Can we get a bit of perspective please

[Xamonas Chegwé]

Can I just say that everyone is welcome here. This is a difficult period for everyone and this place may well need quite a bit of reorganising once things 'normalise'.

For now, there are bound to be conflicted interests and high emotions - both from those that are overwhelmed by their online home being locked behind them, and from those that feel like their online home has been invaded by a family of strangers.

Only time will ease the pain of upheaval - for both groups of people - can we please try our best to get along for now. Sooner than we all think, we will come to realise that we are all part of the same community.

Can I ask those of us that have been here a while to allow the new members time to vent. And can I also ask our new members to realise the strain that we old-timers are feeling. This situation is no picnic for anyone. A little mutuality is needed here.

Thanks,

XC

[Valden]

Can I just say that everyone is welcome here. This is a difficult period for everyone and this place may well need quite a bit of reorganising once things 'normalise'.

For now, there are bound to be conflicted interests and high emotions - both from those that are overwhelmed by their online home being locked behind them, and from those that feel like their online home has been invaded by a family of strangers.

Only time will ease the pain of upheaval - for both groups of people - can we please try our best to get along for now. Sooner than we all think, we will come to realise that we are all part of the same community.

Can I ask those of us that have been here a while to allow the new members time to vent. And can I also ask our new members to realise the strain that we old-timers are feeling. This situation is no picnic for anyone. A little mutuality is needed here.

Thanks,

XC

Thank you.

[The Curious Squid]

El, don't you see any comparisons to the first schism here? RDF meant as much to me before they removed OT as it does to these people now. It may be a forum but it was far from unimportant, as someone just said, it was a scientific and social resource unlike any other in the world and these reactions are testament to that. Let these guys get to terms with the change the same way we had to, 2 days is hardly enough time to expect people to get over it.

How can our community be special but be unreal?

[Weaver]

First of all, I want to express gratitude to the membership here for inviting we RD ex-pats over in our time of need - I really appreciate it. I understand that I am new in your house, and I have no wish to crap on the carpets or otherwise make myself unwelcome.

Having said that, I ask for a little latitude, at least within this sub-forum for a short time. People are very upset, and it will take a little while to get over it. Others still don't really know what the hell happened, and we need to be able to tell each other. Finally, some need the opportunity to coordinate a reasoned, rational response, both to set the record straight and to gain some "closure" (much as I hate psychobabble, it's appropriate I think).

I agree that a lot of the anger and vitriol should be toned down - and I urge others to exercise restraint and meter their responses so as not to reflect badly on this site. I'm sure some will still want to lash out - but I predict it will die off in a matter of only a couple days.

Thanks again to my new hosts - I really appreciate it.

[Feck]

El, don't you see any comparisons to the first schism here? RDF meant as much to me before they removed OT as it does to these people now. It may be a forum but it was far from unimportant, as someone just said, it was a scientific and social resource unlike any other in the world and these reactions are testament to that. Let these guys get to terms with the change the same way we had to, 2 days is hardly enough time to expect people to get over it.

How can our community be special but be unreal?

+1

[Mysturji]

I am sorry if what I say annoys anyone but I can't help but think that everyone is overreacting when all that seems to have happened was initially .. nothing.. I have survived other forums being closed before, you move on. It's not the end of the world. We have not had the internet removed from our lives, we can still find communities and many people have found their way here. I don't vcare who did what and who started what.. it's done and name calling and abuse won't change anything

Until 2 days ago this forum was a fairly intimate place, a community - many of us have met in person..it certainly feels that no member feels more than one degree of seperation from any other..it has become a special place.

I understand that many of you did not know where to go and scrabbled to find someone and when you got here you wanted to vent... but now you have come here and vented and now our community finds itself in the spotlight and being quoted by Dawkins himself. Many of us here have done nothing, played no part in any of it, criticsed no one (because franlly we don't care we camp out here now) and yet our forum is now gannering attention for the wrong reasons.

If you want to criticise what has been done, then criticise what has been done. Please don't resort to name calling. It's not the behaviour or adults and certainly not the behaviour of rational people.

