Posts by Chris Peterson53

bluemason3 said:Yeah, moderators—you should be ashamed of yourselves... 😁

🤣

...shame on you, former moderator...😂

frozenowl3 said:It’s called being disappointed in the system, not being aggressive.

You heterosexuals are the ones being aggressive—constantly bringing up "healing" as if we’re some kind of disease. To me, that feels incredibly violent and aggressive. Besides, since when did you people develop telepathy to know exactly what "tone" I’m using?

You guys are hilarious. Forum management? Zero stars.

P.S. Why would I even care? Aside from the first few pages, predators are trying to shove the idea that homosexuality is curable down my throat in a thread that has absolutely nothing to do with that. And you don't even ban them? You call yourselves moderators?

Oh, please.
That’s basically the requirement for being a moderator here...😂

Since you clearly have that same "telepathy" you claim I have, I guess you just *know* that everyone who is heterosexual is inherently aggressive and violent...
And honestly, how can you claim to be a victim... when you don't even know who these people are or what they stand for?
bluemason3 already pointed out exactly where you're failing—both in your logic and your attitude...
If you find it this difficult to accept objective criticism... I don't even know what else to say.

I’m asking for this thread to be locked...

🙂
Well, we'll see about that!
Honestly, you didn't need that tone at the end of your list—it doesn't exactly help your case if you’re actually looking for an honest debate or some genuine feedback on your topic.
Getting worked up leads nowhere, especially on a forum like this...😉

I'm going to temporarily lock this thread so I can touch base with my colleagues, then I'll reopen it. Once it's back up, the responsibility falls on you as the author to monitor it and give us a heads-up if things start veering off track—after all, none of us are logged in here 24/7.

We aren't going to play nitpicker, are we?
Go ahead—list the specific posts you think are problematic right here. We'll take a look and decide if they actually warrant deletion, but let’s be clear: don't forget to include your own posts where you're just spamming the board, too.

granitesurfer36 said:The admins might tell me this thread is in the wrong section, but I honestly feel like I need some professional perspective here. This is the third time in my life I’ve found myself as the "other woman"—call it whatever you want—and every single one of these relationships has been devastating for me. It looks like this third one is following the same destructive pattern, yet I still can't seem to just say no.

What is actually wrong with me?

It is entirely possible that you aren't recognizing your own worth—meaning, on a subconscious level, you are seeking out what already belonged to someone else. Essentially, you are living a borrowed life by stepping into someone else's shoes.
Typically, a lack of self-esteem and those feelings of inadequacy are rooted in your upbringing—specifically within your family dynamic and how you were treated growing up.
In households with multiple siblings, if parents—whether they realize it or not—consistently favor one child over the others, they can instill that sense of inferiority; it creates an inability to build a life from the ground up,
leaving that child perpetually stuck playing a supporting role in someone else's story.
Similarly, overly critical or domineering parents can plant those same seeds of doubt through constant criticism or a total lack of validation and support—even if they only have one child.
If you have identified a pattern that isn't working for you, you can take steps to fix it yourself—by truly reflecting on your own value and realizing you don't need to play these roles. You don't need to settle for "hand-me-downs," if you'll excuse the metaphor.
But, if you find you can't break the cycle on your own, then yes, you really do need to see a therapist...

velvetranger16 said:I firmly believe that honesty is always the right path, provided that what you have to say isn't delivered in an insulting manner. It is certainly not the same as telling a friend: "Your wife is cheating on you and everyone is laughing at you behind your back because you're such an idiot!"
Compare that to saying: "I've heard some things. I really don't want to hurt you, but perhaps you should look into who your wife is spending her time with."

And that’s the bottom line. You were honest, yet you didn't cause any unnecessary offense.

😉

Whether you sugarcoat it or not, information like that is sharper than a razor,
and it can wreck a man and his marriage because:
-he might already know but isn't ready to face the music—so by bringing it up, you're cornering him, humiliating him, or forcing a choice he isn't prepared to make (like a massive blowout fight or a divorce).
-or he genuinely doesn't know, and suddenly his entire world collapses, leaving him in total agony and heartbreak...
This is just one random example, but honestly? Honesty isn't some flag you should wave around recklessly without considering the wreckage you leave in your wake.
In fact, that old American proverb:
"Speech is silver, but silence is golden"
perfectly captures the idea that nothing—not even honesty or the truth—is universally applicable in every single situation...☕

