I'm still a relative newbie, so I hope I am not speaking out of turn here.
When I first started posting here, there were a couple of very outspoken JW apologists active on the board. While I often felt they were insensitive, didn't grasp the level of hurt experienced by others here, and frequently condescending in how they spoke to people here, they could hold their own in a debate and stay on topic. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, after all.
Recently, we have had some apologists here who have added an entirely different flavour to the board. Some have gotten banned, others have not.
As Lady Lee said in another thread, "The insults have got to stop."
I am guilty of this, too. Being a survivor of abuse, having someone call us liars and belittle our feelings....I allowed their insensitive attitudes to get to me.
Certain ones have stirred up trouble in nearly every thread they post on, and they do it by hurling childish insults, posting nonsense that doesn't have anything to do with the topic and speaking more condescendingly to well-respected posters on here than Reniaa ever did.
The last couple of weeks, I have noticed this speech pattern has come out more and more ( I include myself, as well. ) Please let's not these socially inept individuals cause us to speak to each other that way, too.
Many have counselled us to ignore these individuals. I've seen that done here effectively. Either way, let's not allow ourselves to become like them.
No matter how much we are belittled or doubted for being "friends" here, I do feel a kinship and respect for almost everyone here. In fact, I can hardly even think of anyone here that I wouldn't listen to and consider what they have to say.
I hope the flavour of this board doesn't change.
Palm