It's been a long treck for some of us and even from the sidelines, there seems to have been some significant evolution within the atheist/skeptic comunitity. There'll be plenty of time to get tinto the politics and philosophy later, but I just wanted to drop in and say g'day and introdduce myself. As it happens there may be a few old timers who remember the first days at RDFRS and the excitment during the booktour of The God Delusion. AS all of this was happening, Josh Timmonen had set up the RDFRS website and launched the original forum. I was there on that very first night, and put my hand up to help. I don't mind admitting to getting a little chocked up with nostalgia, when I recal those early days and the excitement around what we were doing and puting forward to the wider world. Anyhow, Josh repled to my PM telling me that he had made me the admin, if I didn't mind and would I watch over the forum for a while. So That's what I did and I made the original boards then put the first team in place. I do tend to be a wanderer and after awhile moved on to other things, but I still look back at a bright moment in the history of the nacent atheist community and recal with more than just a little nostalgia what it was like to be a small part.
I have been folowing the terrible news here, while waiting for confimation of my registration, about the whole PZ (Penis Zealotus) Meyers accusations of rape by Michael Shermer. Poor Mikey WTF? What drugs is that idiot on anyhow? It's not exactly like it was in the early days, because ther are hordes of bandwagon jumpers and they think that frethinking and godlessness is a new belief and religion. This will only assist to play into the hands of religiotards, who screw up their nose and declare "well... your belief is just another religion too". UM... actualy, I used to just dismiss this out of hand, but having noticed the brain farts of the A plussers in some quarters now, I seems the creatards may have a point. Not all of us are conformation biased dogmatists, but now we atheists seem to be in the same camp as the deluded creatards (I mean not so much deluded as politicaly entrenched). Atheism seems to have become (in some circles) a fassion accesory or something to promote other idealogical agendas with. I need a place that isn't so political and more rational than ideological. So here I am... I think.

Regards Skepticus