Christian forums vs Reddit

[Prodigal7]

Hi Everyone.

Do you think Christian Forums is shrinking?

I don’t do too much online Orthodoxy but I think there is a lot of stuff on Reddit. There is lot of rubbish there to which is why I don’t use it much.

‘Any thoughts? I am sitting in an airport now waiting for a delayed plane…


Prodigal7

 

[ArmyMatt]

personally, I never gave that much thought. CF ebbs and flows in terms of activity.

 

[rusmeister]

It’s been on the ebb for a while now.
I don’t want to go around finding “new communities”.

 

[Dewi Sant]

I'm still here, tend to check the forum every day or so, but yes, certainly not the hive of activity it was back in the 2000s.
I sometimes look at Reddit and such sites, but I find the overall tone quite polemic.
Would rather have restrained quietude than outright fighting for the sake of noise

 

[gzt]

CF was dying but is now in some kind of stasis. The moderators on the reddit Orthodoxy forum keep things on a pretty even keel. But there are a lot of low quality questions.

 

[E.C.]

CF is stagnant. It was great in the 2000s when I joined, but in some ways the site shot itself in the foot and in others its just suffering the general trend away from message boards that's been going on since Facebook took over the world. I like my TAW "family".

The Eastern Orthodoxy subreddit isn't bad, but it gets very polemic. To their credit, the mods there are very active and good about keeping things (mostly) peaceful. One of them used to be Kyriaki on here. I remember OrthodoxyUSA posted on Reddit once asking about CF.

 

[rusmeister]

I guess another thing for me is that I’ve said everything that can be said. People heard me or didn’t, it was helpful or it wasn’t.
I’m in a spiritual and material dead end and waiting for something to happen. I’m a dinosaur even among my fellow believers with my silly old-fashioned ideas, such as of marriage as a permanent and sacred thing, my contempt for modernity, modern education and the whole connection between what is modern and what is fashionable and passing, my desire to return to a lost and vanished America and my complete inability to return even to today’s America.

I feel that here I’ve said it all. Occasionally others here have said helpful things. I still pop in because the Faith still matters to me and I have few outlets in English.

 

[HoleyHermit]

Shrinking? Perhaps to fade into the aether? But I just got back. Rage, rage, against the flying of the kite.

My path has meandered through many strange and curious lands. I have been infused with the acumen of cats and my baptismal robe awaits.

 

[Platina]

Reddit is certainly more active, but it's also much more problematic. You have to take much of what's said there with a grain of salt, and the mods are certainly on the liberal side.

 

[E.C.]

Reddit is certainly more active, but it's also much more problematic. You have to take much of what's said there with a grain of salt, and the mods are certainly on the liberal side.

How so? How are they liberal?

 

[gzt]

How so? How are they liberal?

well, they seem to think that Fr Peter Heers is operating outside of episcopal authority rather than really truly secretly somehow being under some bishop somewhere, he'll get it sorted out soon, really. And also think that it should be against the rules to question the Orthodoxy of other posters.

 

[prodromos]

well, they seem to think that Fr Peter Heers is operating outside of episcopal authority rather than really truly secretly somehow being under some bishop somewhere, he'll get it sorted out soon, really. And also think that it should be against the rules to question the Orthodoxy of other posters.

Fr Peter must be living rent free in your head.

 

[rusmeister]

well, they seem to think that Fr Peter Heers is operating outside of episcopal authority rather than really truly secretly somehow being under some bishop somewhere, he'll get it sorted out soon, really. And also think that it should be against the rules to question the Orthodoxy of other posters.

My wife’s best friend thinks a lot like you, gzt.
We have been writing a little civilly, she keeps sending me posts from Public Orthodoxy, Fordham, etc. The latest was from PO by Sr Vassa, and I pointed out to her that Sr Vassa and Fr Peter are both champions to their own side and preachers of heresy to the other, both “loose cannons”. The only distinction I see there is that it is decidedly not Fr Peter’s own fault that he has been put into jurisdictional limbo. That’s on the bishops that want to treat him as “someone else’s problem”.
And if a person teaches against doctrine of Holy Tradition, it really is right to question their Orthodoxy. Always has been. But we should be questioning our own Orthodoxy first.

 

[gzt]

I mean this is literally what the other poster was fighting with the reddit mods over, but you can write whatever fan fiction you want about me.

 

[RileyG]

Reddit is certainly more active, but it's also much more problematic. You have to take much of what's said there with a grain of salt, and the mods are certainly on the liberal side.

I agree.

 

[Chesterton]

Well I browse TAW almost every day, but I don't post a lot because everyone here seems smarter and more knowledgeable than me, so I rarely have much useful to contribute.

 

[E.C.]

well, they seem to think that Fr Peter Heers is operating outside of episcopal authority rather than really truly secretly somehow being under some bishop somewhere, he'll get it sorted out soon, really. And also think that it should be against the rules to question the Orthodoxy of other posters.

As far as the USA and Canada go, yes, he is operating outside of the episcopal authority of American/Canadian based jurisdictions. The Assembly of Bishops released a statement two years ago about it referencing an official communication from ROCOR that "he ain't one of ours [ROCOR]" and he does not belong to any American or Canadian based bishop. I personally question his Orthodoxy for three simple reasons: 1) no bishop in North American will claim him, yet he continues to present himself as being part of ROCOR 2) he puts his own opinions above the directives of the bishops with regard to how/when to baptize converts and 3) he made an idol of everything COVID. The mere fact that no canonical bishop in North American will claim him is frankly reasonable suspicion in and of itself - these bishops can't even agree on the same English translation of the Our Father, so for them to agree on ANYTHING is worth consideration.
Actually as far as Reddit goes, they decided to bar any discussion of him not because of a belief of being outside episcopal authority, but the mere fact that every discussion with his name mentioned becomes a repeat of the Balkan Wars.

