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44 Pages and counting...


Close the Billy Meier Thread?

  • Yes Please - it serves no further purpose...

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • No Thanks - I like repeating myself until I'm blue in the face...

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    0

Rick Deckard

Paranormal Maven
Isn't it about time we shut the MH & BM thread down?

The only people who want to perpetuate the thread are the active members of the FIGU forum - they love a 'challenge'. Debating these people just strengthens their belief that anyone who doesn't worship the words of BM has a closed mind - personally, I could not care less.

I'm sure they'll see this as some sort of 'victory' but who cares? The only people paying any attention to their 'victories' are the paid-up members of the FIGU forums. Leave them to revel in their own 'cleverness' and let us move on to more productive discussions.
 
Rick Deckard said:
Isn't it about time we shut the MH & BM thread down?

The only people who want to perpetuate the thread are the active members of the FIGU forum - they love a 'challenge'. Debating these people just strengthens their belief that anyone who doesn't worship the words of BM has a closed mind - personally, I could not care less.

I'm sure they'll see this as some sort of 'victory' but who cares? The only people paying any attention to their 'victories' are the paid-up members of the FIGU forums. Leave them to revel in their own 'cleverness' and let us move on to more productive discussions.

I agree with you, in part, that this has become rather boring. At the same time, so long as our visitors do not violate our guidelines and engage in excessive invective and vulgar behavior, I'm inclined to leave it be.

Feel free to ignore the thread, however.
 
Gene Steinberg said:
I agree with you, in part, that this has become rather boring. At the same time, so long as our visitors do not violate our guidelines and engage in excessive invective and vulgar behavior, I'm inclined to leave it be.

Feel free to ignore the thread, however.

You are right of course - I used to run a forum and very rarely felt the need to lock a thread. It's just sometimes you look at what's supposed to be a 'discussion' and all you see are people needlessly wasting hours and days on a 'lost cause'...
 
Gene Steinberg said:
I agree with you, in part, that this has become rather boring. At the same time, so long as our visitors do not violate our guidelines and engage in excessive invective and vulgar behavior, I'm inclined to leave it be.

Feel free to ignore the thread, however.
I agree about leaving the thread open. As much as I try to ignore the thread. I always see, to wind up reading it, it's almost like watching the remains of a car wreck on the highway.
 
That is the biggest thread I think. It is that way because apperantly people like the thread. If not, I recommend not bumping it, or reading it, and move on to something you do like.
 
Yeah I haven't read that thread yet and I'm not sure I ever will. While I do think the Billy Meier story is interesting the only way I'm going to believe any of it is if a bunch of hot humanoid females from the Pleiades star system abduct me and take me for a ride in a huge silver wedding cake ship. Hilarious! But really, who knows? I could be wrong. We all could be wrong.
I tried to print it off just because I thought it would make good bathroom reading but my printer ran out of ink. C'est la vie. Perhaps one day I will read it. I'll make it one of my goals in life. A long-term goal.
 
mjw said:
Yeah I haven't read that thread yet and I'm not sure I ever will. While I do think the Billy Meier story is interesting the only way I'm going to believe any of it is if a bunch of hot humanoid females from the Pleiades star system abduct me and take me for a ride in a huge silver wedding cake ship. Hilarious! But really, who knows? I could be wrong. We all could be wrong.
I tried to print it off just because I thought it would make good bathroom reading but my printer ran out of ink. C'est la vie. Perhaps one day I will read it. I'll make it one of my goals in life. A long-term goal.

Actually, I did print the entire thread way back when it was only 20 pages or so, and even then it was maybe 100 pages or so of printed material. I sent it on to a friend that I thought would be interested in the content, and he tossed it in the trashcan.

I've not had any inclination to waste any more trees since then :)
 
Definitely close it. I'm so tired of Horn's little sock puppet. At the same time I cant stand to see his stuff spouted without comment.
 
cottonzway said:
Keep it open. Liars should be exposed for as long as it is allowed until they go away.

The problem is we're dealing with closed-minds - and when I say that, I mean the FIGU forum users - they've already bought into the BM paradigm both figuratively and financially. Their only goal is to recruit more followers. You can't debate with them, their minds are already made up. They see the true skeptics as the one's with the closed minds.