Jeremy Palmer66 said:I’m not trying to start a whole new thread here since this is more about my personal life and animals, but I just need to vent... I care about dogs to an almost unhealthy degree. Like, it’s not even funny. I volunteer at the local shelter, I have two rescues that I pulled right off the streets, and I basically end up feeding half the stray dogs in town... It’s a lot. Every time I read some heartbreaking story about a sick or abandoned dog—or worse, one that didn't make it—it absolutely destroys me. I can't shake it for days. Just constant crying, feeling depressed, everything... I don't know what happened to me, but that’s just how I've been the last few years. I get this overwhelming, heavy feeling that I’m somehow responsible for every single animal in the country, and like... it's my fault they're being neglected or hurt. Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with this?

Since I just made an incredibly difficult decision today—to put my 17-year-old dog to sleep after he spent the last few days in agonizing pain—I feel I should speak up. He was still lucid, too; he somehow knew what I had decided, and the look in his eyes... it's absolutely gut-wrenching. Dogs have souls—there isn't a person alive who could convince me otherwise.
My vet actually warned me nearly a year ago that we'd reach this point. He suggested euthanasia before the suffering became unbearable, but I couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger. To me, it felt like a betrayal of a loyal friend. But now? I can't even bear to look at him or listen to him breathe...
I understand exactly what drives you and why you suffer through the misery of these animals...
You aren't "crazy"—you simply possess an extreme level of empathy for helpless creatures that endure so much cruelty and injustice at the hands of people, all while being completely dependent on us...
What you're feeling is a sense of responsibility for the inhumanity directed toward animals; you are essentially grieving the lack of compassion in the world.
How to fix it? Honestly, I can't offer much advice because I am also in deep mourning today—but this is my dog, my companion for 17 years.
And believe me, I feel that same ache even when it doesn't involve my own pets, especially dogs...
I feel a sense of outrage and disbelief at human callousness—because that same coldness applies to people just as much as it does to animals.
People who abuse animals would just as easily hurt humans if they weren't so terrified of the legal consequences.
There is a theory about why some people form such intense bonds with specific species, but that's beside the point here—it usually involves reincarnation.

For the restless ones,
today, I even found myself wishing I had never owned an animal at all, just so I wouldn't have to endure this kind of pain.
But then I remembered: that same dog was a stray puppy when I found him. Because of me, he had a good life and true security.
And I truly believe it was worth it.
Just as I had to take responsibility for his life by adopting him, I have to take this final responsibility for his death.

Christian Morris80 said:Well, since the admins and the tech crew haven't bothered to fix the issue—fine—I guess it’s up to us users to step in and handle it ourselves. Sorted. So, you really think just slapping AdBlock on your browser is going to solve everything? Please. It’s a start, I guess, if you're looking for a quick fix—but let's be honest, it isn't a magic wand. You think that one little extension is going to shield you from every single tracking script and data grabber out there? Not even close. 🙂

Don't count your chickens before they hatch!😂
I’ve had this installed for ages now, and honestly? I’m running into the exact same wall you all are. It’s clear to me that the issue isn't with the software itself—it's obviously rooted in something else entirely.😉

You’ve barely even scratched the surface of what is a massive legal, ethical, philosophical, and religious quagmire here.

In the West, this whole mess is handled through constitutional rights and strict legal frameworks.
The right to know one's own medical diagnosis belongs exclusively to the adult patient—period.
Unless they give explicit consent, that information cannot be shared with anyone, not even immediate family or spouses.
For those under legal guardianship, the diagnosis and prognosis are disclosed to the guardian.
And for minors? It goes to the parents or legal guardians.
Now, how—and at what specific moment or under what circumstances—one should disclose a potentially fatal diagnosis to anyone is an entirely separate debate.
Only doctors have the authority to deliver such news.
Other staff members—nurses, technicians, and so on—simply don't have that right.
Disclosing a diagnosis to anyone who isn't legally entitled to that information is a criminal offense.

In extreme emergencies (like when someone is in a coma), the diagnosis is given to the next of kin or legal partners.

