I think that while I was away from Mudcat, I found a sister forum for the Mudcat. That is why I titled this post as I did. Pearls go well strung together, eh?

There is a structure at Beliefnet, a multi-faith forum now celebrating its first anniversary, that allows people to discuss fully and deeply on a vast range of issues that most people would say CANNOT be discussed without making a mess.

Beliefnet is a commercial board with paid staff, very different from Mudcat, but no different from Mudcat than some of us Mudcatters are from each other. *G* Just as different people have different beliefs, so do forums have different foundational values and ways of fulfilling their missions. (Different paths, man, way cool.)

This is the section of that forum on PROSELYTIZING:

http://www.beliefnet.com/boards/discussion_list.asp?boardID=3478

You might also like to see their TWO FORMATS-- open discussions, and dialog groups. Discussions are like here, altho really offensive stuff is removed when requested-- flaming and proselytizing. They are still learning how to set up for easy navigation-- the discussion groups are in so many categories, you can get lost exploring all the boards within boards. But, unlike 99% of the many other forums I visited, threads chain much like they do here. But loading time is long due to banner ads, discussion board hierarchies of links, and overstuffed pages. I finally gave up trying to bounce around the threads quickly there like we can here, and bookmarked the boards and threads I wanted to keep up with.

But in dialog groups, someone (anyone) proposes a topic, and then people sign up to the topic and once enough people have signed up, posting to that group's discussions is closed. The group is launched, and it develops its threads like we have here, among the ones who join before the deadline. Posting, then, is open only to the signups, but the posts can all be read. (If people want to join in after that, they just start a fresh group.) The dialog groups often spawn a series of threads within that dialog group.

Go see how they handle diversity. There is more of it than there is here, in terms of beliefs. I have been really amused at how surprised some of you would be at how comfortable I am in that diversity. It's heavenly. It's great. People aren't fighting, they are sharing and learning and discovering. (Me too.)

See, the structure lets you talk to people like yourself, in some boards, or people NOT like yourself, in other ones... and you can read them all and learn as much as you like.

In one thread I rediscovered an old love for a daily prayer format that I believe saved the lives of two of our kids, and those of us in that discussion just reveled in what we share. It was a safe place to share what we had in common, that discussion, see?

In another thread I met a darling pagan man I'm corresponding with a lot now, who wanted to talk about Humor and the Divine-- holy clowning. Fedor the Mad Hungarian! (He introduced me to yet ANOTHER forum, but 'nuff said!) Also look for the Beliefnet discussion board called Town Meeting, where how-do-we-want-this-to-work-for-us-members is discussed and hashed out and where appoaches to flaming and trolling are worked out and then applied. It is also the place where new sub-forums are proposed and agreed on.

I'd like to see the two forums learn from each other. Of course, they'll probably mount a witch hunt over there if I talk about MUSIC. (Kidding. It has a small little music board too, not at all like here. Here is far better for music, no contest.)

And click on a membername there. Not like here. Go see what happens.

~Susan

PS, 'scuse my typos! Wait till you see the site I found with embedded spell-checker, font formatting, and post previews! It's in my bookmarks somedamnwhere!