Re: [UG-ADMINS] Dealing with a member issue

One thought on how to approach it: It’s not really the subject matter that is the point of contention. It’s his persistence, his attitude and his lack of respect for how other people are reacting to his conversation. For example, if he was cornering people and wanting to give Star Wars spoilers, or talk about how Ruby is so much better than PHP, etc, people would likely be having the same response.

Taking the subject matter off the table may help to diffuse the situation and help him to see you are not attacking his faith or his beliefs, but trying to make him aware of how other people feel uncomfortable with his level of intensity in conversing with them.

Definitely a touchy situation, but it sounds like you are approaching it with a level head and empathy. Kudos to that.

Joel Clermont
414-852-6221

> On Jan 20, 2016, at 2:31 PM, Beth Tucker Long <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> We have a member who just started coming to our conference and user group meetings. At the conference, he consistently cornered people to talk to them about Jesus. He has started doing it at the meetings too. We have asked him to stop and explained that this is not an appropriate venue for these discussions and that the discussions need to stay PHP-focused. He has replied that he cannot stop talking about Jesus, and that if we want him to stop, we'll have to kick him out of the group. We responded with a firm response clarifying that our group is not the appropriate venue for his preaching and that discussions must stay on topic. We did not say he was banned from the group. He has not taken the hint and has now tried contacting the group leadership through the conference website (he apparently doesn't realize that we are the same people) asking for a face-to-face meeting to discuss these issues.
> 
> Has anyone dealt with anything like this in their group? We do not want this to get ugly as we are a small group and this person has not caused issues in the past, so this is a new thing that started recently (in November). Any advice?
> Thanks,
> Beth
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Beth Tucker Long
> Treeline Design, LLC
> 807 Arbor Vitae Place
> Verona, WI 53593
> 608-770-6677
> http://www.TreelineDesign.com
> 
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