MEMBERS, GUESTS AND LURKERS
About our profiles. I am not sure how much of each personal profile is open for all to read? I presume the section which is about our interests is.

Here is one way I plan to use my profile: I hope to use it to store a record of my basic beliefs and interests. This will prevent my having to repeat myself about my basic beliefs, and the special terminologies I use, each time I dialogue with newcomer.

For example, when say that I am a unitheist, I hope that all I will need to do is add: See my profile for a definition of unitheism. As a test, click on my name and profile, now. Do you see how I define unitheism? Any question?

I also use the following words fairly often: panentheism, neo-theism, pneumatolgy, and new words, pneumatherapy, pneumatism, feathers-economics, which I have coined.

Interestingly, some poster have profiles which are very sparse. Perhaps this is the way some of they like it. But if I were a newcomer and wanted to get to know you better, how would I go about doing it? How much do you wish to keep private?

I realize that there are some who want to remain completely anonymous. For example, in the process of having a useful dialogue with a certain XXXX, I asked him about how he felt about my getting to know more about him. As part of the process I wrote a short autobiography. He responded:
Your biography is really an interesting one. I personally prefer to stay in shadow due to several very specific circumstances hard to explain.

I am a humble person from far away country who loves to drink a cup of tea and chat about cabbages and kings. I guess that it is quite sufficient to know about a person to communicate over series of issues, cabbages and kings in particular.

Definitely I am not striving to play a role of a great unknown here, just an xxxx. I am sorry that I cannot satisfy your curiosity. But I very well understand the roots of that curiosity. This was the last time XXXX wrote.

And I respect this, as long as anonymity is not used as a cover for posters to snipe at one another by using bitter, cynical, and sacrastic ad hominems. Judgmental language, bordering on libel, IMHO, is never acceptable in a public forum.

BTW, I am proud of the way things have been kept at a civil level in this forum.

As I mentioned elsewhere, it was an uncivil attitude by a number of posters whch destroyed the first Forum in which I participated. It was known as The Wealthyboomer.com, hosted by XXX XXXX, still a financial writer with the National Post--a leading trans-Canadian daily paper. Unfortunately, one of the several bitter and cynical protagonists, at the site, actually died of a stroke--and he was not an elderly person. He had just made a post just prior to his death?

SOME OF US DON'T MIND BEING TRANSPARENT
On the other hand, there are those of us who are not afraid to write about who we are, where we live, what we enjoy and what we dislike, our philosophy, religion, or lack of it, our politics and economics, or have our work and ideas be known.

However, as we do so we want to avoid being accused of self-promotion--unless you can show that we are doing just that, and for no good reason. The challenge is, how do we maintain a balance?

How do we distinguish between those who practice outright blatant self-promotion for the purpose of making a commercial profit, or getting elected to office, and those who simply want to be transparent, just wanting others to know who we are for the purpose of open dialogue, not bitter debate.

Then there are some people who actually do have, or know of, valuable goods, services or products, and do have helpful information about such services which could have real value for all of us.

With the understanding that moderators are in control, would it not be okay to have a special section be set up where posters have the opportunity to share their information and give a WWW URL, phone number, e-mail, as long as they keep the information in this one section, to which they will be able to refer?

I open this topic in the spirit of dialogue and of building authentic community.

I think this is about the 3rd time you've created a thread on this same theme.

Personally I don't see any point in explaining myself or my changing likes and dislikes when it really doesn't determine what another is going to think about me or assume.

Lindsay, you keep trying to place yourself and everyone else in a category. Don't you find this takes a lot of effort to try and maintain so many boxes at the same time and to keep them arranged according to your ideal?

You've come here time and time again to label yourself, exemplify your writings and to further define your spelling of GØD. Is it so that when someone thinks God they might see your GØD and like you?

You already belong to what you call communities in Canada and other chat boards, is the community here not to your liking that you hope to build another to your liking? Don't you and your GØD already belong to all communities whether you like them or not?

Can't you have a conversation with someone without finding the need to have external commonalities to stabilize your perceptions and train of thought?
Do you favor yourself as a spiritual chamelion able to meet anyone where they are at by studying them, making assumptions to their likes dislikes and gender?
Could you be flexible enough to meet someone where they are at by being who you are without laying down rules of who you are and they are, in your head?

Like I said I'm not really interested in boxing myself and anyone else up so we can arrange ourselves according to some projected Ideal. I think if you're going play in a sandcastles you should expect them to collapse around you when the winds of change come about.
I don't find myself secretive or unfriendly because I don't meet the expectations of others and I know you don't.

Why wasn't the first and second time you made this request enough for you? What is it you really want that you aren't getting?

This is actually a PRIVATE forum. It just happens (at Shawn's behest) to permit public viewing and contribution. You might consider comments posted to be "bitter, cynical, and sacrastic ad hominems". Some may consider your own to be clandestine, cyptic or dogmatic.

By the way, did you really mean "lurker" as I see no issue with lurkers as defined at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lurker . Not everyone has as much to say as you, Lindsay. Not everyone is so sure of their convictions. By the way, what is it you believe in? Currently, that is.

Lindsay, it pays not to take things too personally. There is no way to verify personal details that people post here, and so meaningful exchanges often appeal to one's sense of reason or other measure of truth. You are always free to post personal details, but there is usually no way to verify these details, and such details will make you a target for ad hominems and other acts of malice, like you already noted. Consider MySpace, overflowing with personal information but little substance. Is this what you're looking for?

I would imagine that speaking under the guise of anonymity would permit more people to speak more freely, without egoism interfering. If our personal identities are an illusion, why continue the masquerade here?

BTW, J, I found this to be an interesting dialogue with you, for a change.

Another interesting dialogue!!!!

Another valuable dialogue, eh?

I find it to be something less than meaningful.

I prefer to ponder on the future rather than the past, Lindsay.

ps Did you notice your PM?

Yes, I did. Besides writing, I do some fine art, which more than pays for itself. I have a daughter who is a professional artist, and also married to one who is. They live on a floating house. at Tofino, BC, on the west cost of Vancouver Island. Here is the area http://www.wildretreat.com/index.html

Currently I am also coaching my grandchildren in their art endeavours--brag, brag, brag..... Thanks for giving me to opportunity so to do, in my old age.

I encourage my children and grandchild, but I don't need to live through them.

But I renege - a little history - I have worked in science for quite some years. Still I have no need to change my views on it as the scientific method works just fine. For example, electrons and photons (though not the end of the story, or even a presently complete one) have for many decades been a fine enough explanation for the words you are seeing. How did you use to explain miracles?

Perhaps ironically enough, this is the sort of personal vanity I would expect to hear in the social institution called church. Not that there's anything particularly wrong with that so long as it's recognized for what it is and so long as the ego doesn't take center stage.

Very few here are interested in creating an online biography.


I prefer not to know what the members interests are because it makes the discovery of likes/dislikes etc etc far more rewarding by observing reactions to posts.

I know that you are a moderator on some of the topics so please do not detract from this forum by mundane repetition. You have posted this "Introduce yourself/Biography" " I am a unitheist" "I use the term GOD" I use the term pneuma etc etc ad nausea" type thing more than enough already. The responses from your previous queries should speak for itself whether members are interested or not.

My response to this post and by other members has been a plea to stop.

BTW, just being curious: How many of us get turned off and avoid reading biographic material published by anyone, here? I just checked one of the five pages of Introduce Yourself. Quite a few topics became hot topics and there were several thousand--five to six--clicks on just one page. Interview with Rick
Non-spurious introduction, had 17 posts and 857 clicks. Impressive.