Big conversation going on over the last few days regarding two men who are both occasional commenters here, Ken Silva and Richard Abanes. I had email discussions yesterday with both men who I consider friends but hard-headed friends on different sides on an argument. From what I can figure out, Ken posted an article about Richard that Richard thought was slanderous and so Richard complained to Ken’s ISP and asked to to have the page taken down. Because Ken refused to take it down, his entire website was taken down by IPower, the same ISP that took Ingrid’s Slice of Laodicea down last year.
Ken has since got a new ISP and some help rebuilding his site and the offending article, now three years old, is back in business. But the battle still rages. It was suggested Richard tried to sue Ken (which is false) but the question remains about whether Ken should keep the article online or not, and whether Richard did right by calling for action without talking to Ken. I think Ken should try to be critical without slanderous and he is probably stirring the hornets nest by overreacting. But whether Ken should remove that page is a tricky question with serious consequences for censorship in the blogosphere – which is why I am bringing it up here.
The rest of the discussion is at Tall Skinny Kiwi. I said IMonk and Pyrotechnics had the worst faith blog spat online a few years ago, they are no longer the dubious champs.
I’m not getting into debate with either of them, and I think CRN.Info is onto something. They, like Tall Skinny Kiwi were interested in facts not sides, and CRN.Info in following this closely appear to have done what they could to be fair in this dispute.
In an effort to gain some truthfulness in this whole ordeal between Ken Silva and Richard Abanes I contacted IPOWER to fully understand their stance on legal proceedings. During the course of my conversation about Apprising.org being removed from the web the very nice person I spoke with mentioned that IPOWER does not act on the advice of third parties in regards to the nature of any clients website. The woman I spoke with then directed me to their online User Agreement, specifically the indemnification section which states.
I think Silva is far more wily than Roger Albanes who comes across as US entrepreneurial ambitious and both men have sadly come across as drama queens. Silva has been kicking around online for awhile and as alienated some of the best Christian bloggers out there. Albanes is new to me. I followed this obsession and escalation, I ponder the possibility Silva took his own site down (which is now back up).
I stand to be corrected, I believe Silva and Albanes are both SBC, a denomination known for it’s rancour.
Either way both men have not been fools for Christ, they’ve come across to this reader in a corner of the faith blogosphere as ideological egotistical juveniles. We all get heated, we all say things we need to apologize for. Wrapped up in their private slugfest, readers wind up polarized, and both sluggers used a lot of words about bringing shame, while seemingly oblivious to the confusion sowed. I got no sense anything mattered as much as the need to be right. Copious posts and words have been spilled and flung by Silva and Albanes, both are in love with wordiness and when these stubborn battles occur, sides are taken, facts are twisted, and the One they say they serve is dishonoured and I don’t see awareness others get hurt.
Hell will freeze over before I read either one of these men, there are serious problems needing thoughtful address by all of us, and their battle isn’t one of them – Silva and Albanes now take the BDBO prize for the worst blog fight ever that I’ve seen in the US faith community. Congratulations gentleman. I do recommend reading their battle, if only as a cautionary tale for all of us about learning restraint, grace, humbleness, humility, servanthood and how quickly flareups on line with ‘opponents’ breeds larger loss.
Tall Skinny Kiwi a peacemaker, experienced missions and blog guy, has practical suggestions for bloggers worth heeding. The posted poll responses he is receiving on his post are not surprising.
Prior posts on Slices of Laodicea
Published 1 year, 7 months ago 7 comments7 Responses to “Silva, Albanes and bad behavior”
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GREETINGS!
Interesting coverage. I offer the following links that offer the truth, as I see it, about what has been happening:
Lighthouse Trails: More Ken Silva Propaganda
MORE ARGUMENTS: Ingrid Schlueter Speaks!
Ken Silva – More Lies, More Sensationalism, More Sin
Richard Abanes
Richard:
I spelled your name wrong, I apologize, that was sloppy of me. It’s fixed.
You may appreciate this. I did.
