Announcement about RDF Part 2.

[Mr.Samsa]

Incidentally despite my loyal support of the JREF over the years there was a certain ambivalence (at times hostility from many) towards RD.net there -- remember the JREF has been around a VERY VERY long time, and sees other sites as johnny-come-latelys maybe. It has died off with time, but people used to take the piss out of me for mentioning iRD.net, or indeed any reference to non-JREF websites in a similar vein. It's all rather parochial. That has certainly changed in recent months, and Darat a top bloke and an admin seems sympathetic, as are others. However the JREF is a little hardnosed compared to the old RD.net culture...

j x

Yeah I've noticed that too Jerome. I've been a silent member but active lurker at JREF for longer than I've been at RDF but their culture is much more sinister, in my opinion. Often debates would revolve around "showing how silly" something is, rather than presenting arguments against it. They do like being 'special' though.

Obviously, I may be biased as I am mostly a lurker there.

I read somewhere here yesterday that anyone contacting Richard automatically had all their posts deleted.

I don't think that's happened yet but Topsy/Flora said that she wants to back all her posts up first before contacting Richard in case it happens to her.

[Bella Fortuna]

We understand that for some of you it was a place to hang out and converse with like minded people but we are not looking to be a social network

You know, only a few thousand of us..

What's that from?

[Valden]

Wonder if I'll get anything back ?

I wonder if you and all your posts will get deleted .

Hmm. Given that we can no longer search, I wonder how you would know if all of your posts were deleted?

Did they turn the search off too?
Yesterday I searched my name, and all I found were quotes from me, by other people. I even went to a thread I personally started, and my OP was missing.

[Mr.Samsa]

We understand that for some of you it was a place to hang out and converse with like minded people but we are not looking to be a social network

You know, only a few thousand of us..

What's that from?

http://rationalia.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... ad#p352560

[ficklefiend]

Incidentally despite my loyal support of the JREF over the years there was a certain ambivalence (at times hostility from many) towards RD.net there -- remember the JREF has been around a VERY VERY long time, and sees other sites as johnny-come-latelys maybe. It has died off with time, but people used to take the piss out of me for mentioning iRD.net, or indeed any reference to non-JREF websites in a similar vein. It's all rather parochial. That has certainly changed in recent months, and Darat a top bloke and an admin seems sympathetic, as are others. However the JREF is a little hardnosed compared to the old RD.net culture...

j x

Yeah I've noticed that too Jerome. I've been a silent member but active lurker at JREF for longer than I've been at RDF but their culture is much more sinister, in my opinion. Often debates would revolve around "showing how silly" something is, rather than presenting arguments against it. They do like being 'special' though.

Mmyes, I'm actually not so much into the debunking side of things. I like the positive science stuff more than the negative laughing at how wrong you are stuff.

[Jerome23]

Yeah I've noticed that too Jerome. I've been a silent member but active lurker at JREF for longer than I've been at RDF but their culture is much more sinister, in my opinion. Often debates would revolve around "showing how silly" something is, rather than presenting arguments against it. They do like being 'special' though.

Well I probably made a lot of enemies with my endless diatribes when Randi did a promo piece for American Atheist Press on a totally woo book that claimed Nazareth never existed in the 1st century CE (despite the logical issues of why the gospel writers would make up a town which never existed, but then conveniently reappeared having not for 100 years, and the opinion of all mainstream archaeologists in the area, regardless of religious affiliation or lack thereof, and the archaeological realia recovered there in excavations in the last ten years). In the end the thread died by being ignored, and those of us who fought hard (including Tim O Neil) realised that no one wanted to hear Randi was wrong on anything, or that the JREF could inadvertently promote ill informed shit. (the peice starts with Randi referencing a completely mythical birth narrative in Mark's Gospel: must have been reading Dan Brown, as my Bible does not have one? ) Shame., Randi is a nice bloke...

j x

[the pigeon]

Yesterday I searched my name, and all I found were quotes from me, by other people. I even went to a thread I personally started, and my OP was missing.

I just wanted to say that totally sucks. Which is obvious. But I just wanted to say it.

[Bella Fortuna]

We understand that for some of you it was a place to hang out and converse with like minded people but we are not looking to be a social network

You know, only a few thousand of us..

What's that from?

http://rationalia.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... ad#p352560

Thank you.

Motherfucker.

(Josh, not you, Mr.Samsa!! )

[Flora]

Yes Mr Samsa, that's correct. I was explaining to someone why I wasn't emailing Richard because we'd been instructed not to and therefore, if I did, it's a possibility that my account and posts would be deleted like some of those who have posted complaints on the front page.

[charlou]

Only thing is, Richard was actually on the forum last night. It would have been a simple matter for him to make some sort of announcement, and he was clearly in touch with Josh throughout.

By the time RD logged on, all the posts expressing discontent with the new "discussion area" had been removed. There's no telling what Josh told him about the matter.

Hopefully RD will read Pete's blog and perhaps take a look at these threads and get a better picture of what's happening..

[NineBerry]

The decision to revamp the forum was made by The Richard Dawkins Foundation. We are looking to make a new discussion area that is easier for people to find quality content related to our mission. We understand that for some of you it was a place to hang out and converse with like minded people but we are not looking to be a social network. There are many other sites that provide this service.

What they don't seem to understand is that it is very difficult to have people voluntarily create "quality content", if they are not "in a place to hang out and converse with like minded people". Those things just go together.

[Fred Hsu]

Hello! I had to find out about what happened on reddit.com! WTF? Was wondering last night why I couldn't post...

I don't mind a new forum system, but losing posts? That's just stupid.

[Flora]

It seems that from the latest admin announcement, staff have been blamed for the shut down of the forum because we (Mazille and I) posted the letter to the staff publicly. The contents of the letter explained what was going to happen to staff and what we shouldn't do. There was no personal or confidential information in that letter. It was exactly the same as the one to members but with the addition of telling staff that the plan to include them in developing the new area wasn't happening and that their services wouldn't be required on the new website. There were also clear directives about what staff shouldn't do. I think it should have been left up there with the other one as they do go together but perhaps they didn't want the membership to know what they'd said to staff.

[Mr.Samsa]

Thank you.

Motherfucker.

(Josh, not you, Mr.Samsa!! )

Both interpretations are correct, although I'd like to think I am less so compared to Josh..

Hello! I had to find out about what happened on reddit.com! WTF? Was wondering last night why I couldn't post...

I don't mind a new forum system, but losing posts? That's just stupid.

Hey Fred! Glad to see you made it here.

A new forum system would be great, but that's not what they're doing. They're removing the forum altogether and just expanding the front page. As Josh says, nobody wants a social networking site - including those 80,000 members who did want a social networking site. We're all just so excited over the new changes. Super excited, despite being frightened of change like children.

Sorry, a bit of bitterness there... Welcome to Ratz!

[charlou]

It seems that from the latest admin announcement, staff have been blamed for the shut down of the forum because we (Mazille and I) posted the letter to the staff publicly. The contents of the letter explained what was going to happen to staff and what we shouldn't do. There was no personal or confidential information in that letter. It was exactly the same as the one to members but with the addition of telling staff that the plan to include them in developing the new area wasn't happening and that their services wouldn't be required on the new website. There were also clear directives about what staff shouldn't do. I think it should have been left up there with the other one as they do go together but perhaps they didn't want the membership to know what they'd said to staff.

He didn't want members to see what an abhorrent condescending arsehole he was being.