It's just a forum.. I am grateful to it and always will be.. that forum allowed me to make a lot of new friends, it led me to travel to Chicago, it had a huge impact on my life and in nurturing and stregthening my atheism, educating me in science and evolution and thanks to Durro's posts some amazing stories about life in Saudi Arabia.

If I have offended anyone I'm sorry. But it's just a bloody forum.. it's not my life, it's not real life.

Can everyone please calm down about it. if you want to join our community, join our community but let this matter rest no, I don't appreciate my name or my community's name being dragged through the mud and into the spotlight.

Elessarina

Yeah.
It's only teh interwebz FFS.
Ele, U can haz MITTENS!

[maiforpeace]

Can I just say that everyone is welcome here. This is a difficult period for everyone and this place may well need quite a bit of reorganising once things 'normalise'.

For now, there are bound to be conflicted interests and high emotions - both from those that are overwhelmed by their online home being locked behind them, and from those that feel like their online home has been invaded by a family of strangers.

Only time will ease the pain of upheaval - for both groups of people - can we please try our best to get along for now. Sooner than we all think, we will come to realise that we are all part of the same community.

Can I ask those of us that have been here a while to allow the new members time to vent. And can I also ask our new members to realise the strain that we old-timers are feeling. This situation is no picnic for anyone. A little mutuality is needed here.

Thanks,

XC

+1

Well said friend.

Two communities are being greatly impacted here - let's be kind and gentle to each other.

[Bella Fortuna]

I think part of what El is saying is that up until a couple of days ago this was a sleepy little familiar hamlet, and now we have lots of new blood (mainly good) but we are also spreading the news of its existence far and wide, and being in the middle of all the strife, we are now subject to a level of scrutiny and a degree of contention that we have not had, and I would say we do not necessarily want. Not trying to stifle anyone, because I've been as vocal as anyone, but the unintended consequence of being in the spotlight makes many of us 'old timers' uncomfortable.

Our usual traffic before all this rarely got more than 20 users on at once, and maybe a guest or two... so this is a massive change for us as well as those who have relocated here from RDF. We DO very much welcome anyone who wants to settle in and find like-minded folk here. There's a sensitivity that should work both ways.

[Steve]

I am sorry if what I say annoys anyone but I can't help but think that everyone is overreacting when all that seems to have happened was initially .. nothing.. I have survived other forums being closed before, you move on. It's not the end of the world. We have not had the internet removed from our lives, we can still find communities and many people have found their way here. I don't vcare who did what and who started what.. it's done and name calling and abuse won't change anything

Until 2 days ago this forum was a fairly intimate place, a community - many of us have met in person..it certainly feels that no member feels more than one degree of seperation from any other..it has become a special place.

I understand that many of you did not know where to go and scrabbled to find someone and when you got here you wanted to vent... but now you have come here and vented and now our community finds itself in the spotlight and being quoted by Dawkins himself. Many of us here have done nothing, played no part in any of it, criticsed no one (because franlly we don't care we camp out here now) and yet our forum is now gannering attention for the wrong reasons.

If you want to criticise what has been done, then criticise what has been done. Please don't resort to name calling. It's not the behaviour or adults and certainly not the behaviour of rational people.

It's just a forum.. I am grateful to it and always will be.. that forum allowed me to make a lot of new friends, it led me to travel to Chicago, it had a huge impact on my life and in nurturing and stregthening my atheism, educating me in science and evolution and thanks to Durro's posts some amazing stories about life in Saudi Arabia.

If I have offended anyone I'm sorry. But it's just a bloody forum.. it's not my life, it's not real life.

Can everyone please calm down about it. if you want to join our community, join our community but let this matter rest no, I don't appreciate my name or my community's name being dragged through the mud and into the spotlight.

Elessarina

+1
I joined this forum with the ending of the OT subforum, but never posted much. Actually - there was a forum in between these two. But I only have so much time so I stuck by RDF as it had a larger community and I DO enjoy watching te fundies try and figure themselves out. This place was not about that so much as the friendships, and I sorta felt folks would keep going to RDF.

Now RDF is history. I still love The God Delusion, I still love Richard. And now I will visit here for the community.

Isn't evolution fascinating?

