Posts by wearywolf282

rowdyhawk10 said:The definition of a forum is well known; I suppose I am just clarifying the specific rules of this forum for you. 🙂 You might want to check here under rule number 7 of our guidelines, which states:

• Top-level threads regarding major world religions are intended to be spaces where followers of those faiths can discuss their beliefs in a civilized manner and answer questions from others. Consequently, these areas are specifically protected from provocation, proselytizing, arguments, and similar behavior. Please strive to remain particularly respectful in these sections.

This is a rule that you are expected to both understand and follow.

1. I have already explained the situation to you here. If you look at the bottom of that post, there is some text highlighted in blue. For the sake of everyone else following this thread, I will repeat it: In the "Religion" sub-forum, there are five special pinned threads dedicated to the major world religions (Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, and Hinduism), and they always stay at the top. In these threads, people from other faiths ask followers of the featured religion questions about their beliefs. These five topics aren't like any other standard thread; they are governed by SPECIAL rules. Specifically, you cannot enter the Islam 114 thread to promote Christianity, nor can a Muslim enter the pinned Christianity thread to promote Islam. We penalize that behavior. The thread "ISLAM 114 Questions and 114 Answers, Part II" is one of those five pinned threads. Its purpose isn't for you to spread Christianity or argue about the validity of the Prophet Muhammad—it is for you to ask about Islam and receive answers from us. I think I mentioned before that if you weren't satisfied with an answer, or if you felt our beliefs were incorrect, you could simply start your own thread to share your perspective on the Muslim faith. I would be the first to join that discussion, as would many other Muslims. But instead, you seemed quite intent on using this specific thread for proselytizing.🙄

2. Furthermore, I did not issue a penalty immediately; rather, I first attempted to politely direct you toward the rules. I explained everything and asked you—quite civilly, I might add—to refrain from Christian proselytizing in a pinned thread dedicated to Islam. You chose to ignore my explanations and my attempt to clarify the forum rules that apply to everyone, continuing with the same practice (Christian missionary work within the pinned thread, essentially trying to disprove Islam). It was only after that warning that you received a penalty. As I noted in the blue text earlier: if you wish to critique Islam, there are plenty of other threads on the forum for that, just not the Islam 114 thread, as that isn't its function. So, I suppose I am the one at fault now because you are protesting?

Frankly, the entire principle here is fundamentally flawed and completely nonsensical.
As far as I am concerned, forums exist for debate, not for a handful of people to lecture the masses about some religion. If someone wants information, they should turn to informative portals or scholarly books written by recognized experts—not a few individuals who show up on a forum because of certain connections just to preach to an uneducated crowd (often while hovering on the edge of being offensive or outright insulting). If the goal is merely to allow people to pat their allies on the back while any form of dissent is shut down, then the whole purpose of this forum evaporates.

rowdyhawk10—listen, I have a suggestion for you:
Compile that list of 114 questions and answers (since that’s how the thread is titled anyway). Post them as a static link—somewhere where nobody can comment unless they want to face immediate rebuttal—and everyone will be happy. That way, we won't ever have to deal with these issues again!

I have some grievances regarding the moderator operating under the handle "rowdyhawk10," and because I stumbled upon an entire thread dedicated to him—quite by accident, I might add—I feel compelled to weigh in here, with all due respect to the community.

The crux of the matter involves my contributions to a thread titled 'Islam - 114 Questions, 114 Answers.' Because of my recent post on this site, I was slapped with an infraction via private message—specifically regarding this post:

This infraction, or warning, stems from what rowdyhawk10 characterizes as 'proselytizing' within my message; essentially, he claims I am promoting my own religion.
The issue, however, is that Mr. rowdyhawk10 is a Muslim, which suggests a potential bias. I want to bring this to the attention of the site owners. Usually, you see a diverse group of moderators on online forums, but here, I see only rowdyhawk10. It would be prudent to have an atheist, an agnostic, a Buddhist, or someone else entirely—someone who isn't Muslim—serving alongside him. This would prevent rowdyhawk10 from being in a position where he is inadvertently contradicting himself or using the forum as a platform for 'missionary' work. I will explain why this constitutes proselytizing at the end of this critique.

The reality is that in order for me to demonstrate why I disagree with certain tenets of Islam, I have to present my own perspective and my own beliefs as laid out in the Bible. Apparently, the moderator found this distasteful, and thus, I received an infraction.

If I perceive something to be incorrect or a falsehood, I am going to explain precisely why I hold that view.

It’s no different from how I feel when someone asserts that Jesus is not the Son of God; I simply believe in granting others the freedom of speech to express their views.
It appears this particular Muslim faction is acting with a clear bias.

A second, far more significant issue is the way this specific thread has been structured.
In this thread, we have several self-proclaimed experts on the Quran (who may or may not actually be experts) who, seemingly bolstered by a close friendship with rowdyhawk10, have taken it upon themselves to instruct and "inform" forum visitors about Islam. In doing so, they are effectively "missionaries"—yet they aren't getting hit with infractions, even though the entire premise of the thread seems designed for that very purpose.
As a user, if these individuals are presenting themselves as authorities with the power to intervene, I would be curious to know exactly what kind of authority they claim to have to "teach" others about Islam.

It sounds rather arrogant, doesn't it? To "teach" everyone else—but that is exactly how this thread is conceived.

Let me be clear: this is a FORUM. It is a place meant for the exchange of ideas, not a lecture hall where a handful of self-appointed experts peddle their wisdom through a Q&A format just to promote their own views—especially when dissenting opinions are not tolerated.

The opening of that topic reads as follows:
"In this thread, we, the Muslims of this forum, will answer questions about ISLAM.
The answers will follow the Hanafi school of law. If answers from other schools are given, they should be noted."
"Almighty Allah willed that we open this new thread; here is the link to the old one."
Notice that no professional credentials or official oversight are mentioned. And even if they were, a forum is a venue for debate—not a tool for 'missionary work' or religious promotion, which, in a stroke of pure absurdity, is exactly what I was flagged for.

To the owners and staff of this site: wake up.
If someone wants to build an informative propaganda portal, they should go ahead and do that, but they should probably learn the actual definition of the word "forum" first.