What Do You Regret Is Gone From MD?

[Josh]

i have mixed feelings about it. personally, i’d LIKE more presence of conservative Anabaptists, i believe the majority of new members arrive with that hope. (reading initial posts.)

Most conservative Anabaptists do not want to debate (for example) whether or not pornography or sex outside of marriage is sinful. This makes MennoNet in its present form unappealing to them.

[Soloist]

i have mixed feelings about it. personally, i’d LIKE more presence of conservative Anabaptists, i believe the majority of new members arrive with that hope. (reading initial posts.)

Most conservative Anabaptists do not want to debate (for example) whether or not pornography or sex outside of marriage is sinful. This makes MennoNet in its present form unappealing to them.

I've heard it said before that there was an attempt to have a conservative filtered forum, but it didn't work. I see serious problems with defining who is and who is not conservative. Multiple people on here would claim the conservative label and I think Raymond said it well when he said no one on here is conservative. Now that being said, one can go through the various threads with those claiming conservative values and conclude for themselves how many are really following conservative values. Anything more conservative then a few people here don't use internet.

[gcdonner]

i have mixed feelings about it. personally, i’d LIKE more presence of conservative Anabaptists, i believe the majority of new members arrive with that hope. (reading initial posts.)

Most conservative Anabaptists do not want to debate (for example) whether or not pornography or sex outside of marriage is sinful. This makes MennoNet in its present form unappealing to them.

Is that being discussed on here? I hope someone has pointed out that it is S-I-N!

[gcdonner]

i have mixed feelings about it. personally, i’d LIKE more presence of conservative Anabaptists, i believe the majority of new members arrive with that hope. (reading initial posts.)

Most conservative Anabaptists do not want to debate (for example) whether or not pornography or sex outside of marriage is sinful. This makes MennoNet in its present form unappealing to them.

I've heard it said before that there was an attempt to have a conservative filtered forum, but it didn't work. I see serious problems with defining who is and who is not conservative. Multiple people on here would claim the conservative label and I think Raymond said it well when he said no one on here is conservative. Now that being said, one can go through the various threads with those claiming conservative values and conclude for themselves how many are really following conservative values. Anything more conservative then a few people here don't use internet.

The problem arises when you try to define "conservative". Context means everything in the definition. I grew up "Conservative Baptist", but in practice it was far from conservative. I once asked my father about it, who was an ordained conservative Baptist minister, he said it meant conservative in theology...

[Soloist]

The problem arises when you try to define "conservative". Context means everything in the definition. I grew up "Conservative Baptist", but in practice it was far from conservative. I once asked my father about it, who was an ordained conservative Baptist minister, he said it meant conservative in theology...

yeah. In my mind I use it to separate groups of Mennonites that hold to historical values. Now that statement also opens further problems too.

[gcdonner]

The problem arises when you try to define "conservative". Context means everything in the definition. I grew up "Conservative Baptist", but in practice it was far from conservative. I once asked my father about it, who was an ordained conservative Baptist minister, he said it meant conservative in theology...

yeah. In my mind I use it to separate groups of Mennonites that hold to historical values. Now that statement also opens further problems too.

Yeah, like what does one consider to be "historic values"? It's kind of like bible interpretation, it depends on your point of orientation even before you start to study and what pre-determined biases you already have. In this immediate context we can see Amish, OOMennonite, MCUSA, Englisch, Protestant, RC, Orthodox, etc...

[temporal1]

2026 Memories

I really would like that thread about head covering we had, where all the apostates were barred from contributing.


I am serious about part A of that sentence and kidding about part B. That thread was very helpful to me.

Also... the thread about finding bbsnottle a wife.
Also, some of my PM's from people of which I have grown fond.

Sunbeam, alas! We have lost that vast body of spirited headcovering threads, haven't we? Guess we'll just have to start over in 1 Corinthians again...

For myself, DanZ probably said it best:

I'm sad for the loss of the posts of MD friends who have gone into eternity - I can think of three right off the cuff. Somehow, for me, their presence in our lives lived on through their archived MD input.

On the other hand, several other MD friends became real life friends and these blessings remain.

[Valerie]

When I joined MD maybe 15 years ago or so Robert posted a lot. I miss those earlier days. I miss a lot of the Mennonite women posting like Sunbram- she had a way with words.
Many of the men too-
Was a different environment then.
It probably would have done us well to leave politics out because it really has created a different feel here- much more divided and insults about more then back then (or perhaps I just forget). There were times it got pretty heated when certain topics came up even then.

Overall I think I miss posts that were inspiring.

[JohnH]

When I joined MD maybe 15 years ago or so Robert posted a lot. I miss those earlier days. I miss a lot of the Mennonite women posting like Sunbram- she had a way with words.
Many of the men too-
Was a different environment then.
It probably would have done us well to leave politics out because it really has created a different feel here- much more divided and insults about more then back then (or perhaps I just forget). There were times it got pretty heated when certain topics came up even then.

Overall I think I miss posts that were inspiring.

This forum has, in essence, become a political discussion forum, with many of the participants seemingly intending to use it as some kind of pulpit to try to express how their political opinions make them better / more spiritual than people with the "wrong" opinions.

It would be amazing if the amount of energy dedicated to politics could be dedicated to topics that actually matter.

[temporal1]

When I joined MD maybe 15 years ago or so Robert posted a lot. I miss those earlier days. I miss a lot of the Mennonite women posting like Sunbram- she had a way with words.
Many of the men too-
Was a different environment then.
It probably would have done us well to leave politics out because it really has created a different feel here- much more divided and insults about more then back then (or perhaps I just forget). There were times it got pretty heated when certain topics came up even then.

Overall I think I miss posts that were inspiring.

MD began as a CM teen internet experiment. It was adventurous, hopeful, with impressive faith knowledge and heart.
They initiated, contributed, led. i registered as the early “phase” was aging-out, i’m happy to say i had a few months before life (and FB, etc.) called them away .. Valerie, i believe you were here.

Robert and gcdonner had fun every day. big kids.

i had the privilege of forum archives, i was able to read the earliest posts! Quite interesting.
one memory was lack of confidence their experiment would last, at all! a month? 6 months? a year?! - that seemed UNLIKELY to them, when i registered it was a few years old. the majority were in teens+20’s, 30’s, maybe? (others will know better)

They 1) mostly knew each other, or of each other, 2) were of common faith, and well-read, well-informed in their faith, 3) shared family desktop computers. Family desktops were great. In many ways. Accountability, also, hilarity.

i wish the world could go back to desktops. smartphones needlessly do a lot of damage.

Most early ones left. life is demanding. i hoped their younger sibs would step in .. that didn’t happen. so sad.

Strangely, older folks joined, some sincerely believing the forum should be their “domain” and warned younger ones away.
i would remind MD was a CM teen experiment! i don’t recall getting a response.

In any event, Jesus has a heart for the young. Easy to understand.