Some of the vets might remember me from the old days of the RDF forum, I used to post a lot and moderated for a while during my uni days when I didn't have to do any of this frivolous work nonsense (which may have been a mistake in retrospect).
Like most of you here I was shocked and not a little angry when I learned of the forum closure (via facebook) and to be honest I still can't quite believe we are actually going to lose everything. It is quite frankly a tragedy. More work hours than I can imagine went into building a nurtuting and supportive community, combatting irrationality in whatever form it took, not too mention some of the most informed and inspired science writing I have encountered on the internet. By coincidence I have just read Jarred Diamond's excellent book collapse which recounts the actions of a (Spanish?) bishop ordering all his Mayan converts to burn their books - a bountiful record of a rich and advanced culture - dissmising them as 'Pagan' blasphemy. I can't help drawing the obvious comparison and noting that in a twist of irony this analogous act was carried out by a man employed to run a website centered on critisizing exactly this kind of behaviour!
Josh Timmonen, all the respect I had for you is gone, you are a twat (I believe I can say that here
). I'm also rather ashamed to see that a man I considered to be something of a revolutionary and a leader in the free thinking world has in this instance shown all the awareness of a fridge turned off at the mains. Anyway, for some reason this has rekindled my old feelings of comradery and I hope to make some new friends too. Be seeing you
Just when I was thinking "Ooh, a handsome one at last!" 
