Note: These interchanges took advantage of the organization of the defunct "Askme.com" board. Let them be a warning for all of us.

Greetings:

Nice try! I didn't know that adding information privately took the answer off the board! You knew that that's why you asked clarification privately!

So here it is again:

Tactics  on the Catholicism board.

Anonymous posted � after two similar questions under ladies� names � his statements (not questions, those came later by en other post that re-appears periodically with multiple rehashed questions under different names) with the title "Universal?"

Well I answered extensively.

Anonymous in his PRIVATE response told me that I hadn�t answered any of his questions. The first post said "statements"

I offered him a resume of my answers.

His response was that he didn�t want to continue if I didn�t answer ALL his questions (statements?). And I got a long rambling about rehashed semantics and interpretational rebukes and so on.

I felt duped. I finished the interchange.

I went to the original post of Anonymous and my answer wasn�t there anymore. Anonymous had asked for clarification privately and that took my answer off the board.

An accident?

You form you own conclusion.

I have the impression that any time certain kind of questions (statements?!) appear on the board and get pertinent answers the board lightens up with fundamentalist questions. It helps the Catholic experts to be on their toes.

I salute Anonymous. You got me!

Vale

mscperu

Greetings Catholic experts.

Beware!

Big brother is watching.

The first tour taught us how to eliminate answers from the public board and from your "previous answers" so that nobody can read them anymore. (The "previous answer part" I found out later!)

This tour II teaches how to manipulate ranking. These tours are highly educational because we have practical demonstrations.

Look at what happened:

This morning I posted Tactic I.

I didn't know that I would post Tactic II. We are learning!

This afternoon I looked at the answers of the Catholic experts. ALL had been badly rated.

I rated them all "excellent" and viewing the rated answers there appeared the five stars.

ONE minute later I looked at the question board and there were only FOUR stars rating.

Why? What is happening?

The only reasonable explanation: someone is watching and has multiple helpers and watchers and graders that act at once.

What shall we do? Nothing. They are needed!

God bless them.

They have to use this type of concerted tactics to reach their goal.

BUT...

They are reading our answers.

Our answers aren't indifferent to them.

Someone somewhere has slight doubts about being member and part of these tactics. Someday he-she will come home.

vale

mscperu

PS. One suggestion: when we see an uncalled for rating we should try to correct that if we can.

PSS. Only God knows what they are doing to our "previous answers". You can downgrade them you know.

PSSS. Now I have a reasonable explanation for the high and low ranking of experts members.

PSSSS. Oh my God! Horribile dictu - a horrible thought! Is it THEM that are giving me high rates because I'm high-ranking?

Thanks, but no thanks!

Greetings experts.

The tour Tactics III shows you an other track to follow.

I got this PRIVATE follow-up question to my public answer. You have to check in order to make a follow-up question private. Mistake?

Read on:

-----------------------------------------

Anonymous asked this follow-up question on 8/26/2000:

mscperu, Again I have no idea what happened. I do not think that I asked anything "private". If I did it was a mistake! I do not know this forum that well to dupe you. I do not know where to start to pick up where we left off. I will leave that up to you. I still believe that none of my questions were answered! I do believe that I gave every effort to answer yours. I actually went 800 characters over and it took me a few hours to put together. They would not let me post my response to you until i edited under 7000. That is why it did not seem to flow very well.

I am not going anywhere and look forward to continuing our discussion. you lead and I will follow. Sorry for any confusion, it was all a mistake if it was on my end.

--------------------------------------

Could you suggest a name for the above tactic please? We can elaborate a manual!

I answered him three times privately and now I get:

"I still believe that none of my questions were answered! "

I have to leave now so the next Tactics installment will not be so prompt. But it's free.

We are learning.

vale

mscperu

Tactics IV?

I�m not sure about this one. So will have to help my out. I observed on the Catholicism board that after some scuffle about Catholicism there appears regularly a fundamentalist question with the lure (enticement, allure, bait, inducement) of a direct attack on one of the basic tenets of our Catholic faith. Our faith of the divinely instituted hierarchy for instance is a frequent used title. (Have you seen on TV the 2 000 000 youngster with the Pope? Wonderful! I liked specially the impromptu of John Paul II: "I cannot see you but certainly I can hear you!").

Asking myself about the reason of this frequent occurrence of lure I observed something quite common. The alluring fundamentalist offers a follow-up question. Why?

Now comes the part that I�m not sure of. Generally the questions finish up with one lone star. Many times reading the answers of my fellow sport a lone star. And at the beginning of the head it says (I don�t remember exactly): "we are sorry that you didn�t find this expert adequate or some such. Look for other experts�."

We have discovered that making follow-up question private the take it off the board and close it in "previous answers" so that it is not accessible anymore.

Why the alluring follow-up question on the board?

Please explain to me the mechanics:

You post a question

I give an answer.

You mark my answer as bad, err, as not so good, the famous lone star.

You ask a follow-up question with the same lone star.

I answer the follow-up question

You ask an additional follow-up question again with the same one lone star.

