What did you make of this guy?

I just hope they don’t try to recruit via our site…that was my only hesitation.

You both may have a point about it being a distraction (not our primary mission). Also, about recruiting, but more in terms of using our site to mainstream their practice. Personally, I don’t care if it’s made mainstream or not. I don’t see why it needs to be marginalized, but it’s not the mission of our site either. If there’s not a crisis of faith, it’s probably just not on point. We don’t need to do their work for them. They aren’t going to do our work for us.

I say someone sends this person am e-mail and tells him clearly that we are not interested in discussing “naturism/nudism” here – but that he is welcome to participate if he can help discuss faith struggles that are common to many of our readers and commenters. I agree that we shouldn’t be prudish about it at all, but . . .

I agree with the sentiment here. Naturism/nudity in LDS culture is a topic worth discussing but probably not on our website. Doesn’t fit our goals and aims.

Did we decide who would email him? I will if no one else wants to.

Here’s what I sent:

Argonaut-

Thank you very much for coming to StayLDS.com and welcome!! We hope you will find a nice community in which views regarding various crises of faith can be openly discussed. While we welcome anyone who wants to join we feel strongly about sticking with our intended mission. We have carved out a fairly nice niche that tries to be positive and friendly towards the church, while acknowledging the problems therein, with an emphasis on discussing what we, individually, can get out of our decision to remain LDS. I think, in this respect our goals are fairly well aligned. Our mission statement is:

The information provided and discussed is primarily geared towards members of the Church who have questions, concerns, problems and issues that led them to change their views about their faith. This is often in the form of a heart-wrenching disillusionment. We are here to listen, and to offer advice to each other. You can talk about it here. This is a safe place to discuss difficult subjects — many of which we simply can’t talk about within our normal social support network. Family, close friends and even local Church leaders are not always ready or able to help. You might not be able to talk about it with your spouse, your mother, your father or your friend at Church. You can talk about it here.

We openly discuss problems in history, doctrine, practices and culture. We also openly discuss solutions that have helped people in the community reconcile themselves, and find a new, personal path of active faith within our rich LDS tradition. There is no going backwards. There are paths forward. We also discuss problems and solutions regarding the impact a change in faith can have on our family, friends, workplace and community.

The purpose of the site is to try to Stay LDS, and be a part of the solution.

We welcome your participation, along with any others involved in your cause, that remains along the lines outlined above. There is some concern among the admins about discussions devolving into debates that surround nudism/naturism rather than discussing the mechanics of remaining in the church despite differences. We have checked out your forum and while the topics for discussion are different, there is certainly overlap in the attempt to remain LDS while maintaining heterodox views. We support this overlap and your contributions along these lines!

Thank you once again, and we hope to see you around StayLDS.com!!

I will post his response when I hear back from him.