Vengeance is self-destructive but it is a normal reaction when you've been seriously harmed by another person. It takes a lot to forgive even if one tries to forgive in his heart. There have been people who have been able to change the course of a perpetrator's life by forgiveness. It is also true that prisons do their best to protect the public, but this protection comes too late for the victims and their family. What is necessary is learning how to prevent these atrocities from becoming a reality in the first place, for then there will be no need to forgive. Our penal system does the best they can, but they have fallen short at doing anything more than punishing with a little rehabilitation thrown in for good measure.

Hi Purple Pond, I don’t know if you saw my link which discusses this very issue. I hope you take the time to read it.

I can promise you one thing: if you read it carefully, you will not be disappointed with the proof although the proof will not be empirically shown until you see how the extension of this knowledge affects every aspect of our lives. It’s unfortunate that skepticism and cynicism subverts the desire to even learn what this is about.

Someone should welcome you to The Philosophy Forum, so I will. Consider yourself one of the family. We're kind of a prickly family, however, so don't be surprised if you run into a bit of adversity every now and then.>

I don't mind adversary, as long as a comment is not a knee jerk reaction to something that wasn't given near enough thought.
— Bitter Crank

The moderators are all volunteers: unpaid, unthanked, unappreciated, unrewarded, unloved, un-etc. They are mysterious behind the scenery characters. Like god, they move in mysterious ways. — Bitter Crank

Being a moderator must be a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it. :wink:

Here is an example of a basic acceptable OP from the front page:

https://thephilosophyforum.com/discussion/4614/is-our-dominion-over-animals-unethical/p1

The type of thing you wrote (which was peek-a-boo-ish as StreetlightX mentioned) might be more acceptable as a Shoutbox post. — Baden

I can try again. Thanks for the example. Interesting thread! If I still don't meet the guidelines, I'll move my discussion to Shoutbox.

Sorry about that part btw. We're not out to hurt anyone's feelings. It's a simple matter of practicality that we often don't have time to write explanations. I deleted four other OPs at the same time I deleted yours and I didn't have time to explain why to everyone. — Baden

Thanks for your apology. You seem like a nice group of people.

What do you mean "if you're who I think you are? — Janis

I own the copyright.

Though I wasn't the mod that removed it, I'd allow a link to a blog post or a personal book if the OP was very well written, sufficiently in depth, and likely to generate good discussion. You can't just... Oh, Street said the same thing. — fdrake

It's difficult to meet the different requirements that really have nothing to do with the content being offered. I gave a link to the first three chapters of a very important work. Why in the world would a moderator take it upon himself to delete it without an explanation and a way to rectify it. Fdrake, you say that I have to offer an OP. I don't have a blog and this book is not based on opinion, so I can't write an opinion piece. I can try to explain in my own words (with help from excerpts in the book) the author's reasoning as to why man's will is not free, and what important knowledge lies locked behind this hermetically sealed door.

<Oh, if you're who I think you are, I didn't delete it, but I believe the idea is that no one is here to play games, and if you're going to post something, post it, and not play peek-a-boo with your OP.>

What do you mean "if you're who I think you are?" Isn't that a little presumptive? And what do you mean by me playing peek-a-boo with my OP? I am being forthright, and I certainly don't deserve to be judged so prematurely. WOW!!

<And books and papers are allowed if the ideas in them are discussed enough to spark a thread. In other words, you need to do a bit of work of your own here. Posts that just say things like 'read this its great' are likely to be deleted.>

If books and papers are allowed, did I put the book in the wrong section? Should it not have been put in a thread before gathering interest in the books and papers area? It's hurtful to get deleted without an explanation. I'm glad that you gave me a reason for the deletion, although it still doesn't make a whole lot of sense, IMO.

Jake, I don't think it was the auto-spam or it would have been in the spam filter. Some moderators don't like links to a book that is considered self-promotion, although I thought books and papers were allowed. Very confusing.

Thanks for your response fdrake. It was not restored. I thought that maybe links to a book were not allowed. It seems that forums have different rules. It's an important work and to deny interested people the opportunity to read the first three chapters would be unfortunate. I'm not one who is going to debate a ruling though.