Posted by Siamang on: 07.09.2007 /
The other day, I noted a new poster on Friendly Atheist named Mark. He was posting in the middle of a discussion about Camp Quest, and coming in the middle, he had some harsh words for us.
Curious, I clicked the link on his name and found his blog. Here I saw a glimpse of the person behind the post. He’s a proud grandfather-to-be. One of his sons, Jon, is serving in Iraq, and he hopes to be home soon.
I noticed some posts on his site where he described visiting various atheist websites. He came away with universally negative interactions.
I responded on Friendly Atheist with an attempt at a response that would be a difference in tone from what he had experienced before. Mark reciprocated, and we’re currently having a good discussion on his blog. Others are welcome to join in (but note that posts sometimes don’t appear for awhile, since he approves all posts before they show up.)
When Mark’s first post was negative, my immediate desire was to fire off a snotty response. Luckily he had linked his blog to his name, and luckily I clicked on it. Knowing something about the person behind the post helped me to know that I liked him and wanted a better discussion with him than that.
It’s hard, on the internet. But how much better would our interactions be if we had to learn some things about the people we’re talking with before we compose our responses.
Leave a Reply
Comment by: Mark
1 07/9/07 2:22 PM | Comment Link |Siamang,
I appreciate your words here, once again! And if my words sounded harsh, know that I didn’t intend them to be so. I’ll work on that!
But you are so right about knowing who we’re conversing with. This Internet can be a dangerous place for just that reason.
Thanks for continuing the discussion. It is enlightening and a real pleasure for me.
Comment by: cautious
2 07/9/07 3:03 PM | Comment Link |Siamang, all the traffic you sent to his website smashed it into little pieces!
(and yes this kind of comment will be no longer appropriate when the website is working again. that’s what makes it topical!)
Comment by: Mark
3 07/9/07 4:10 PM | Comment Link |Yes, the website is virtually destroyed! But I seriously doubt that it buckled under the pressure from this link. It’s been acting a little screwy for about a week now. And I promise, I will get it working again! I may be up all night, but I’ll get something back on there!
I love computers.
Comment by: Siamang
4 07/9/07 4:28 PM | Comment Link |If the visits from this site crashed it, it must have been puny indeed!
My apologies to Mark, if that’s the case! He’s got a long night ahead of him… good, luck to you, buddy!
(I’m glad I don’t have to do any tough computer server stuff on this site!)
Comment by: Mark
5 07/9/07 5:09 PM | Comment Link |I’m sure this post didn’t do it. Like I said before, it’s been giving me some headaches for awhile now.
Life goes on!
Comment by: Eliza
6 07/9/07 6:20 PM | Comment Link |Hmm, when I tried to follow Siamang’s link to the “good discussion on [Mark's] blog” I got a message that I’m not authorized to view that page.
Does everyone who wants to read it have to register?
Or is this fallout from the site crashing?
Or is it just me? (*sniff*) ;-)
Comment by: Mark
7 07/9/07 7:24 PM | Comment Link |I think the page that link pointed to must not have been restored yet. It should be back up now. I spent about 4 hours restoring the content and miraculously (well…) managed to get all of the comments put back and linked to the proper content. I would welcome anyone to join the discussion!
Comment by: Siamang
8 07/10/07 10:38 AM | Comment Link |Much of the discussion is now happening on this thread:
http://mjlacore.net/question-non-believers