[klr]

Can I just say that everyone is welcome here. This is a difficult period for everyone and this place may well need quite a bit of reorganising once things 'normalise'.

For now, there are bound to be conflicted interests and high emotions - both from those that are overwhelmed by their online home being locked behind them, and from those that feel like their online home has been invaded by a family of strangers.

Only time will ease the pain of upheaval - for both groups of people - can we please try our best to get along for now. Sooner than we all think, we will come to realise that we are all part of the same community.

Can I ask those of us that have been here a while to allow the new members time to vent. And can I also ask our new members to realise the strain that we old-timers are feeling. This situation is no picnic for anyone. A little mutuality is needed here.

Thanks,

XC

I heartily endorse this statement or product [/Krusty the Klown]

[Elessarina]

Can I ask those of us that have been here a while to allow the new members time to vent. And can I also ask our new members to realise the strain that we old-timers are feeling. This situation is no picnic for anyone. A little mutuality is needed here.

Fair enough but I think the name calling and so forth should stop. I have no problem with anyone joining here either. I DO have a problem that I am associated strongly with a forum that Richard Dawkins has been extracting quotes from that might seem to reflect the general opinion. We were already a forum before all this happened.. none of these people bothered to join then..

This forum is not run my a best selling writer or scientist it is run and funded by the users.

I also don't deserve to be told off by PZMyers because of things that have been said here that are nothing to do with me. I have been posting here for a year .. now we have all this negative attention. Why should I have to put up with it..? I don't care what happened to RDF.. Dawkins owns that forum - he can do what the hell he likes to it. If everyone hadn't started throwing insults around because of the changes it would still be open for a further 30 days.

This place is causing me anxiety, I feel pushed out, so do other regular posters. I am signing off now.

I need a break from being told off, told I am wrong, told what I should think by people I have never intereacted with before in a forum that has been my home for the last year.

[num1cubfn]

Can I just say that everyone is welcome here. This is a difficult period for everyone and this place may well need quite a bit of reorganising once things 'normalise'.

For now, there are bound to be conflicted interests and high emotions - both from those that are overwhelmed by their online home being locked behind them, and from those that feel like their online home has been invaded by a family of strangers.

Only time will ease the pain of upheaval - for both groups of people - can we please try our best to get along for now. Sooner than we all think, we will come to realise that we are all part of the same community.

Can I ask those of us that have been here a while to allow the new members time to vent. And can I also ask our new members to realise the strain that we old-timers are feeling. This situation is no picnic for anyone. A little mutuality is needed here.

Thanks,

XC

Cheers to that.

[CJ]

Last week we were lucky to have 20 members on line at any one time, we just had 209!!!

This is all a bit of a shock really, but there is nothing wrong in all our new members venting. In due course things will settle down and some people will stay some will go and we'll be better off for the new people who stay, but that's a while away. Asking a crowd of upset people to calm down is usually unproductive as the person doing the asking becomes the target of the pent up aggression of the crowd.

[num1cubfn]

[

A) Your post misunderstands what happened that made people upset (tip: it wasn't the closing of a forum).
B) Your post sounds a LOT like American racist republicans who want to "keep out the illegals" to ensure that America stays "clean"
C) We are very thankful to have a new forum to write in.
D) We are posting in a specially made section that is specifically for what we are using it for: "Announcement about RDF"
E) When someone gets quote mined, the person who wrote the original statements is not to blame.
F) Thanks for welcoming us with open arms and making us feel like we are wanted here.

People overreacting to the forum being changed and the starting insulting people is what closed the forum

Thank you for telling all the RD people what REALLY happened on RD while you were over here, but no. That is NOT what caused the forum to be closed.

If you don't like the insulting I don't understand why you're still in this section. It's a section specifically for the RD.net people to talk about what happened. Of course rationalia old timers are welcome in this section, but you certainly aren't FORCED to read this section.

[Elessarina]

[
B) Your post sounds a LOT like American racist republicans who want to "keep out the illegals" to ensure that America stays "clean".

How fucking dare you. It is nothing of the sort.. I just don't want my name associated with the kind of insults that have been bandied around about people one here thanks.

Go fuck yourself I will not be likened to a racist