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5th August 2014, 01:50 PM | #281 |
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Benford's law of controversy - Passion is inversely proportional to the amount of real information available |
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5th August 2014, 01:51 PM | #282 |
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With all due appreciation to icerat, were there any other offers to run the forum, and is it now too late to consider alternatives ?
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5th August 2014, 01:52 PM | #283 |
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I've always believed that cluelessness evolved as an adaptation to allow the truly appalling to live with themselves. - G. B. Trudeau A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it. - Kay, Men in Black. Enjoy every sandwich. - Warren Zevon |
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5th August 2014, 01:58 PM | #284 |
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Benford's law of controversy - Passion is inversely proportional to the amount of real information available |
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5th August 2014, 01:59 PM | #285 |
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Randi's phone number seems to be publically available:
http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/staff.html, he seems to be still very active. If you like this forum the way it is right now (except of course for the technical problems), you could perhaps try to call him (same for many of you here), say that you appreciate the forum, that because of him, it may have some "prestige", and ask the JREF continues to fund it, the budget required for that is not that big compared to the JREF's overall budget. |
5th August 2014, 02:01 PM | #286 |
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Again with all due appreciation to icerat, it sounds like JREF wanted a way out and jumped on the first bus that happened by.
This brings up the awkward part and since no one else will ask, I will. icerat: How do we know you're not just yanking our chain? Or worse, are well-intentioned but not up to the task? Nothing's worse than an eager, incompetent volunteer. You do sound like you know what you're doing and have apparently convinced JREF of that. However, JREF is looking to dump the forum, so I'm not sure their due diligence would be that reassuring. Please do not take offense, this is a skeptics forum, taking things on faith doesn't cut it. |
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I've always believed that cluelessness evolved as an adaptation to allow the truly appalling to live with themselves. - G. B. Trudeau A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it. - Kay, Men in Black. Enjoy every sandwich. - Warren Zevon |
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5th August 2014, 02:03 PM | #287 |
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I've always believed that cluelessness evolved as an adaptation to allow the truly appalling to live with themselves. - G. B. Trudeau A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it. - Kay, Men in Black. Enjoy every sandwich. - Warren Zevon |
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5th August 2014, 02:04 PM | #288 |
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Also please tell us your real name. We want to know who we are dealing with. Thanks.
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5th August 2014, 02:04 PM | #289 |
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Nobody is more surprised than me the way this has panned out, and how quickly. I just volunteered our resources to help maintain the server.
That's pretty much where it still stands except now I'll ultimately be responsible for the bills too. My preference is (was) that the forum just keeps getting run by the team already running it. A few have decided to take the opportunity to retire their roles, which is understandable (it's way more work than most people are aware of) but others have also volunteered. A community is all the people who contribute to it. Just because the name changes doesn't mean it's heart has to. |
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Benford's law of controversy - Passion is inversely proportional to the amount of real information available |
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5th August 2014, 02:13 PM | #290 |
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5th August 2014, 02:19 PM | #291 |
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Well, another win for the homeopaths and such. I don't mean icerat, that's not the problem, it's the attitude of the JREF here that seems very poor. It means that they disappear from a variety of places on the net.
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5th August 2014, 02:21 PM | #292 |
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Yeah, I suspect say,
This brings up the awkward part and since no one else will ask, I will. icerat: How do we know you're not just yanking our chain? Or worse, are well-intentioned but not up to the task? Nothing's worse than an eager, incompetent volunteer. You do sound like you know what you're doing and have apparently convinced JREF of that. However, JREF is looking to dump the forum, so I'm not sure their due diligence would be that reassuring. Please do not take offense, this is a skeptics forum, taking things on faith doesn't cut it.[/quote] How many of you know Darat's name? Anyway, have at it. |
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Benford's law of controversy - Passion is inversely proportional to the amount of real information available |
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5th August 2014, 02:23 PM | #293 |
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Benford's law of controversy - Passion is inversely proportional to the amount of real information available |
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5th August 2014, 02:24 PM | #294 |
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True, but the first bus is not necessarily a bad bus simply by dint of being the first bus. Nor do you know how many buses arrived. I am at least a second bus, there may be more for all I know, but icerat was there ahead of me.
I can't be specific about private communications, but nothing icerat has said or done gives me a moments pause in that regard. |
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Who is General Failure? And why is he reading my hard drive? ...love and buttercakes... |
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5th August 2014, 02:27 PM | #295 |
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These news... unsettle me. This forum means a terrible lot to me. I was barely 18, a broken and lonesome man when I found it. Suddenly I had a place with so many thoughtful and intelligent people, so much to learn, and a purpose of sorts. I found new friends, new communities, a new culture, a new language, new ways of thinking, new perspective. I shudder to think what might have become of me without this to hang on to, refer to, fall back on.
