In Praise of Josh Timonen

[klr]

With many, many apologies to William Shakespeare and all his fans.

Friends, RDers, netizens, lend me your ears;
I come to bury RD.net, not to praise it.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with RD.net. The noble Timonen
Hath told you RD.net was fractious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath forumites answer'd it.
Here, under leave of Timonen and the rest -
For Timonen is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men -
Come I to speak in RD.net's funeral.
It was my home, soothing and cozy to me:
But Timonen says we were fractious;
And Timonen is an honourable man.
He hath brought many visitors here to RD.net
Whose reason did the forum content make:
Did this in RD.net seem fractious?
When that the believers spoke, RD.net hath wept:
Fractiousness should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Timonen says we were fractious;
And Timonen is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the Internet
We often posted some off-topic words,
And we did refocus also: was this fractious?
Yet Timonen says RD.net was fractious;
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what Timonen spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love RD.net once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then, to mourn for it?
O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with RD.net,
And I must pause till it come back to me.

[virphen]

Hi Kate .

I think the name Josh is well on its way to becoming an insult here in its own right.

Shut up Josh.

Trust you to Josh it all up!

[life]

and

[Jerome23]

and

Brilliant! Absolutely Brilliant!

[Equivokate]

To *JOSH* It to destroy something good,true, beautiful, fantastic. Makes *fuck it up* look positively tame.

[maiforpeace]

and

[klr]

and

[maiforpeace]

For being booed out of the building at the Atheist Convention Australia. I wonder if he has the guts to show his face there?

[Viraldi]

Anyone suggesting a Timonen Award?

[riddlemethis]

Is that really him? Now I've clapped eyes on him, I totally understand. That's a slack jawed turd in the mouth mug if ever I saw one. This is just Revenge of the Nerd really, isn't it.

[lordpasternack]

I emailed Richard and don't appear to have been vapourised.

I did it direct, though - not via RD.net, and even stated in the email that I did so because I wasn't wholly convinced that Josh was above such twattery. Well, I phrased it a bit differently...

I cannot find the words to express how much I despise what Josh's whole conduct epitomises. It's completely and utterly father-knows-best, arrogant, smug, obnoxious, sneering, devious, tactless, inept - everything objectionable, from the get-go.

The calculated hushing of those who do try to escalate the matter inflames my offence even more.

And I have a sneaking suspicion that Josh is rather equanimous about the idea of taking advantage of Richard naturally tending to side with him, not to mention Richard's ambivalence and ignorance of the nuances of the forum, and his disinclination to exert authority himself. In short, I think Josh knows he'll 'get away' with this. There is an air of almost gleeful lack of accountability, and I find it contemptuous.

I've said my piece for what it's worth, and I know that Richard at least sees my as I am in an important respect: frank and honest.

The bottom line is that I personally am far more offended by Josh's 'handling' of this debacle than I am of the initial decision.

[riddlemethis]

For being booed out of the building at the Atheist Convention Australia. I wonder if he has the guts to show his face there?

Good question! If I see the fat-faced little porker wandering around with his camera, I swear I'll trip him over and kick him in the guts. If he is there I am all the more determined to get folks to join me in turning our backs in silent protest when RD takes the stage. He can get that on camera!

[Bella Fortuna]

For being booed out of the building at the Atheist Convention Australia. I wonder if he has the guts to show his face there?

Good question! If I see the fat-faced little porker wandering around with his camera, I swear I'll trip him over and kick him in the guts. If he is there I am all the more determined to get folks to join me in turning our backs in silent protest when RD takes the stage. He can get that on camera!

I would SO love to see this.

[riddlemethis]

For being booed out of the building at the Atheist Convention Australia. I wonder if he has the guts to show his face there?

Good question! If I see the fat-faced little porker wandering around with his camera, I swear I'll trip him over and kick him in the guts. If he is there I am all the more determined to get folks to join me in turning our backs in silent protest when RD takes the stage. He can get that on camera!

I would SO love to see this.

There will be plenty of evidence to post, I promise.

[ficklefiend]

The bottom line is that I personally am far more offended by Josh's 'handling' of this debacle than I am of the initial decision.

When someone tells me they know that change can be frightening in order to at both times shut me up and patronise me, I get the sudden urge to ram a fistful of nails down their throat.

So, yeah, bad handling.



(I'm glad you've sent a letter. A few well known names with calm and honest opinions might at least wake RD up to what has been done, even if he doesn't care)