Go and read some of the threads in the FIGU forums - they're formulating ways of fighting the 'robots'. They think the world is against them. They think they are the only ones who really know what's going on.

'Kingman', 'Mark Campbell', 'newinitiation' and some of the other pro-BM posters are all regular users on the FIGU forums - they regularly discuss their 'victories' with MH via that forum and he encourages them. They sound like MH because they all adopt the same debating tactics - I read a discussion on there proposing a database of pre-fabricated responses to specific rebuttals to their arguments.

So leaving the thread open is just inviting them to soldier on to another 'victory' - it'll run forever.
 
Rick Deckard said:
The problem is we're dealing with closed-minds - and when I say that, I mean the FIGU forum users - they've already bought into the BM paradigm both figuratively and financially. Their only goal is to recruit more followers.

I've been reading some lately about cults, and what methodologies they employ to gain members and keep them. For the most part it reads like a Michael Horn handbook.

Rick is exactly right, we're dealing with the devout. I was just reading a post the other day at Figu that someone directed me to. It was a post about being a FIGU member, and how they're required to give 7% of their income to the group. I'd read that before, but it never ceases to make me shake my head.
 
From the FIGU passive member application form;

A) The quarterly newsletter Voice of the Aquarian Age(Stimme der Wassermannzeit) is FlGU's official magazine and contains all announcements regarding new publications of written material and events, etc. (language: German!) It is MANDATORY for all PASSIVE GROUP MEMBERS to obtain a subscription of the Voice of the Aquarian Age(Stimme der Wassermannzeit). The subscription charges for the first 12 editions must be paid with the first annual FIGU membership fee as follows (all charges include free shipping and handling): Switzerland CHF 60.00 Foreign Countries (Europe) CHF 75.00 Overseas ?Economy? CHF 85.00 Overseas ?Priority? Air Mail CHF 140.00 (with air mail postage surcharge)

B) ANNUAL FIGU MEMBERSHIP FEE for PASSIVE GROUP MEMBERS ? CHF30.00

C) Furthermore, in accordance with a resolution passed at the Passive Group General Conference on May 9th, 1992, a mandatory annual contribution of 7% of one (1) month's salary must be made. Starting with pension age this annual contribution of 7% is cancelled. The annual membership fee and once-a-year contribution of 7% of one (1) month's salary must be received by FIGU no later than April 25th, otherwise the Passive-Group membership becomes automatically null and void.

D) In accordance with a resolution passed at the Passive Group General Conference on May 9th, 1992, it is every Passive Group member's obligation to annually work 3 days at the Center in Hinterschmidr?ti. The mandatory work days must be performed at any time between beginning of April and the end of October. For each work day not performed at the Center, a contribution of CHF 70.00/per non-working day (with a total of CHF 210.00 for 3 non-working days) must be paid by April 25th of the following year.This obligatory ?work-or-pay? contribution is enforceable until the member's 65th birthday. All proceeds from the 3-day work regulation aid the Center's expansion and maintenance, but the work requirements are primarily intended to help everyone get aquainted with each other, and to give Passive Group members an insight into FlGU's tasks and activities.
 
Symbol U.S. Dollar Exchange Rate Nov 15
Swiss Franc Bid Ask
USD/CHF=X 1 1.2512 1.2512 1.2512 1.2514

1$=1.25CHF
 
Wow - I was aware that you had to pay some sort of membership fee to join the group, but didn't realise it was as a percentage of your income.

Is it tax deductable? :)

That's the fee for a 'passive' member, so I assume there are terms for an 'active' member, right?

This just strengthens my case to close the thread - the pro-BM posters are doing nothing more than promoting a business.
 
Lets sum it up in dollars.

Mandatory newsletter CHF75 = $93.75
Annual membership CHF30 = $37.50
Annual 7% contribution of one months sallery,
lets say you make $1500 a month, that's $105 for FIGU
Mandatory work, if you're a no-show CHF210 = $262,50

Total $498,75 per year, per member.

