to reach the forums from our home page. So at least for the time being there are no current plans to end the forums. The more active the forums are, the more chance the decision will be to maintain them. So I'm hoping we can get some lively discussions going again.

Jimmy Creech, the Methodist minister (and former Chair of our Soulforce Board), who was defrocked has a new book out, called "Adam's Gift." Mel White, in his blog, on our home page writes

"Adam’s Gift is not simply the dramatic, true story of one man’s courageous and sacrificial stand against denominational practices that lead to the denial of full inclusion for Lesbians and Gays. It is also an intimate and powerful look. The war being waged by Christians against the full inclusion of lesbians and gays is also a struggle for the heart and soul of the Christian church.

"Don’t stop reading Adam’s Gift until you’ve been thoroughly appalled by every nasty letter Jimmy received for marrying a same-sex couple; every muttered slur or veiled threat whispered into Jimmy’s ear; every prejudiced and intolerant testimony against Jimmy in the historic trial that robbed the Christian church of his powerful and prophetic ministry."


You can order the book through Amazon by clicking on the "give" button above and then going to Amazon.com. So I hope everyone will take the time to order the book. Kara

It's nice to see the link back.

Other that the ones that were raised in our teaching most of our members come from places where they didn't feel they were being fed spiritually. It's not unusual to hear people refer to themselves as a recovered ________. Maybe a WAS instead of a WASP.

[souly]

Originally Posted by Emily

I hope the forums stay open, I also hope to see active people around soon

Same here, please keep the forums open. They´re much needed.