Indeed. I know Andrew. Awesome blog. Awesome guy.
FYI, I’ll also submit here my answer to a private email wherein I was asked to show on the blogs I frequent where/what I am doing now for God’s kingdom. If interested, please feel free to check out my newest work on Eckhart Tolle and Oprah Winfrey (also see
my blog posts on Eckhart Tolle).
I’ll be sure to blogroll you if you want to blogroll me, That might be fun.
talk soon,
RA
Silva is all but a Landmark Landshark, for he’s of the ilk that unless you buy into his old-school form of Baptist Fundamentalist thought without deviation, you’re the enemy, and he likes picking fights. He makes me look like a Episcopalian lefty.
Abanes seems a bit more civilized, but that’s not saying much.
That helps a lot Mark – I didn’t put Silva in Landmarkism, your observation makes complete sense.
That explains Silva’s belief he is a pastor online, I didn’t make the connection – of course – you and I are not Christians because there is no universal church.
Thank you, the aha! just clicked in. “Hell will freeze over’ may have been an self-alerting unconscious clue.:^)
Yep, as far as Silva is concerned you’d be headed there with me.
Satanic? Hardly.
This Open Letter to Steve Camp outlines my initial thoughts/intentions/motivation for writing to Ken Silva’s ISP. It also covers various issues relating to the “Ken Silva vs. Richard Abanes” controversy, including:
1. Bible Study notes on key passages being discussed (1 Cor. 6 and Matt. 18),
2. the actual contents of my email to Silva’s ISP,
3. observations about the current state of the church,
4. an indictment of today’s so-called Online Discernment Ministries, and
5. documentation of Ken Silva’s violation of federal copyright/privacy laws, and other issues.
The open letter should answer most questions and addressed the widely-read article by Steve Camp titled “Battles in the Blogsphere.”
This is my final word on the issue. Those who have ears to hear, and eyes to see, will both hear and see the truth.
Proverbs 18:13 reads: “He who answers before listening—that is his folly and his shame.”
Proverbs 18:17 tells us: “The first to present his case seems right, till another comes forward and questions him.”
Richard Abanes
Pop Culture Mix
This post was made by a message board administrator in charge of moderating the forums at crosswalk.com and christianity.com.
BEGIN
From an Admin stand point I usually encourage people to use the report feature when they see someone violating our Terms of Service. One thing I have found is that the anonymity of the Internet fosters hotheadedness. Therefore, one never knows how terribly the recipient of a warning will respond. This is not to say that Mr. Silva has a tendency to that sort of behavior. (However, his response certainly does seem to indicate that it is in the realm of possibility that it would be so.)
We provide a service with a Terms of Service to which everyone agrees to abide by. Outlined in that service is how we will deal with violations of our Terms of Service. Rather than our members having to deal with this sort of unpleasantness we offer to deal with the situation privately.
In my opinion, a person does the right thing when he/she reports what is perceived to be a violation of our rules so that the situation can be reviewed and the appropriate action taken.
I doubt that the service provider in this case lost any sleep over any perceived threats of a law suit from Mr. Abanes. Such a suit standing up in court would be near impossible.
I believe, rather, that they did much the same thing I do. Look at the content and determine if it violated their rules. They found that it indeed did break their rules and sent a notice to Mr. Silva requesting that the content be removed for violations of the Terms of Service. (This is actually more than what we do in that we remove the content ourselves and notify the offender of the action taken.)
In this Admin’s view Mr. Abanes did the right thing. . . .
Mr. Silva should have reviewed the Terms of Service and determined if they were rules by which he wished to be governed. . . . When asked to remove the content for violations of the Terms of Service Mr. Silva should have complied as per his agreement and then considered finding a site more suitable for his style.
END
This sums up the incident fairly well. I have nothing to add, except my 100% agreement with this administrator. As I have noted before, those who have ears to hear and eyes to see will both see and hear the truth.
See his full post at my website, under Thoughts of a Web Forum Administrator: A Look At Ken Silva’s Actions
R. Abanes
Pop Culture Mix Website