But what’s actually happening in our country? To put it bluntly: it’s a total disaster.
Diagnoses and patient statuses are being leaked left and right based on nothing more than social connections or "who knows whom."
And frankly, it’s going to keep happening until someone finally decides to slap someone else with a massive lawsuit...

fadedsailor932 said:..look, this isn't some hyper-specialized "literary" forum. It should be obvious by now that we can't just keep splitting things up until they're overly niche—it’s just not practical. And don't take this personally, but the Literature section isn't exactly some massive, high-traffic PDF library either. I'm saying we can have our divisions, sure, but let's be real: people come to the Literature section to find new books and share their thoughts on them—not to hold deep seminars on literary theory or linguistics. Honestly, the engagement levels on these topics pretty much prove my point...

That being said, I would actually welcome a dedicated thread for contemporary American literature and authors. They are embarrassingly overlooked—though, I agree, we shouldn't turn it into a playground for theoretical debates about literature and the Linguistics Department—mostly because publishers seem obsessed with flooding the market with foreign junk... it's all just a race to the bottom for $6.75. Meanwhile, we have local authors who are genuinely worth reading.
I'm often stunned when I stumble upon a work by an American author I've never even heard of, simply because there's zero marketing behind it.
A specific forum topic could provide a much-needed overview.
Why not give it a shot and see if it gains any traction?

Susan Green15 said:The question was actually framed around the idea that believers constantly insist God is both good and just, yet simultaneously allow children to die from illnesses despite having the knowledge required to prevent it.
I personally have no issue with the theory that God granted us intelligence and left us to struggle through life on our own terms. However, we cannot claim such a being is good or righteous if He sits idly by without intervening. It really boils down to contradictions that believers simply choose to ignore.
Imagine you were dying in the street after a car accident, and instead of helping, passersby just walked right past you—or worse, they stopped to grab a burger and a soda, sat down next to you, and watched you expire rather than calling 911 on their cell phones. I am merely pointing out that such people are cruel.
By that same logic, if God created the world along with the early viruses and bacteria that cause us to fall ill and die, then He designed a world specifically intended for suffering and misery. In my view, that is the hallmark of an evil being.

And just how far should He go in preventing the death of every single individual?
Maybe we should just grant humanity immortality...☕

I’m all for this request—honestly, I almost swapped out some of the other forum members myself at first... 😉

Rebecca Sanders37 said:Honestly, happiness is nothing but a total state of mind! It’s got absolutely zero to do with whatever random stuff is happening around you. You're basically the architect of your own reality, right? You get to build your own joy and decide exactly how you want to face life. It’s all about mastering that art of living!

🙂

If that were actually true, then the people sleeping under the Brooklyn Bridge—the homeless—would be perfectly content even when they haven't eaten in days; or all those people across this country who rarely have enough to eat but are supposedly "happy" just because they have some roof over their heads...😉

I’m not particularly interested in this universal principle of "happiness" within this specific discussion. What I'm looking at is that one specific trait (which is both evident and objective)—this supposed gift some people possess... where material goods just seem to fall from the sky without them lifting a finger.
And I'm certainly not convinced it's their "state of mind" making it happen—because that would imply their mental state somehow influences the minds of others, causing them to leave money behind for them, or perhaps influencing the masses... even down to those who (for instance) lose their wallets only to have them found by very specific individuals...

Take my relative, for example. This man hasn't spent a single millisecond truly reflecting on anything in his entire life—he exists completely outside the bounds of self-awareness in every possible way. 😉
Honestly? I wouldn't trade the quality of his lifestyle for my own, regardless of how exhausting my own existence can be...
He suffered a massive loss due to his reckless spending—his child was murdered because the killers assumed the father was so loaded he'd pay any ransom, though they ended up killing the victim instead—and yet, it didn't lead him to reflect on whether he (at least in my estimation) caused his child's death. He just keeps living exactly the same way, behaving exactly the same way.

briskbison62 said:Hahahaha, oh man, it sounds like your cousin definitely wants that kind of karma, doesn't he?! People usually say someone like that is just "blessed" (or maybe just totally clueless)! 😂 Honestly, I don't know how much of that is actually luck or good karma. Isn't it supposed to be that the best students get the hardest assignments?! Is everything really going great if it's *too* easy? There's that saying that you should even thank Bog for the bad times, too—since we can't see the big picture, we have no idea what those struggles might be preparing us for... I look at people sometimes who just breeze through life—they aren't exactly hustling, nor are they particularly moral, yet nothing ever seems to go wrong for them... But maybe it's like a video game, where the first level is super easy, but as you level up, things get way more intense and complicated... 🤷 And then you have those people who stay completely superficial and never grow, almost like Bog gave up on them because even a little bit of hardship wouldn't be enough to make them learn anything... 🤷

