AssemblyBoard

Below are three emails concerning two boards at which
worthwhile discussion of religion sometimes occur.
As the second email makes clear, the second board is
more for pure religion-oriented discussion; the first
board is more for religion/politics mixed discussions,
where the neocons/fundamentalists/evangelicals tend
to line up against the Dems/atheists/agnostics.

Also, please note the one concern which I address in
the 3rd email.  To post to either of these two boards
requires that you sign up for a .NET passport.  This
process installs MS Messenger on your system, which
includes a chat-room capability.  For anyone with
kids, this could be a problem.  I myself have no
kids, and just ignore the fact that MS Messenger
software is on my machine. I really only notice it
at reboot, when I have to close a couple of info
dialog boxes.

Finally, please note that the Christians are way out-
numbered at the first board, and could use some
help.  The second board is more appropriate for
discussion of religious matters within an essentially
religious group of posters.

Blessed are we all in Christ, regardless of how he
has chosen to enter our hearts.

Dave

*******************************************************
Email 1:


Here are the instructions to the board "Best of the Fray".

Go to:

http://slate.msn.com

At the top of the page in small letters within the
brown-bar, there is a clickable link:

Discuss

When you get the resulting page, scroll down the topics
list till on the right toward the bottom, you see a
topic "About Us".  Within this section, click on the
link:

Best of the Fray

You will now be in the BB itself.

You can read without signing in, but to post you must
sign in in two steps.

First, you must get an MS .Net passport, if you don't
already have one.  (The BB itself should bring the
.Net account screen up, if you try to post.)  This
passport is free, and you can click that you don't
want to be bothered with announcements.

Once you have your .Net passport, the BB itself will
prompt you to choose a nickname.  This can be real or
fake, dull or unimaginative.

In this particular board, the religion tends to be
VERY mixed in with politics.  For example, the two
posters named

TheQuietMan
and
Appolonius

are atheists who tend to be left-ish politically.

On the other hand, the posters

locdog
and
Jack_Dallas

are Christians (in your sense) who tend to be neocon politically.

I post under three different nicknames:

ci-inc
JamesAgee
CrusaderRabbit

but of course you need as many .Net passports as you
have nicknames, and this requires multiple emails
as well.  (I have three that I can take advantage of.)

I try to steer the discussion toward religious topics,
with some success at times.  I can guarantee that if you
and I get into a mano-a-mano at this board, others will
probably jump in immediately.  (I think there is also a
specifically religion-centered board under the auspices
of Slate; I will email you when/if someone tells me the
link.)

Anyway, get signed in first to Best of the Fray (if you
want), and then I'll tell you how to check for replies
using the "MBTU" feature of the board (More By This User).


Best regards
David

*********************************************************
Email 2:


On the same topics page where you found "Best of the Fray"
under "About Us", look for the link "Faith-Based" in the
"Arts and Life" section.  This is for heavy-duty religious
discussion by the "pros".

Dave
 
**********************************************************
Email 3:


Although getting a passport does put MS Messenger on your
system, it does not auto-log-you-in, or interfere in
any way with the operation of your system.

You do not have to be logged in to messenger to post
to either Slate board.

The only time I am even aware of messenger is when
I reboot.  Then a couple of info windows pop up which
I just peacefully close with no problem

So - I have not experience any downside from the overhead.
I have never seen any "sign" of messenger on the system
(except as I said, at reboot), and do NOT use it as
chat software.

No - if you have kids that are aware it's on the machine -
that may be a different kind of problem.  Depends on
how savvy they are at finding new software on the machine.

Hope this helps
Dave