Why did "Why so many Atheists" thread got deleted?

[Anonymous]

Religious participants of the Religion forum had a frank conversation with atheists regarding them derailing religion topics. Many people on both sides provided extensive explanation and arguments. Why did it get deleted?

[jsteele]

It had devolved to simple name calling and while it was certainly frank, could hardly be described as a “discussion” any longer.

[Anonymous]

Before it descended into name calling it had many, many useful posts. It was the first time that this kind of frank discussion that could have left positive impact on the Religion forum actually materialized. You have now destroyed the gains that could have been gotten by this discussion on the issue that has hogged the religion forum for a long time. Many people put a lot of effort into the thread. I think you should really reconsider your approach and not delete threads on a whim without understanding the whole context and history.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:It had devolved to simple name calling and while it was certainly frank, could hardly be described as a “discussion” any longer.

I disagree. It demonstrates the open, sometimes-unwarranted hostility towards all atheists.

[Anonymous]

Out of curiosity, was the thread started by a frequent pot-stirrer on other forums?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Before it descended into name calling it had many, many useful posts. It was the first time that this kind of frank discussion that could have left positive impact on the Religion forum actually materialized. You have now destroyed the gains that could have been gotten by this discussion on the issue that has hogged the religion forum for a long time. Many people put a lot of effort into the thread. I think you should really reconsider your approach and not delete threads on a whim without understanding the whole context and history.

I did not read more than the first few posts but I appreciate OP asking the questions.

The atheists are so hostile, aggressive and evangelistic on the religious forum, way more than any other religion.

If they truly securely believe it is all nothing then a) why are they on the religion forum and b) Why do they try to so aggressively argue their points?

Gone are the days of Penguin Six. The dcum atheists of today are neither thoughtful nor rational. They are incapable of respectful or insightful discourse and are just mean and small minded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Before it descended into name calling it had many, many useful posts. It was the first time that this kind of frank discussion that could have left positive impact on the Religion forum actually materialized. You have now destroyed the gains that could have been gotten by this discussion on the issue that has hogged the religion forum for a long time. Many people put a lot of effort into the thread. I think you should really reconsider your approach and not delete threads on a whim without understanding the whole context and history.

I did not read more than the first few posts but I appreciate OP asking the questions.

The atheists are so hostile, aggressive and evangelistic on the religious forum, way more than any other religion.

If they truly securely believe it is all nothing then a) why are they on the religion forum and b) Why do they try to so aggressively argue their points?

Gone are the days of Penguin Six. The dcum atheists of today are neither thoughtful nor rational. They are incapable of respectful or insightful discourse and are just mean and small minded.

Ok, pot.

[Anonymous]

I think there were a lot of thoughtful replies and responses from Atheists.

It did devolve into "I don't believe you, here's why you're really here" completely ignoring those responses, and presuming bad intent.

There were at least a couple responses by people of faith that actually read and understood the atheist responses, but it was overrun by (some) people so insecure in their faith that they couldn't digest alternative ideas or viewpoints.

[Anonymous]

Agree with pp that it helped air some of the problems. But perhaps that’s all, and I don’t think it will lead to increased tolerance or even self-awareness on the part of the atheists it was directed at.

Many of the problems were aired in real time on that thread. For example, the complete inability of some atheists to grasp that posting “I’m an atheist because of XYZ” is not a useful answer to every and all religion threads and actually is a derailment. Other atheists on the thread asserted their intention to keep trolling religion threads just for their own amusement. You also deleted their smirking and content-free “Why so many Christians?” thread last night.

So the main accomplishment of that thread was to demonstrate, in real time, why few religious people participate in the Religion forum.

It would have been helpful if you had just deleted the name-calling (in which I admit to participating, out of sheer frustration) and left the atheist behavior on that thread exposed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think there were a lot of thoughtful replies and responses from Atheists.

It did devolve into "I don't believe you, here's why you're really here" completely ignoring those responses, and presuming bad intent.

There were at least a couple responses by people of faith that actually read and understood the atheist responses, but it was overrun by (some) people so insecure in their faith that they couldn't digest alternative ideas or viewpoints.

Please. The atheist responses on that thread are easily categorized.
1. Let me ignore the thread topic and tell you why I’m an atheist
2. Oh goodie, another chance to troll believers
3. If you don’t like my bad behavior, it’s because you’re insecure in your faith, not because my derailments and trolling are making it impossible to have a conversation (see above).
4. Some thoughtful replies by atheists that could be counted on one hand.