Quite a bit of money and if Meier's 'society' reaches a 1000 members, then that's $498750 per year. Not bad, ey?
 
Rick Deckard said:
Wow - I was aware that you had to pay some sort of membership fee to join the group, but didn't realise it was as a percentage of your income. Is it tax deductable? :)
That's the fee for a 'passive' member, so I assume there are terms for an 'active' member, right? This just strengthens my case to close the thread - the pro-BM posters are doing nothing more than promoting a business.
No idea if it's tax dedictable but I doubt it. You're right, the fees are for 'passive members'. I'm not sure what the requirements for an 'active member' are but I seem to recall that you would need to live close to 'center' and help out a lot, plus meditation sessions would be mandatory. But that's probably not all.
 
I'm sure the BM camp view us as the ones who are closed minded, just as some of you see them that way.

Strange, that some here are against repeating themselves, yet are doing it here and there. Be careful not to become what you despise.

The thread that many are wanting to close deals with a still archived show and new listeners will lose out on the photos and debate that has went on. New listeners may also get the impression that the paracast are some sort of forum Nazis. I know some have already considered some of the member's comments to be fascist in nature.

I think this thread is crap, but have no desire to push for it to get deleted. I try and add something to it to enhance it instead. Whether I did or not is open to interpretation of course.

I think people want to see the thread go because they might lack self control of their own anger and intolerance. Maybe practice having an intolerance for intolerance and let things be, so long as no forum rules are being broken. Even if there were rules broken, I'm sure the admins can handle things.

If it turns out that a current poster is a previous guest that was banned, deal with the poster.

Pity if I and others who have "behaved" (I think, you judge for yourself of course) were to get silenced due to the actions of others. I will most likely be less active in posting, knowing that even if I behave, I can still get silenced due to the act of another. Some may be glad to hear that, but keep in mind that others may get discouraged in the future as well. So in censoring because of one or two, you may indirectly (and directly if the thread is deleted) censor many others. I would like to see the forums grow, not wither. So be careful about that possibilty I recommend.

I spent a lot of time on that thread, not to see it get flushed on the bases of others. I would also love to see David, Jeff, and Terrax's replies remain because much of it is good. That thread is loaded with information and effort. If there is an offender, consider dealing with him/her and not censor others because of how the offender is.

As far as I can tell, what's being pushed for is some unfair censorship. I can't find any forum rules to read here, and tried numerous times to do so. If I have missed them, please direct me to them. So far, I'm left to wonder, if no rules were broken, why not just leave it be, and ignore it if you don't like it? It will get buried. Making threads about a thread you want to go away, is surely getting more people to read it. More that read, more will comment.

And since I like repeating myself:) If I see my posts get deleted because of another person's behavior, I will probably be less inclined to contribute to the forums. I am one of the most active members. One of the reasons is because I have enjoyed the diversity and intelligence I see many members have. I don't think dictating and unfair censorship of members is intelligent however. But I could simply be stupid of course.

I hope I didn't insult anyone. Everyone that has been a critic of the BM case is on my side. Or, more humbly, I am on theirs. I mean no dis respect, but differ strongly about this given issue.
 
So that's 'no' then :)

BTW, do you think the FIGU members would tolerate a discussion on their forums that dares to criticise them?

I'm all for constructive discussion - that thread isn't.
 
Mindsky, you are indeed appreciated on these forums, your intelligence and wisdom are both quite considerable.

I am all for leaving this thread open, it's my opinion that free speech is a critical issue, but I also know that when someone gets overly abusive and crosses into the territory of legally actionable behaviour, it's probably a good idea to block them from further posting, hence what we did with, well, that media rep.

You are also correct in that there are no posted rules regarding participation and etiquette on our forums. Perhaps we should fix that - I'll add it to the "TO DO" pile. This entire endeavour is just Gene & myself, and Gene really does do an insane amount of work to keep this whole shebang going, so please excuse us for not having the show, and these forums, be 100% of what you - or us - really wants or needs.

That said, your words of encouragement and dynamic participation here are really wonderful, and I for one am profusely thankful for your spot-on feedback. You're a gem.

dB
 
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