I have grown enough to more than stand on my own whatever I face, but this forum made me and I will not see it undone. Not without exhausting all the options. We're at a crossroads now, and if we want to preserve this community, we must display great prudence. Who decides what, how disputes are settled, funding, direction... all of these things will mighty ripple in the fate of this place. I wish there were more I could do for now. I suppose little more than melodramatic musings escapes me. But to all of those with the technical skills to keep it going, thank you. To all who ask the difficult questions, thank you. To everyone who puts in work to salvage this home... Thank you so much. |
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5th August 2014, 02:32 PM | #296 |
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5th August 2014, 02:34 PM | #297 |
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Who is General Failure? And why is he reading my hard drive? ...love and buttercakes... |
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5th August 2014, 02:40 PM | #298 |
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That is a feeling of rejection. And, to be fair, I feel that sense too.
But take a moment to consider who is rejecting, and who is being rejected. It is JREF rejecting the forum community, not the Forum rejecting you. And at base, JREF does not participate in this community in any meaningful way. So what is important? The preservation of a pointless link to a neglectful JREF? Or the preservation of your link to a community? |
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Who is General Failure? And why is he reading my hard drive? ...love and buttercakes... |
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5th August 2014, 02:41 PM | #299 |
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This news is really disheartening to me. While it does appear that the forum will continue in some guise, it certainly will not attract and maintain the caliber of poster it now has without the gravitas of Randi's name. I understand the stated desire to narrow JREF's focus, but I'm not aware of another place on the Net that has the expertise assembled at JREF in such a wide array of disciplines. Have a question about Etruscan architecture? Quantum chromodynamics? Assyrian religious observances? Start a thread, and you'll get not just an answer, but an authoritative answer. You won't get that at many, if any, other forums.
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5th August 2014, 02:43 PM | #300 |
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Who is General Failure? And why is he reading my hard drive? ...love and buttercakes... |
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5th August 2014, 02:55 PM | #301 |
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Will there be pictures?
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5th August 2014, 02:58 PM | #302 |
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5th August 2014, 02:59 PM | #303 |
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"The gravitas of Randi's name"? Really? Maybe I'm unusual but James Randi had nothing to do with me finding this site. I'm pretty sure I was looking for info on colloidal silver and I ended up here.
And the expertise isn't assembled at JREF, it's assembled in this forum, the bastard child of JREF (apparently). If the transition leaves the forum pretty much the way it is you can still ask about Etruscan architecture, Quantum chromodynamics, Assyrian religious observances and cake. |
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I've always believed that cluelessness evolved as an adaptation to allow the truly appalling to live with themselves. - G. B. Trudeau A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it. - Kay, Men in Black. Enjoy every sandwich. - Warren Zevon |
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5th August 2014, 03:01 PM | #304 |
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All is not lost, though. I will do my best to take up the slack by making up convincing-sounding nonsense about all those topics and any others that come up. If others pitch in, we can maintain a pretty high standard of at least seeming authoritative if you don't look too close. Which would still be better than 99.7% of the Web sites out there. |
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5th August 2014, 03:01 PM | #305 |
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5th August 2014, 03:04 PM | #306 |
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If I see somebody with a gun on a plane? I'll kill him. Lupus is Lupus tor central scrutineezer |
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5th August 2014, 03:07 PM | #307 |
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BRAINZZZZZZZZ |
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5th August 2014, 03:10 PM | #308 |
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Because I've seen similar situations before. Where are all the members of the Dawkins forum now? I think a few ended up here, some went here, some went there, but the community pretty much disappeared.
Not me. I was reading, as I recall, a Dawkins book that mentioned Randi, and it was the first I'd heard of him. I googled him, and I ended up here. |
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5th August 2014, 03:15 PM | #309 |
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Benford's law of controversy - Passion is inversely proportional to the amount of real information available |
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5th August 2014, 03:22 PM | #310 |
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5th August 2014, 03:23 PM | #311 |
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5th August 2014, 03:26 PM | #312 |
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If I see somebody with a gun on a plane? I'll kill him. Lupus is Lupus tor central scrutineezer |
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5th August 2014, 03:27 PM | #314 |
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If I see somebody with a gun on a plane? I'll kill him. Lupus is Lupus tor central scrutineezer |
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5th August 2014, 03:29 PM | #315 |
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5th August 2014, 03:30 PM | #316 |
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5th August 2014, 03:31 PM | #317 |
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5th August 2014, 03:34 PM | #318 |
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If I see somebody with a gun on a plane? I'll kill him. Lupus is Lupus tor central scrutineezer |
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5th August 2014, 03:35 PM | #319 |
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5th August 2014, 03:37 PM | #320 |
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Who is General Failure? And why is he reading my hard drive? ...love and buttercakes... |
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