Introduction

[Ben Davis]

Tea. How civilised.

Just trying to be friendly. Given her experience so far, I thought she might want a nice cuppa.

[fr0d0]

Perhaps we should have a tea lounge. Somewhere to chill and have civilised tête a tête.

[Keri]

from the UK. Would you like a cup of tea to go with Luckie's biscuits?



I have to say that I saw some of your other threads before I saw this one and couldn't help thinking 'If only she'd created an intro thread...'.

Now that I've said 'hi', I'll wade in. See you on the boards

Do people even drink tea out of posh teacups anymore? I've only ever had tea in mugs.

Even when I go to Brown's Hotel in London for afternoon tea, their cups are just cream with flowers. They look like they were produced in the 80's. (Outdated if you ask me.)

With that said, I love tea.

[sswhateverlove]

You're not here to make friends? Well then why are you surprised that you haven't been accepted well? Honestly, we aren't sitting around here waiting to serve people who wish to have debates about beliefs. Yes sure, there are those of us who will debate you. Some are excellent at it. I just want to remind you though that this is called atheist forums for a reason. This is our community. A place for us to be welcome. If you're not intending to make friends, the odds are you won't find many. Maybe you should go off to a religious debate forum. I haven't read any of your threads besides this one. You know why? Because I don't know you. If you think you have a new idea on the internet...you're most likely wrong. I don't read super long boring threads about god and other ish I couldn't care less about, unless it is written by a poster that I value. Generally that doesn't mean I have to like you just that I have to know you.

I respect that. I honestly didn't expect much of a response for that exact reason. Again, I chose this medium for a very specific purpose and assumed, at least someone, would take me up on the discussion. I have a very large community of friends who are going to be nice. Here, I was looking for people to be critical. Critical is not the same as insulting.

Oh yea, this shouldn't be new. I don't understand why this is surprising. You come to a new place where no one knows you and you don't bother to say hello. Instead you immediately jump in with a "you people think this" and "this is why you're wrong". You don't need a disclaimer for that. Anyone with common sense should know that they won't be received well like that. Imagine that you're in a Christian cafe just having a coffee with your friends when along comes some guy you don't know who starts babbling on about the lack of evidence for god. You're going to be like, "who are you and why are you bothering us?"
It's kind of the same idea here.

I've already responded to my perception regarding the type of environment so I'm not going to go over it again. However, just as people accused me of doing, you seem to be making an assumption (admittedly without even reading my threads) about my perspective. Because people are disagreeing with me, you're assuming I'm Christian and I would be bothered if someone came in and started "babbling on about the lack of evidence for god". Little do you know, I would agree and actually join in on the conversation. You're now guilty of doing the exact same thing that people (including you) are been giving me a hard time about. It's easy to do.

I came here for feedback because I knew there were people who would debate. This is a forum with a title that identifies members with labels and assumes they are willing to discuss why they have them (it's even broadcasted that they should). If people want to use it as a community support group, social networking tool, they should. But joining a debate thread, is joining a debate thread. With the title of my articles, they were obviously debate threads. Those that don't want to have their opinions assumed or debated, shouldn't join in (as some have reported that they don't and didn't).

I didn't post an intro first, because I wanted my writings to speak for themselves without being diluted. I was interested in getting balanced discussion on controversial topics from both sides based around your observations and experiences, not your personal opinion regarding mine. Unfortunately I realized later balanced perspective was not to be found here, but I guess it was still valuable. You're right, though, I'm now thinking going to a another forum that is more diverse is more likely to assist with my expansion of knowledge than what I've found here.

---

Also, I've noticed that you've completely ignored a good majority of the welcoming responses to you on this intro thread. If you can't manage a simple thank you, then a thumbsup/kudos goes a long way.

I have done many a thumbsup/kudos over this entire thread, way to make an disingenuous claim... Thanks so much!!

[Keri]

I have done many a thumbsup/kudos over this entire thread, way to make an disingenuous claim... Thanks so much!!

At the time of posting I noticed about a handful of kind and polite welcomes with not a single quoted response or kudos. Just sayin.

But I digress. You're obviously only interested in responding to criticism as you've now ignored two of my 'welcomes', along with many others.

Perhaps I'll see you around the board.
Cheers.

[Whateverist]

Brilliant! Tea all around.

I was raised a tea drinker. On my only trip to England I visited the garden of a couple in Wassail which I'd been admiring through their photos on flickr. We were emailing back and forth leading up to our visit and at one point they said they'd like to offer us some refreshment. Naturally I asked for tea in their English garden. Wow, never had such an elaborate tea. Here are some photos from back in that summer of 2008.

This one was taken by Tony and sent to me. My wife Lia on the left, our hostess Marie on the right. Me drooling on the offerings in the middle.



I took this photo of our hosts. Before dessert came out we had a meal worthy of the highest of holidays. It was a drizzly day but we heated plates, put covers over them and ate al fresco on the back porch.



A couple snaps from around their incredible garden.



The view from where we ate.



Me and the missus enjoying tea out in the gazebo. Can you tell I was in a state of bliss?

[Losty]

I didn't assume you're a Christian. I just used that as an example. Welcome to the forum. Have a good time.

[sswhateverlove]

I have done many a thumbsup/kudos over this entire thread, way to make an disingenuous claim... Thanks so much!!

At the time of posting I noticed about a handful of kind and polite welcomes with not a single quoted response or kudos. Just sayin.

But I digress. You're obviously only interested in responding to criticism as you've now ignored two of my 'welcomes', along with many others.

Perhaps I'll see you around the board.
Cheers.

If I possibly had the time to respond to every single post that came through, I would. The ones that seem to be misunderstanding me, misrepresenting me or otherwise challenging me seem to be the ones that are getting most of my focus, you're right. I do try to kudos as well. I'm sorry if you took my lack of response personally. I assure you it wasn't personal.

[Cyberman]

I'll just clarify that the social culture round here is not dissimilar to any other social group. Namely that barging in, making inflammatory comments and expecting/demanding automatic respect is typically going to earn you the exact opposite. I'm actually surprised that anyone would find that surprising.

Oh and whateverist meant 'Walsall' when he wrote 'Wassail' up there. I just bet he blames autocorrect.

[sswhateverlove]

Whateverist- Wow, that's beautiful. Thank you for sharing

---

I'll just clarify that the social culture round here is not dissimilar to any other social group. Namely that barging in, making inflammatory comments and expecting/demanding automatic respect is typically going to earn you the exact opposite. I'm actually surprised that anyone would find that surprising.

Oh and whateverist meant 'Walsall' when he wrote 'Wassail' up there. I just bet he blames autocorrect.

I think your opinion of what constitutes "barging in", "inflammatory comments" and "demanding automatic respect" is subjective and may not be shared amongst everyone that enters this forum.