Question:

Does this accumulate the lone stars in the ranking of the expert who answers?

If the answer is yes then we have learned

Tactics IV

Vale

mscperu

PS. Please dear experts don�t get tired of these our fundamentalist brothers. In order to give a follow-up question they have at least to skim your answer. Something remains in the retina and in the heart of the reader.

PSS. I would be wary of these follow-ups. I decline giving the reasons why. God bless them.

Tactics V

Dear Father.

I send this question as Anonymous and privately because I don�t want someone to tamper with the rating: I alone will rate your answer. You better be nice and tell me what I like to read (Just kidding)!

The second reason why I don�t send this to the board: I love and cherish my quiet. I don�t like receiving a bunch of disagreeable answers. They make me feel base because I can�t love those attacker. I�m just coward I guess. But you have my permission to put this on the board.

I�ve been reading the series: "Tactics on the Catholicism board." Gosh it�s an eye opener! Well it taught me some things:

• You can�t trust people. They say they are Catholic and aren�t.

• You have to be very cautious. You have to read their information

• There is no protection from the enemy not even on the Catholicism board

• You get attacks at all time. When will we get some quiet here?

• Reading the questions and answers I find myself judging the persons and asking myself: Is it pretense?

• I�m feeling like I lost my innocence and trust!

I found a quick way to read your Tactics. Instead of jumping from page to page I went to your Catholicism page under "previous answers" Boy do you answer. God bless you. You are one of my favorites!

So I had the "Tactics" on one page and it was easy.

Isn�t there a way to make it easy for a newcomer to identify the good apples and the bad ones?

After this eye-opener series I looked hard at the posts. I think I can contribute. Let�s see if I�m right.

If I�m wrong than I�ll have to say: "Forgive me Father for I have sinned".

There was a real innocent question about Orthodoxy.

But�

The second question came first

Why my previous question is considered inappropriate? Am I not allowed to talk about the Eastern Orthodox church here?

The first question in second place

Greetings to all my Catholic friends!

sawani

I've heard a few of the experts here say that the Roman Catholic church has few disagreements with the Eastern Orthodox. Some people may have been lead to believe the differences are little more than leavened vs. unleavened bread. That's not so! Let me explain.

And later he said � poor chap or poor girl � his/her questions had disappeared!

Why do my two previous questions have the option of being removed from the question board? Who decides to put up such an option? I don't think such behavior can be called Christian. I'm so upset I doubt I'll ever visit this site again! Is the Catholic church so anti-Orthodox?

All the time they were visible on the board. Read the answers!

That was ingenuous. People are compassionate.

Ant the poor chap/girl threatened to never come back!

I�ve got a suspicious mind and your eye opener training "Tactics on the Catholicism board" made me ask why?

Was it about distraction? Then I noticed the fact that every new question pushes other questions off the first page. Newcomers won�t look at the second page. I don�t generally. It�s too much work. Getting on the board three questions on a row, that�s not bad.

I found a possible new trick. Nice try, isn�t it!

If it was about incompetent computer fumbling then I have to go to confession.

But I read in your series about this incompetent fumbling simulation.

So I may be wrong and I may be right.

But the trick is very possible.

I got an inspiration: I can imagine some more tricks:

The Anonymous questions or answers exploit prominently expressions generally used by your opponent hinting this way at some Machiavellian plan.

You can post as long as you put a valid e-mail.

The free e-mails are legion on the Internet.

You can put questions on the board under a million different aliases

Hey, I have an idea: someone puts a question I don�t like. I put questions on the board under different aliases � or you repeat your question or you pretend disingenuously that your question has disappeared � multiplying questions until the offending question passes to the second page so nobody will look at it again.

Additional possibility: For commodity�s sake I have on my HD the cookie that identifies myself on Askme.com. Let�s suppose I take this cookie out of my computer. Bingo! I can send multiple questions under multiple aliases to the board from my computer. Can I?

Isn�t I cute? Isn�t I sharp? I deserve a medal and a parchment and a Ph.D. in Tactics.

I better finish because I�m loosing my sense of proportions.

Bye Father and God bless you

Dear private Anonymous.

The joy of the risen Lord be in your heart.

Your post had me thinking. You have learned that there is no ongoing kindergarten not even on the Catholicism board. There is no respite. You have to be on your guard. And there is no easy foolproof solution. In Spanish we have a proverb: "Hecha la ley hecha la trampa � once the law is made the trap/trick is created too" (What do you think Prince Sapphire?)

You are not defenseless! Read about the weapons the Lord has given us (Eph 6:16). By the way you will find the quiet you are looking for only in the cemetery because there is no life. But in midst of the battle against the adversary you can relax because the fight is the Lord's.

You have shown discernment and then some! You don�t mind if I incorporate your findings in our future recipes regarding tactics on the board.

You are right. The possibility exists that the "Orthodoxy" questioner is guileless.

But I think he will forgive you if he reads what is going on. We well both make amends to him.

So God bless you

vale

mscperu