I do agree that it is wrong to question the Orthodoxy of others because we don't know what cross people are struggling with. That said, asking someone what their Orthodox affiliation is (lay vs clergy, canonical jurisdiction vs uncanonical) is not questioning someone's Orthodoxy. That rule is more in place to avoid name-calling for stupid stuff. Like the word "liberal". There is an extremely large spectrum on what being a "liberal" in American Orthodoxy means. For example, some still consider the usage of English in the Liturgy as being "liberal", but that doesn't put them in the same level as the very small minority calling for a female diaconate when there is simply no need for one, nor does it put someone on the same level as being pro gay marriage. It has become a nothing word devoid of meaning because of its overuse - which is why I ask people what they mean when they say "liberal"

 

[Reasonably Sane]

Hi Everyone.

Do you think Christian Forums is shrinking?

I don’t do too much online Orthodoxy but I think there is a lot of stuff on Reddit. There is lot of rubbish there to which is why I don’t use it much.

‘Any thoughts? I am sitting in an airport now waiting for a delayed plane…


Prodigal7

I've been an active participant in various forums since 1997. A friend turned me on to reddit quite a few years ago. I thought it might be the "next level". I was wrong. I don't take it too seriously on anything remotely controversial. It's a waste of time, kinda like commenting on youtube videos. There is just way too much of a sort of "anonymity" to it. At least that is my take on it. People may be anonymous here and on most forums of this type, but after a while you get a feel for how members think and respond. That's not really true of Reddit. Too much "drive by" going on there, IMO. I don't use it any more other than for getting answers to some questions, for which it can occasionally be helpful.

 

[gzt]

As far as the USA and Canada go, yes, he is operating outside of the episcopal authority of American/Canadian based jurisdictions. The Assembly of Bishops released a statement two years ago about it referencing an official communication from ROCOR that "he ain't one of ours [ROCOR]" and he does not belong to any American or Canadian based bishop. I personally question his Orthodoxy for three simple reasons: 1) no bishop in North American will claim him, yet he continues to present himself as being part of ROCOR 2) he puts his own opinions above the directives of the bishops with regard to how/when to baptize converts and 3) he made an idol of everything COVID. The mere fact that no canonical bishop in North American will claim him is frankly reasonable suspicion in and of itself - these bishops can't even agree on the same English translation of the Our Father, so for them to agree on ANYTHING is worth consideration.
Actually as far as Reddit goes, they decided to bar any discussion of him not because of a belief of being outside episcopal authority, but the mere fact that every discussion with his name mentioned becomes a repeat of the Balkan Wars.

I do agree that it is wrong to question the Orthodoxy of others because we don't know what cross people are struggling with. That said, asking someone what their Orthodox affiliation is (lay vs clergy, canonical jurisdiction vs uncanonical) is not questioning someone's Orthodoxy. That rule is more in place to avoid name-calling for stupid stuff. Like the word "liberal". There is an extremely large spectrum on what being a "liberal" in American Orthodoxy means. For example, some still consider the usage of English in the Liturgy as being "liberal", but that doesn't put them in the same level as the very small minority calling for a female diaconate when there is simply no need for one, nor does it put someone on the same level as being pro gay marriage. It has become a nothing word devoid of meaning because of its overuse - which is why I ask people what they mean when they say "liberal"

Oh, certainly, w/r/t the very reverend archpriest Peter Heers.

Yes, I was speaking a bit briefly there, obviously there's more to it than "questioning someone's Orthodoxy". As for "liberal", it's not a good label for theological positions in the West, and it's even more off-base to import as a term in the East, and Orthodox Christians should know better than to use it. Even more so when it's become so meaningless. People should simply say what they actually mean.

 

[Reasonably Sane]

CF is stagnant. It was great in the 2000s when I joined, but in some ways the site shot itself in the foot and in others its just suffering the general trend away from message boards that's been going on since Facebook took over the world. I like my TAW "family".

The Eastern Orthodoxy subreddit isn't bad, but it gets very polemic. To their credit, the mods there are very active and good about keeping things (mostly) peaceful. One of them used to be Kyriaki on here. I remember OrthodoxyUSA posted on Reddit once asking about CF.

I've been an active member of various forums since 1997. The good ones have all become sort of "stagnant" to me. But I don't mean that as an insult. I see forums a bit like Conway's game of life*. There is a sweet spot for serious discussion. When they get too big that is lost and folks like me quit posting. It's like that old Hillary Clinton meme, "It takes a village". She was a stopped clock being right with that one. But the key is that it's a village, not a city. I moved from Seattle to a small Kentucky county 13 years ago. This is a "village". There is not a lot of anonymity here. The area is, relatively speaking, close knit. It's almost impossible to hit the local Wal-Mart without seeing someone you know, and I suspect the cops know pretty much every car in town. It's a whole different vibe than NYC, or even Seattle or Chicago.

And I see Reddit as NYC and sites like this one as my local county. I strongly prefer the latter when trying to build relationships and being more than merely "polite". And Christianity is ALL about personal relationships - with our creator and our fellow man.

*Conways's game of life is a simple computer program that uses the concept of bits in a lifecycle, with each lifecycle each bit either reproduce another, does nothing, or dies, based on their proximity to other bits in each lifecycle.