I think you ought to read a bit further down in the thread, where Seraph makes it clear there was a small but critical typo in his post.Cormac wrote:Sorry to break my long absence with this comment, but with all due respect, this is the most bullshit assertion I've seen in relation to this whole sorry matter.Seraph wrote:How many more times do you feel you need to tell us? I happen to think that you are too close. Sometimes one gets a clearer picture from a distance. Not that I think my surmise is any better than yours. I just don't think it is any worse either. Perhaps I should have made it explicit that Dawkins' aspiration regarding the gong are the only motivating force in relation to his web presence. I just rate its influence on his decisions a bit more highly than you do.lordpasternack wrote:I've paid much closer attention to Richard...
If Richard wanted a gong, then he'd have not created a web-presence at all. The role that he played in science until he launched his assault on theism would have been more than enough to get it for him. He'd have been on some honours list or other, sooner rather than later.
Troublemakers don't often feature on those lists, and therefore, running the website could only militate against him getting such an honour.
Now, just to declare my position:
1. I thought the first purge on the RDF forum was spectacularly badly managed.
2. So was the second.
3. So was the closing. In fact, this is probably the single most ridiculous example of management failure I've ever seen. (Although, the real-world consequences aren't as severe of course!).
It is plain to me from having been a prolific poster on that forum way back, that Timonen was an autocratic dog-in-the-manger, and whatever he touched seemed to stink. Now, this may have been because he might simply be an asshole, and someone without any understanding of community, or he might have been protecting what was a very valuable concession that he had got. (Richard effectively gave JT a free licence to use the Dawkins "brand" - quite foolish and shortsighted - akin to George Lucas retaining the merchandising rights for Star Wars.
But to suggest that Richard did all this to get honours? What nonsense. He'd have got them more easily had he not done what he has done.
It seems to me that Richard is a good person, but he has made some very silly decisions over the last few years regarding the community that supports his efforts.
A much better way to handle this issue would have been:
1. A message to the board to say that the forum and the charity were mutually incompatible, for reasons to do with maintaining the charitable status.
2. A statement that the charity and RDF in general would divest itself of the forum, into the hands of a group of trustees, (drawn from the community)
3. The community would be invited to contribute to a fund to maintain and develop the technology underpinning the forum
4. Through a short period, clear space would be imposed between the forum and the foundation. The forum would be renamed, and a statement included to declare that the forum was a separate entity to RDF, under distinct and different control.
From that moment forward, nothing on the board could cause any problem for the charity. Richard would have retained the goodwill of all the board members, (except those ideologically disposed towards him), and the legal issues would have been resolved.
(Unfortunately, the PTB didn't think to ask for the benefit of my wisdom on such matters).
No way did Richard set up the website to get a knighthood.
And where the hell have you been?
