Time for james to go?

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CyberLN's picture
Time for james to go?

Jameswatts' "atheists are murdering bastards" line is over the top. He is not debating. He is being hateful. That he suggests one of us leaves instead of him is such silliness.
Do the rest of you want him to go? There may be some entertainment value for folks in letting him stay.
What are your thoughts on this?

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Zaphod's picture
Personally for the time being

Personally for the time being I am conducting a bunch of personal experiments with him to further my understanding of how dense a person can actually be.

I find him to be a classic case of how nutty, biased and ignorant some theist can be. The guy is off his rocker. I don't like the idea of censoring anyone but wow he sure is a special case and he is very hateful and ignorant . He surely is not in the debate room to debate. I personally hope his rhetoric stays up in some form or another for future reference even if eventually he is not allowed to post anymore.

I've been thinking of visiting the site he has mentioned on this profile page and seeing if I can find more people like him or to see how long I could debate things where he usually hangs out before I kicked off. I would like to believe I would be much more reasonable than he would be? I went there and could not find anything posted under the username jameswatts.

But as I said, for now I am studying the guy he sure is an interesting case. I am afraid he may well be a troll though, I find it hard to believe he could unknowingly act so ignorant.

CyberLN's picture
Kewl beans, Z. I understand.

Kewl beans, Z. I understand. Do agree that his diatribe is indicative of a real, well, nut-job. Troll may be the case. Either way, this critter has big, fat control issues and exhibits, IMHO, signs of mental illness. Also have hesitation about censorship. Guess that's why I'm asking for thoughts from our community.
The struggle I have personally with his posts is how mean they feel to me. Perhaps, given the stress I'm currently under, I'm over-sensitive right now. This place has become important to me. The sense of community, and the opportunity to focus, for even a little while, on something other than what is going on personally, helps me decompress. I just don't want to give up the positive I get here because of his nastiness.
Don't mean to be a whiner, just feeling on the fragile side right now.

Zaphod's picture
Well when it come to you and

Well when it come to you and Jameswatts feel confident in knowing I got your back.

AU_Tyler_AU's picture
cyber its okay he's an ass

cyber its okay he's an ass and doesn't understand what your going through although he probably wouldn't care because he's heartless. I don't want you or any other atheists leaving this site because of him. Zaph I have tried hard to reason with him but because you don't share the same views as him he wont believe anything your saying. I wonder if we made a new account and claimed to be Christian if he would be more reasonable? It could work but I don't have the time to try or the patience anymore so if someone else wants to that would be interesting to see.

CyberLN's picture
Gotta admit I'm glad to see

Gotta admit I'm glad to see that no one has responded to the two new threads he has started...hope that holds. Maybe if we just ignore him, he will go away.

Zaphod's picture
I wondered the same thing too

I wondered the same thing too for a bit, but then he went and showed that people who call themselves Christian and don't see everything the way he does are not Christians in his mind. While billions of Christians disagree with him I think the guy needs to evaluate the word and come up with a new term to define his King James version of Christianity.

Spewer's picture
I'm conflicted on this. On

I'm conflicted on this. On the one hand, I don't like to see people banned because of their opinions. What good is a "Debate Room" when we all agree? On the other, I don't like it when pigeons crap all over my chess board.

For some years, I was a moderator then an administrator on a forum that was heavily moderated. We had very specific rules and explanations about exactly what constitutes trolling. People were allowed to attack ideas and arguments, but not other people. We issued warnings and explained precisely why a post was in violation of which rule. Anyone who was banned had plenty of warning so it wasn't a surprise.

That works well, but it takes a large staff and a lot of continuous effort, and AR may not have the resources at this time.

Here, Rule #1 is "No trolling." This guy may be keenly unaware of what that means. At the very least, I'd like to see the staff add some statement we could reference to know exactly what that means here at AR, so we could point out specific violations and make a solid case.

Zaphod's picture
I am all for setting up ways

I am all for setting up ways for the community to take some of the work of the actual moderators off their hands, like a flagging system for spam or suspected trolling where everyone gets to flag a person up to one time. After a persons account is flagged then the moderators can look into it this can go a long way toward reducing work for the moderators. Kind of why I started the report spammers here thread.

But with trolls they could just set up a new account under a new name and start all over again if they get banned. I think the best thing to set up would be a way to toggle on and off the post from users you can see from within your account. Super sweet if you could choose between setting duration of invisibility or select to have them invisible forever and choose to make them visible again. This would also be very useful when you want to see what posters in a thread are talking about who are not the two arguing something out you would rather not read about now.

CyberLN's picture
Now it looks like James is

Now it looks like James is responding to his own posts just to keep them near the top...groan....

Zaphod's picture
Yeah, and it looks like he is

Yeah, and it looks like he is getting angrier than ever. Have you noticed he has never posted to anybody else's thread?

