wtargentina wrote:Looks like Fred "I'm outta here" Kite is settling in for the long haul!
If you are still unsure as to why some people are angry at the decision by RDF check out Cali's contribution here -
http://rationalia.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... hilit=cali
I guess that might give you an idea of the feelings of just one of the many outstanding contributors to the forum.
I've read that letter. It's been posted on a lot of fora now.
I found the letter very disturbing, to be honest.
And supports my pals theory:
...it's fascinating, more from an anthropological point of view than a psychological point of view because you're dealing with a group of people here but there is clearly some symptoms of aspergers being displayed in the comments on the guardian and the times. Richard and his team needs to tread very carefully now. The reaction is so exceptionally personal and vicious it suggests that it doesn't matter now who was right and who was wrong....it appears to me that the source of the anger is because many of these people became addicted/obsessed with the forum and spent a huge amount of time there. That's not Dawkins' fault but there are parallels with how some people get obsessed with religion.....in my opinion he is doing the right thing to shut it down and change it to be fully moderated....
the cal guy is a bit like peter harrison. he has become obsessed with something that is over. there's not much substance to their argument - it's richard dawkins site and it's richard dawkins call what happens there, not cals. regardless of the amount of hours he spent on there. he's even dictating to richard in the last few paragraphs what richard should do with richards website. scary.
Both he and peter harrison (and others) know the way the forum members operated. they ganged up on people on the forum and throw insults at contrarians with an independent mind or point of view. I should add that this is only a small minority of people on the forums.
they also know that there's an anger out there and they know they can fuel that anger by posting more and keeping the kerfuffle going. I was shocked to see people on here (rationalia.com) discussing how to push press releases out to news papers to get more coverage.
ultimately. it all goes back to my original point....it doesn't matter who is right or wrong at this stage. What's going on is distinctly religious in it's fervour. Particularly with the way the angry mob are repeating allegations on top of allegations to validate their point of view.
I'm not interested in who is to blame. It's over.
incidentally there's nothing in cals letter that justifies the vicious and personal attacks on richard dawkins and josh.