NO! I would suggest that we refrain from handling these at all, even in comments.

I know most folks here mean well. The advice I've seen dolled out is even mostly things I strongly agree with and would advise myself. A couple of them however made me cringe. They were things I would immediately step in to correct if I was counseling somebody in person.

The real problem arises not with those bits of advice we approve of, but when ones inevitably come along that we don't. It's all well and good to let a "Love your wife" comment on a marriage conflict question slide by, but what happens when your favorite cult drops a comment inviting a seeker to join their fellowship? What happens when somebody drops a comment approving of a potential divorce as the best solution?

As a moderator, seeing these comments stirs up an instant conflict of interest. I want to delete the ones I think are bad advice and leave the ones that look good to me. However I recognize that this is unacceptable.

Rather than compromise by resorting to moderation based on content, I suggest we all refrain from offering anything in that can be construed as personal counseling advice on the main site. I would make an exception to this in chat, if you are engaged in talking to somebody in chat, this kind of rule can be more flexible.

I would propose that the limits of our personal advice be to send them to find a pastor/priest in real life. No advice on what church to go to, no word-in-edgewise on the issue, just a redirect. Explain the reasons why this is not the appropriate venue and suggest that the best course of action they could take is to talk to a pastor or priest in real life. Then leave it at that.

As a pastor myself, I realize not stepping in an doing what we would usually do is counter-intuitive, but I can't think of any other way to mitigate this becoming a place where people get bad advice since we are not prepared to moderate based on content/doctrine/belief/practice.

NO! I would suggest that we refrain from handling these at all, even in comments.

I know most folks here mean well. The advice I've seen dolled out is even mostly things I strongly agree with and would advise myself. A couple of them however made me cringe. They were things I would immediately step in to correct if I was counseling somebody in person.

The real problem arises not with those bits of advice we approve of, but when ones inevitably come along that we don't. It's all well and good to let a "Love your wife" comment on a marriage conflict question slide by, but what happens when your favorite cult drops a comment inviting a seeker to join their fellowship? What happens when somebody drops a comment approving of a potential divorce as the best solution?

As a moderator, seeing these comments stirs up an instant conflict of interest. I want to delete the ones I think are bad advice and leave the ones that look good to me. However I recognize that this is unacceptable.

Rather than compromise by resorting to moderation based on content, I suggest we all refrain from offering anything in that can be construed as personal counseling advice on the main site. I would make an exception to this in chat, if you are engaged in talking to somebody in chat, this kind of rule can be more flexible.

I would propose that the limits of our personal advice be to send them to find a pastor/priest in real life. No advice on what church to go to, no word-in-edgewise on the issue, just a redirect. Explain the reasons why this is not the appropriate venue and suggest that the best course of action they could take is to talk to a pastor or priest in real life. Then leave it at that.

As a pastor myself, I realize not stepping in an doing what we would usually do is counter-intuitive, but I can't think of any other way to mitigate this becoming a place where people get bad advice since we are not prepared to moderate based on content/doctrine/belief/practice.