so discouraged....

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Ravyn_Guiliani

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I come to this forum because I need support and solace and comfort and stimulation and community. I am home-bound and I get out once a week to Sunday Mass and once every two weeks for Cenacle of Divine Mercy. I see my husband a few hours a day as he works irregular shifts and is on-call. I have no children and I have a few friends, but with my health challenges it is hard to make friends (I have Porphyria with seizures and cannot be in the sunlight.) BUUUUUUUTTTTTT…I come here and every time I post a new thread (or respond to someone elses’) it is highjacked by Protestant Trolls who are out to convert or just be contentious OR people who just want to argue and ‘debate’ which in most cases is nothing more than just perversity and meaness with no good work associated with it. I am so sick of it. There are two sub-forums on CAF where this behavior might be considered appropriate—the NON-Catholic Religions threads and Apologetics. Rudeness is not ever acceptable however. If these non-Catholics are not here to learn about the faith or to figure out how to be ecumenical then they are here for destruction and malice. Why are they allowed? It is so discouraging. It is getting me down and I come here to feel BETTER not worse. Where are the mods? If it does not change I am going to have to chalk CAF up with all the other contentious and mean-spirited bickering groups I have joined with high hopes only to leave disappointed and deflated. Does anyone on the internet do anything but gossip, slander, or ridicule?
The internet has opened up my lonely world, ( I met my husband of 10 years online,) but it does not seem worth the strife anymore.
😦 🤷
 
I know what you mean. I often wonder how kids are going to be with this access to the internet where there are no consequences. When I was young and you talked to people the way I’ve seen people address each other online, someone got there *** beat. Even now , I could choke some of these people. I don’t debate. I state my opinion and try to learn from what others have to say, if they get stupid, I will get stupid in my way. Not the best christian attitude, I know , but thats how I was raised. Talk is cheap. Thanks for letting me blow off some steam as well, take care, Tim
 
Greetings Ravyn,
Code: 
 I understand what you mean. However, there are enough sincere and helpful people here to make it worth it. Hang in there. 

If you come across a post that is obviously hostile or rude try clicking on the icon at the upper right of the post.

Praying for you.. btw its St Faustina,s feast day today !

May the Divine Mercy send you many graces.

Ricardo
 
I am sorry to hear that. I am somewhat new but have not really experienced that! I wonder why I am not noticing.
 
I understand how you feel. It’s great to discuss ideas but many interesting threads do seem to get hijacked.

Don’t give in to discouragement though. Let’s brainstorm for ideas that can make this forum fun! What kind of topics do you like discussing? Do you think we could form a group of people who PM each other on topics of interest rather than start a thread that’s likely to be hijacked? Maybe we could come up with a way to continue the discussion on a new thread if it starts to degenerate. Anyone else have ideas on what can be done?
 
Personally, it takes me awhile to know which forum I will do better in. From what I see, Spirituality is the one for me where I am not afraid to ask or raise a question.

Spirituality is my hood. 😃
 
Yea – to add to Water’s thought in teh Spirituality section – I have spent a good degree of time on this site and I really do think the folks that frequent this section (Spirituality) have the best “vibe” going 🙂

Don’t let the “Internet Tough Guys” get you down - many people jump on an anonymous venue just to let out their frustrations and don’t think about the fact that all these words here are typed and read by real people.
 
Ravyn_Guiliani said:
I come to this forum because I need support and solace and comfort and stimulation and community. I am home-bound and I get out once a week to Sunday Mass and once every two weeks for Cenacle of Divine Mercy. I see my husband a few hours a day as he works irregular shifts and is on-call. I have no children and I have a few friends, but with my health challenges it is hard to make friends (I have Porphyria with seizures and cannot be in the sunlight.) BUUUUUUUTTTTTT…I come here and every time I post a new thread (or respond to someone elses’) it is highjacked by Protestant Trolls who are out to convert or just be contentious OR people who just want to argue and ‘debate’ which in most cases is nothing more than just perversity and meaness with no good work associated with it. I am so sick of it. There are two sub-forums on CAF where this behavior might be considered appropriate—the NON-Catholic Religions threads and Apologetics. Rudeness is not ever acceptable however. If these non-Catholics are not here to learn about the faith or to figure out how to be ecumenical then they are here for destruction and malice. Why are they allowed? It is so discouraging. It is getting me down and I come here to feel BETTER not worse. Where are the mods? If it does not change I am going to have to chalk CAF up with all the other contentious and mean-spirited bickering groups I have joined with high hopes only to leave disappointed and deflated. Does anyone on the internet do anything but gossip, slander, or ridicule?
The internet has opened up my lonely world, ( I met my husband of 10 years online,) but it does not seem worth the strife anymore.
😦 🤷
Click to expand...
I was just chatting with another member today about this very issue. It is very, very frustrating for many of us because we see the same posters who, over and over, appear on threads for the purpose of derailing or causing conflict. And once again I find myself asking why would they bother? I have never felt compelled to visit non-C sites or pro-abortion sites, or pro-gay marriage sites to push my beliefs (and they say we are the one’s trying to push it on them!). I don’t get it. I come here for the same reason as you - a sense of support and community. It can get depressing when all you end up doing is defending your position or arguing with people who are not really interested in honest debate.