Only a tiny percent of the atheist participants on that thread actually wanted to join a discussion on the thread topic. Wish the moderator had left it up so this would be evident.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think there were a lot of thoughtful replies and responses from Atheists.

It did devolve into "I don't believe you, here's why you're really here" completely ignoring those responses, and presuming bad intent.

There were at least a couple responses by people of faith that actually read and understood the atheist responses, but it was overrun by (some) people so insecure in their faith that they couldn't digest alternative ideas or viewpoints.

Please. The atheist responses on that thread are easily categorized.
1. Let me ignore the thread topic and tell you why I’m an atheist
2. Oh goodie, another chance to troll believers
3. If you don’t like my bad behavior, it’s because you’re insecure in your faith, not because my derailments and trolling are making it impossible to have a conversation (see above).
4. Some thoughtful replies by atheists that could be counted on one hand.

Only a tiny percent of the atheist participants on that thread actually wanted to join a discussion on the thread topic. Wish the moderator had left it up so this would be evident.

Case in point.

[Anonymous]

OP here - Mr. Steele - if you are on the side of atheists and do not want to support balanced discussions and positive turn around in the Religion forum that could have resulted from the thread that you deleted, why don't you rename the Religion forum into Atheist forum?
Others, besides me, told you numerous times that atheist are derailing every topic on the Religion forum and you chose to ignore those complains. Most religious people of all faiths have left and the forum has lost its purpose. With you deleting this thread that could have been a turnaround in the way things are discussed, why simply not rename the forum to Atheism forum and open another forum called Belief forum where religious people of all faiths can congregate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think there were a lot of thoughtful replies and responses from Atheists.

It did devolve into "I don't believe you, here's why you're really here" completely ignoring those responses, and presuming bad intent.

There were at least a couple responses by people of faith that actually read and understood the atheist responses, but it was overrun by (some) people so insecure in their faith that they couldn't digest alternative ideas or viewpoints.

Please. The atheist responses on that thread are easily categorized.
1. Let me ignore the thread topic and tell you why I’m an atheist
2. Oh goodie, another chance to troll believers
3. If you don’t like my bad behavior, it’s because you’re insecure in your faith, not because my derailments and trolling are making it impossible to have a conversation (see above).
4. Some thoughtful replies by atheists that could be counted on one hand.

Only a tiny percent of the atheist participants on that thread actually wanted to join a discussion on the thread topic. Wish the moderator had left it up so this would be evident.

Case in point.

Exactly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Before it descended into name calling it had many, many useful posts. It was the first time that this kind of frank discussion that could have left positive impact on the Religion forum actually materialized. You have now destroyed the gains that could have been gotten by this discussion on the issue that has hogged the religion forum for a long time. Many people put a lot of effort into the thread. I think you should really reconsider your approach and not delete threads on a whim without understanding the whole context and history.

I did not read more than the first few posts but I appreciate OP asking the questions.

The atheists are so hostile, aggressive and evangelistic on the religious forum, way more than any other religion.

If they truly securely believe it is all nothing then a) why are they on the religion forum and b) Why do they try to so aggressively argue their points?

Gone are the days of Penguin Six. The dcum atheists of today are neither thoughtful nor rational. They are incapable of respectful or insightful discourse and are just mean and small minded.

Agree 100%. Many (not all) of the atheists adopt the smirking, nasty approach of kids gleefully vandalizing somebody else’s stuff. The aggressive proselytizing for atheism wouldn’t bother me if it didn’t take the form of trashing threads with insults and abuse with the apparent goal of making conversation impossible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - Mr. Steele - if you are on the side of atheists and do not want to support balanced discussions and positive turn around in the Religion forum that could have resulted from the thread that you deleted, why don't you rename the Religion forum into Atheist forum?
Others, besides me, told you numerous times that atheist are derailing every topic on the Religion forum and you chose to ignore those complains. Most religious people of all faiths have left and the forum has lost its purpose. With you deleting this thread that could have been a turnaround in the way things are discussed, why simply not rename the forum to Atheism forum and open another forum called Belief forum where religious people of all faiths can congregate.

Here is the forum description:

Discussion of religion. Please try to respect differing views and traditions. Also, please try not to be easily offended.