CyberLN's picture
Have noticed that, and that

Have noticed that, and that he stops replying once someone tries pinning him down for specific answers.

Zaphod's picture
Yes he does!

Yes he does!

I will now try to find things that will push his threads off the top five just to see if he keeps responding to his own threads to bump them up and give you a moment of pleasure at not seeing his name up there!

Zaphod's picture
Look now, quickly, to see

Look now, quickly, to see what you started and rejoice! For I have succeeded in bumping him from the top five most recent comments. If only for a quick moment of your pleasure.

CyberLN's picture
You are a hero, Z! And have

You are a hero, Z! And have given me a wonderful chuckle. Thanks!

Ellie Harris's picture
CyberLN do have any copy of

CyberLN do you have any copy of this person's statements.

CyberLN's picture
His posts are in the Debate

His posts are in the Debate Room so not sure what you're asking for...

Ellie Harris's picture
If there is a specific thread

If there is a specific thread in which he stated that, then please point me that thread CyberLN so that I can deal with him.

CyberLN's picture
It's somewhere in the "why I

It's somewhere in the "why I believe atheists are going to hell" string.

Ellie Harris's picture
I'll look for it Cyber thanks

I'll look for it Cyber thanks.

Travis Paskiewicz's picture
I'm rather new to being

I'm rather new to being active on this site. But this jameswatts fellow... some of his rhetoric borderlines on a hate speech fueled by religous zeal. I'm never one for wanting to ban someone, but yeah. I read someof his follow up responses. He doesn't seem to want to debate at all. He seems to consider this some midevil zealot quest, spewing religious rants about how ignorant atheists are, how we're bad people, going to hell, and responsible for murders commited by "atheists" like Hitler, Stalin, and Mao. While entertaining as it is, and a deepseated dislike of censorship, it might be time to force an end to his religious trolling. He isn't debating anything... Just seems like he's posting hate. Not for atheists either, but all religions that aren't his own.

Ellie Harris's picture
Travis I have brought the

Travis I have brought the issue up and for now jameswatts will not be banned.

Tom Haynes's picture
I get so annoyed when James

I get so annoyed when James Watts posts something and I shoot it down instantly using sound scientific knowledge at which point its ignored and he starts a new freaking thread. I feel like he should not be aloud on here because he is not debating, he is preaching which is not productive or of benefit to anybody. Its like trying to get blood out of stone trying to get sense out of this nut job

Ellie Harris's picture
No trolling

No trolling
No spamming
No unrelated topics
No scams
No racism
No homophobic, or sexist comments
No non-english posts
No links to gory pictures or harmful websites
No threats of harm
No Advertising or Self-Promotion

For now he hasn't violated this forums guidelines. If he does then he will be removed.

Spewer's picture
Hello Ellie, and thanks for

Hello Ellie, and thanks for helping out with the forum. For my own edification, please help me understand specifically what behavior the "No trolling" rule is intended to prevent. "Trolling" can be interpreted rather differently depending on where you are, so please share the Atheist Republic definition. Thanks!

CyberLN's picture
I thought AR was supposed to

I thought AR was supposed to be a community of and for atheists. jameswatts and now soccergu seem to be changing that.

Ellie Harris's picture
A theist simply being a

A theist simply being a theist so far doesn't count as trolling. His arguments, although sad rehashed apologetics, are not trolling.

CyberLN AR is a community for atheist but the website is not restricted to atheist only. If a Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, deist, etc comes here seriously questioning his/her faith it would be great for them to meet atheists like you all. There is the AR group that is for atheist only if you wish to join.

Note that no one is obligated to reply to jameswatts or soccergu.

CyberLN's picture
I get that it is important to

I get that it is important to demonstrate availability and provide a forum for theists who are questioning their faith. I also really like debate. Neither of those things is what jameswatts and soccergu are doing. And their didactic diatribes are escalating. Notice that soc is now just lifting content, lots of it, from other xtian sites and pasting it here.
Also, I get that it is entirely my choice to stay or go. This is not my site, I don't own it. The decision to let them stay is not mine to make. I get it.
Looking forward to your answer to Spewer's request for AR's definition of trolling.

CyberLN's picture
Where is the AR group that is

Where is the AR group that is for atheists only...not seeing it. Need a map :-)

AU_Tyler_AU's picture
This is just the beginning

This is just the beginning sadly, James will bring more and more radical theists to this site until it is overrun and all the atheists wont be able to voice their own opinions. I'm sorry to all the atheists for fueling this fire by trying to reason with him when I should of stopped after the first few replies.

Ellie Harris's picture
I'm new here people, but I

I'm new here people, but I think your concerns about the forum being over run by trolls and theist is why I'm here. We at AR are working on this issue.

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