HOWEVER, on the positive side, I have sharpened my debate skills while I’ve been on CAF. I now feel better equipped to deal with detractors in the real world. I feel more qualified to defend the faith when it is attacked and answer questions when folks are confused. I’ve gotten a real education here (thanks to the many brilliant Catholics who belong to CAF) and that is invaluable.

On the practical side, you always have to power to report if you feel someone has been rude or is consistently derailing your threads. I don’t hesitate to do this if a poster displays a pattern of confrontational behavior. The mods are fabulous at responding to bad post reports. CAF is truly the most well moderated and civilized forum I’ve ever been on.

Don’t despair! CAF goes through “moods” too! Sometimes there is an influx of non-C’s who want to “convert” us. Sometimes there is a flood of atheists or agnostics or pro-gay marriage activists. For the most part, they don’t last long. After all, we have the truth here!
 
Ravyn, I feel the same way. I have questioned my conversion many times after reading the hateful responses of some of these people.But they are right, try spirituality. The people there are much more tolerant of others. Just how I thought Catholics are supposed to be.
 
Ravyn, my dear,

I am just the 🙂 “Friendly Neighborhood Methodist”, but I just want to give you :hug1: :hug3: …

It can be very frustrating to deal with some of the people who come here for their own reasons.

I just hope that I am:crying: not one of the people who has upset you so much. If I have ever said anything that:crying: caused you distress, please, please forgive me.

I am also disabled. I live alone, & CAF has been a great blessing to me. I enjoy your thoughtful posts:yup: very much.
Again,(((((((Ravyn))))))) :console:

:blessyou:

in His Name & in His service,
Zooey
 
dale(name removed by moderator) said:
Ravyn, I feel the same way. I have questioned my conversion many times after reading the hateful responses of some of these people.But they are right, try spirituality. The people there are much more tolerant of others. Just how I thought Catholics are supposed to be.
Click to expand...
:hug1: :hug1: for you too!!🙂
 
Zooey said:
Ravyn, my dear,

I am just the 🙂 “Friendly Neighborhood Methodist”, but I just want to give you :hug1: :hug3: …

:blessyou:

in His Name & in His service,
Zooey
Click to expand...
Indeed, you are a very friendly one and one who has many smiley icons from outter space. 😃 😉

God bless you.
 
Whenever I get a bit discouraged on the forums, I go up to the Library here at CA (always good stuff to read) and once, when the forums were down last year for what seemed like FOREVER, I got through all the back issues online of THIS ROCK. (also linked here at CA). I recommend starting at the beginning and working through–for one thing, a lot of the questions we get here on the forums over and over are addressed in these earlier issues (and even recent ones) of This Rock, and it can be really helpful to get the insight. Then after some reading, one can come back to the forums and feel a bit better ‘armed’ for some of the harder debaters!
 
It is so hard at times to remain christin-like. You can always use the ignore button if any poster goes to far…🙂
 
I guess I feel differently from some of you on this subject. I’m a prayer warrior here on CAF. I tend to pray for these people and I’m so glad they have joined our site…just allows me to have a chance to pray for them and let them know that I’m praying. Be glad for each and every one of them…God is their father too!! He may be placing a seed in them and it is our responsibility to make sure it grows…Don’t kill the tender reed.

If you get aggrivated then go to the prayer forum and read some of the post there… These people really need prayer!!

🙂
 
For me, the sub-forums that I like are spirituality, prayer intention and liturgy. Try to spend more time in prayer intention. I, myself, is a prayer warrior, although I was less active the past 2 months due to exam/holiday.

But today, when I spent time in prayer intention sub-forum, I realised that I’m blessed with everything that I have. I’m not the most miserable person on earth (although I’m always tempted to think that way) and yes, I couldn’t have pity-party when there are people need my prayer. 🙂

You may want to pray for the people who are uncharitable in CAF. 😉
 
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