Posted by Rick [Rick] on October 27, 1999 at 20:10:29 {dPkPwxsNJE7mY4XD8K2cFMFBt36Xyc}:
In Reply to: *Your Email Sent to Myself posted by Observer on October 27, 1999 at 18:06:06:
There's a puzzling problem. The nuts and bolts code that runs the singles forum is used on all forums on H2O, and there's no difference. However, the ability to delete posts mysteriously surfaced over a month ago. (See letter addressed to the general public at the singles forum link at the top of this forum.)
There were a few problems on the singles forum where married JW men were accused of improperly dating sisters they would meet. One situation even led to a brother getting arrested, at least according to emails to H2O.
The good side of that coin is that a few brothers and sister announced to H2O their engagement and marriages as a direct result of meeting on the singles forum.
I'm perplexed, because I think it's a good method for brothers and sisters meeting, and has yielded satisfied couples who are married. However, there is also a dark side that was unanticipated. I'm concerned, at the risk of seeming "superstitious" or reactionary, that possibly Jehovah is preventing the operation of this forum because he disapproves of it (?). I don't know. It just seems too bazaar and strange that it doesn't work. It would be like saying, "ok, we're going to use this room to discuss issues pertaining to the Watchtower," and the light switch works. Then we say, "now, we're going to use this room for single brothers and sisters to meet one another," and suddenly the same light switch mysteriously stops working. It's the same software, just a different forum name. I even tried removing the dashes in the directory name (thinking that Perl interpreted these as operands), with no results.
The forum itself works, but the ability to remove posts does not. Nobody in their right mind would offer a singles forum for the brothers and sisters where the moderators were unable to act on removing improper postings or images. Basically, the inability of the moderator scripts working is equivalent in severity to the posting script itself not working, because I would never in good conscience allow the forum to exist without moderator control.
I've rambled long enough. Please pass the word to our single brothers and sisters. Of course, when you go to the singles bbs link, you get to read a letter explaining the problem (replacing the board). Then, you can jump to the board's new location where you can read posts from September 1999 on back. I figured if it helps those who already posted, all the better.
It's odd in that respect. If one wants to argue that Jehovah is trying to block the singles bbs for some reason, why not cause the posting scripts to fail? Why wait this long, and why let ten thousand previous posts to remain before September? Obviously, it seems inconsistent, and that is why I don't even want to go there. On the otherhand, I have a very bad feeling there's a reason of some sort for this happening. It's been a source of puzzlement and dismay, because the same scripts are used to remove posts on the International Open Forum!
Go figure. :-I
If and when we can get it working (and several are puzzling over the problem right now), then we'll announce the re-opening.
Rick