You might be right Q&A, but it would have been good to have just got a one-line post from Graham saying that he is reading the suggestions but will stay out of the discussion. That would have meant a great deal.

Yep :-(

Ouch! You're right Polycarp ...brain snap, premature senior’s moment? … Ok dumb ...30 years of doing/teaching it and I blew it. I’ll go and stand in the corner :-(

Dear Foxy
I note with interest the following in your post:

2) Preaching and Bible quotes are not appropriate on
a Forum such as this one and should at least be limited.
The biggest threat I feel is that the Forum is misused
by some people for their own agendas. This is a definite
threat and turn off.

Now someone ELSE needs a SWAT :)

I'm sorry, but Biblical quotes are part of the fullness of life... part of the world we live in. That part of your post comes dangerously close to religious censorship. Or..discrimination based on religious orientation..which is illegal. (Equal Opportunity Act)

Secondly.. u don't realllly think that only 1 or 2 of us have an 'agenda' do you?

Sometimes the agenda is to mock or attack others posts... or attack the poster personally. For some it seems a serious goal in life to gradually try to build up a negative picture of people for reasons known only to themselves.

When I see some of the posts attacking me, I realize how much research needed to be done to achieve..and the time taken.
I see this as a bit of a complement as it means some people take my posts seriously enough to regard them as needing to be attacked.

News Quotes inappropriate?
Plays by certain playwrites innappropriate?
Mein Kampf innappropriate? (when used to discuss ideas)
Communist Manifesto innappropriate?

I'd re-think that one a bit.

Dear Q&A I don't quote from the Bible ALLLLL the time :) If a new thread I've done get's up..have a peek its about a news story from this morning and 'naming children'..... "Cruel Joke or cultural Misunderstanding"

There are only a few on OLO with an agenda other than pure debating and offering of opinion. The continual quoting of biblical passages in an environment such as OLO on threads that have nothing to do with religion,is just bad manners. It is true that Polycarp probably gets most of the flack on OLO but he continues to repeat the same behaviours that incite this reaction, despite knowing the inevitable outcome. Perhaps an interesting psychological study if nothing else.

But life constantly shows us you cannot change other people's behaviour we can only be responsible for our own.

There is not much to criticise on OLO - other than perhaps a way of quoting to ensure there is no misrepresentation.

In relation to the biblical quotation urges of some, I would tend to err on the side of caution with censorship and just put up with the bible bashing in the interests of free speech.

We can always get by on the hope that, in time, some might temper these urges with some self-moderation and temperance.

Ludwig, we were watching the discussion, but as On Line Opinion only makes enough money to pay bare minimum staff, we've been flat-out doing other projects to pay the bills. I'd love someone to work out how we can monetise the site better so I could spend more time on it.