I am a regular on a web board that caters to geeks and the I/T crowd. We post about a range of subjects, sometimes the posts are not very friendly and some heated discussions can occur. The moderators usually step in and keep order. They do a rather good job.
Lately I noticed that one of the regular posters, "Flute" appears to be having a bad week. All of her posts have a negative tinge to them. I wonder why? She has been a bit down before, especially when she was trying to quit smoking. We all tried to keep he spirits high and we thought we had succeeded. She is not a Christian and uplifting words from those who are were lost on her.
Anyhoooo...I logged on to chat and "Flute" was there, so I asked her why she was so down. She began telling us that people avoid discussing things anymore, they are quick to give in and agree. Now I should have realized I was being baited at this point, but I am a bit slow, so I missed it.
I responded by saying some of us are tired of getting flamed, so we just do not fight over things. She then gave an example regarding a post made by one of the married women on the board who received a visit from a stranger on July 4th. The stranger eventually came back 3 times during the course of the day. "Sunny" was alone, he hubby was not at home. Now personally this worried me...I was concerned for "Sunny's" safety and so were many of the gang who posted a response.
"Flute" said that we were all just being too paranoid. She said that the posters should not be scaring "Sunny" that way. Most of the people in the room agreed with me, although some did not and that is ok. Anyhooo, "Flute" just kept on picking and picking. In the world of newsgroups, this type of person is called a "troll", not as in a beast, but as one who "trolls" (looks) for ways to cause trouble.
"Flute" kept this up for some time and I lost my cool and told her she was acting like a troll. That started a HUGE argument, with people who are her friends saying I called her a troll, and those who agreed with me saying she was ACTING like a troll. Big difference between acting and being.
The rest of the chat session was filled with one guy who has befriended her making snide remarks at me. I ignored them, not wanting to repeat the error.
The next day, "Flute" had responded with her own snide remark to one of my posts on the web board, causing a moderator to tell her to cool her jets. This only angered her more.
The next day when I was chatting with some of my friends in the same chatroom, I made an innoculous comment that "God has and interesting sense of humor". "Flute" and all her cohorts began bashing and making fun of the Bible, Christianity, and finally, religion in general. I thought that I (with the help of a couple of my online friends) could help smooth things out but the whole discussion turned very negative. "Flute" was being very rude, telling us we needed to go to debate school and that is when it hit me that all she wanted was to verbal fight. She even had someone who I like a lot as a person (at least online) verbally attaching my faith. She knocked prayer, saying that God never listens to her prayers...I wonder why! If I am not pleasing God, I feel my prayers are not being answered as well. Why would God go on answering prayers of non-believers if they will not accept who was giving the blessing?
After a while the scene calmed down and we were back to "normal".
I learned a few things today that I thought I already knew...but I guess I did not.
* Online chat rooms offer the weak a great deal of strength and that strength multiplies when joined by others.
* Be careful what you say and to whom. Some people love to take things out of context.
* You never know who your online friends are ... the can turn on you if you are not careful.
* Do not think you can mix a secular group with Christians and have everything fair. (Most of) The Christians in the room did not come to my aid, nor stand up for their faith. Even one guy who I have been praying for for while when his engagement fell apart. That hurt.
I think I am going to vacate the chat and maybe the message board I have been going to in favor of a more Christian themed one. I find myself wanting to move away from secular things more and more. The non-Christian crowd is beginning to wear on me. I thought at first God wanted me there to be a light, but darn, those folks just do not care about their soul. The are all about the here and now. I really hope that my prayers will bring some of them to Christ, especially "Flute".
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