Given everything I've dealt with from childhood until now, it looks like I was a pretty damn good student... 😂

If that’s how it works, then my karma regarding this whole situation is pretty pathetic... honestly, yuck!
I’ve had to sweat and grind for absolutely everything I have. In all my life, I’ve won at a casino exactly once—and even then, it was a tiny amount. If I could just get my hands on a 20-carat diamond, I wouldn't even be able to afford it... 😂
A twenty-dollar bill could practically stick to my shoe and I probably wouldn't even notice it lying there... damn this karma, though I suppose I have to make peace with it, seeing as I know people whose luck is even more disastrous than mine...
Let’s be real: I’m not envious of anyone—don't get me wrong. Not even my cousin. This guy didn't even blink when he inherited a few hundred thousand dollars; he immediately went out and bought a luxury car worth maybe $80,000, only to crash it while drunk three days later. He sent the wreck straight to the scrapyard since he luckily escaped without a scratch, and then just ordered another one... then he bought his son a 1,000-square-foot condo right in the heart of NYC for his wedding. He burned through the cash in about three months, but then, before even a couple of weeks had passed, more money just fell from the sky for him... in a way you couldn't even imagine if you tried...
One spiritual advisor actually tried to explain it to me—that because my cousin doesn't value money or material things at all, they just seem to gravitate toward him effortlessly...

Is there any way to actually change your karma????

Or what about those people who just seem to have the universe on their side? I’m talking about folks who aren't even religious—so they don't credit God for their luck—and they don't buy into any spiritual "law of attraction" nonsense either. They’re just the type of people who happen to trip over a twenty-dollar bill on a sidewalk, or find a piece of jewelry just lying there. Or maybe they answer some random trivia question out of sheer boredom and walk away with a massive prize. Even that scenario where a wealthy aunt leaves her entire estate to one specific person instead of her twenty other nieces and nephews—even when that person barely spent any time looking after her...
Recently, a cousin of mine—someone who fits this description perfectly—inherited everything from another relative,
who didn't leave a single cent to their own immediate family.
Knowing plenty of other people blessed with this strange kind of luck, I've been sitting here wondering why, but I haven't found an answer... 😉
How do you actually explain these kinds of occurrences?
Is it pure predestination?
Some subconscious power to attract material wealth? ☕

In principle, I’m on the same page as rustydrifter10 and Michelle Phillips54, but there’s another angle we need to consider:
this forum is an open space meant for everyone. Unless someone is actively misleading people or breaking specific rules—the ones clearly laid out in our guidelines—we don't have the right to just exclude them simply because we think they're talking nonsense... (not that most people even agree with that assessment, anyway 😉).
That's why the rest of the participants in this thread are here—to call him out and prove his claims are baseless.

Besides, readers need to see exactly what isn't tolerated here. Otherwise, how are they supposed to know the boundaries before they decide to jump into the conversation? There are plenty of lurkers who read everything without ever becoming official members.
If and when the forum leadership decides to change how we handle this, we'll adapt accordingly.

The President’s term is up in about 25 days!
We don't just hand out anyone's email address without their explicit permission.
If you're claiming this is urgent, why on earth did you make your contact info public here? I've already sent him a message—along with your email address!

Just like I said here

Just sit tight and wait for the head moderator's ruling!

But clearly, you don't have an ounce of patience for that, do you?

So, despite having your initial post scrubbed,
-you were warned with a note to stop spamming
(meaning: quit lecturing me about "moderator bias" or how "necessary" this topic is),
because until there's an official decision, there is absolutely nothing left for us to debate—whether my choice to lock the thread was right or wrong.
-then, after your post was deleted without even a strike,
you go ahead and repost the exact content that was removed, adding even more commentary on top? That is textbook trolling.
And that’s exactly why you got a strike!

Susan Price30 said:1. This thread has been active since July 2010—the whole assumption was that we were talking about "cleaning up" those last few pages where things had veered off into an undesirable direction.

2. Please save that tone and attitude for someone else or some other venue. I asked because I actually wanted an answer, so if you could skip the patronizing tone and the constant barrage of imperative sentences ending in exclamation points, that would be great.

thx

If you were actually interested in that kind of thing, you would have reached out to the moderator privately instead of opening yet another duplicate thread here.
So much for your lecture on patronizing.