Hello, brothers and sisters in Christ-
I, TOO, have had an awful experience with Mr. Fred Alberti (aka Fritz) of Crosswalk.com. I figured there must be others who shared my experience. However, I didn't know until now how many there were and that there have been many run-ins with Fritz that are even worse than mine. Here's my story:
Late in 2005, I participated in the forums at Crosswalk and started posting on a thread about the war in Iraq. I disagree completely with this war and made my feelings clearly known. Another poster (named Son In Me) obviously took issue with my comments and continually addressed me and others as "you liberals." It was also obvious that he couldn't respond to my messages in a mature fashion and had to resort to minor name-calling. I found it frustrating and was also perturbed that the mods never slapped Son In Me's virtual hands. Quite the opposite happened.
Son In Me posted a message about an offense he had taken (not from me, I don't think) and it was rather vague. So I asked for clarification by saying, "Did someone call you a $*&^% or something?"
That was it. And the grawlixes ($*&^%) were typed as just that, not as an actual word or insult.
Fritz informed me, without warning, that I was to no longer post on that thread. He eventually kicked me off of Crosswalk entirely. I miss some of the people there and found the fellowship was generally very good. However, the experience was enough to make me grateful I no longer have to deal with Fritz.
Thank you for creating this blog. At least I know I’m in good and, unfortunately, plentiful company.
In Him,
K
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A blog dedicated to telling the stories of online Christian communities, and their leaders, who treat their members in an unchristlike fashion. It's a badge of honor to be kicked out of some "communities"! Tell your story by e-mail: badgepostmaster@hotmail.com. (NOTE NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS!)
6 comments:
I was banned from the Crosswalk forums twice! There were quite a few issues I didn't agree with and they used to edit my posts. I finally lashed out at them through a post and I was banned. Now they have some "your news" or some other conservative junk on their front page. Well, I don't support Bush or the war, so it's not "my" news.
It says in the TOS not to even type in things that resemble or alude to curse words, so, i'm not surprised you were banned.
You could easily have asked, did someone curse at you? or something like that rather than typing in an actual word in code for people to guess at.
The TOS are clear and no, i'm not taking sides because i'm in some club or something at crosswalk, i was recently banned myself too but have the openness to admit that what i said was stupid and unecessary and also, put my full nick to my comments.
The point you seem not to be getting, Salsadip, is that the TOS are worded so that Fritz CAN, for any (or no) reason, limit people's participation or ban them altogether. Your repeated excuses for Fritz's capricious and highly biased behavior is almost funny. Your stretch here ("call you a %*&@!" violates the TOS) is absurd.
However, HERE you can actually say all the absurd things you wish, so long as they are within our comment rules, no matter how much I disagree with them. Perhaps you should ponder the difference.
Ok, maybe i am a little naieve but, i don't get the difference. I don't get why that's absurd when the TOS says not even to hint at it.
If i violated one of your comment rules here, you would be entitled to stop me commenting, i realise that.
Posting things people don't agree with is one thing, where as rules are not based on whether someone agrees or not, they're just rules.
See also one of the things i am looking at is this. Salem is the largest Christian network of sites on the internet and that has to be because it is good and most people like it. If Fritz was as bad as some of these people suggest, then surely, people vote with their feet so-to-speak, and his forums would not be as busy as they continue to be.
He has to be doing something right to achieve this. This is what i find a puzzle PLUS i read what i read here and then (like recently) i test it out, and i find it not to be the case.
As i said before, i was banned recently. I sent him asking for an explaination, he gave me one and lifted the ban if i agreed to certain conditions.
I knew what i had done was wrong so i agreed. Job done.
I've seen it be the case, over and over. The double-standard at Crosswalk is obvious for anyone willing to see it.
What you choose to see is your own affair, just as it is your choice to think Fritz is however wonderful you think he is.
I know that a lot of folks who say things he agrees with and target folks he disagrees with, think he's pretty terrific. Their opinion.
I'm sure that from his higher-ups' perspective, they think he's doing some things right too...including banning anyone whose reasonable and expressed opinions don't align with current religiously-popular, Southern Baptist-approved positions. That's one reason that egalitarians have a tough time over there. Let it be known they're egalitarian and offer even the slightest defense of biblical equality, and they are almost certain to be restricted or banned. As I said, I've seen it over and over.
I *do* check out the stories as well as I can, Salsadip. I also know a few of the people who've told stories here. What happened to them was not just some myth they invented to "get Fritz." The "getting" and the inventions came from the other direction.
What I think you're still not getting is that Fritz can and frequently does consider expression of opposing opinions to be TOS violations. That's why #19 is so popular. He doesn't HAVE to have a reason to restrict or ban someone; it's his sole discretion.
I'm going to "out" myself here. I'm "Kathryn" of "Kathryn's Story," one of the first ones I posted here. I know first-hand how Fritz operates and I know he's done to others what he did to me, because I saw it happen.
Is everybody here telling the truth? I can't vouch for that. I can vouch for the repeated, biased abuse of power the Fritz and his moderators have engaged in over the years and I know at least five of the posted stories to be very accurate.
But hey...five's not very many, right? Everybody else HAS to be lying, right? So what if a few people have been "fritzed"? He's basically an OK guy and his bosses think he's swell and Crosswalk is huge so that means it's great. If it's popular, it has to be good.
At the risk of really dating myself here:
"DO-O-O-N'T YOU BELIEVE IT!"
I understand why you see things the way you do then given your story.
Hey thanks for letting me post anyway :)
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