Can we get a bit of perspective please

[num1cubfn]

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.

6200 posts here. CJ, you've been a busy atheist forum-goer, haven't you!

[The Curious Squid]

More members don't mean we can't have a community, we were one big forum before and it was great, with some patience it could be like RDF back when it was in it's prime. The bonds we've all made aren't going to be lessened because there are more people here.

[CJ]

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

[The Curious Squid]

[
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

El, come on man! In what way is this helping anyone? Sign out and calm down, i'll even buy you a ginger ale next time we meet

[Valden]

We were already a forum before all this happened.. none of these people bothered to join then..

That was rather uncalled for.

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.

He hasn't told Ratz off. (that I know of)

I have been posting here for a year .. now we have all this negative attention. Why should I have to put up with it..?

It was never any of our intentions (can't really speak for all the new member here though) to bring any negative attention to Ratz.

I don't care what happened to RDF..

But you see, many of us do.

If everyone hadn't started throwing insults around because of the changes it would still be open for a further 30 days.

This is simply incorrect. As I said already, most of the insults started after the forum was closed.

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

I am sorry you feel that way. But try to understand, moving to an entirely new forum is hard on me, and perhaps many others as well. We just lost a beloved forum, and now have migrated here, in the hopes that we can form new friendships and lasting memories here.

I need a break from being told off,

Who's telling you off? Tell them to stfu.

told I am wrong,

Well you have on a few bits. I merely corrected you.

told what I should think by people I have never intereacted with before

Who's doing that? Tell them to stop.

in a forum that has been my home for the last year.

And the forum that has been my home for the past two years has been murdered. How do you think many of us feel about that? Not very good.

Please have patience. The venting will die down, some of us will go, some will stay and make Ratz their new forum home.

I would very much like to be part of this community. But when you say something like this-

none of these people bothered to join then..

That bothers me as much as all this venting is bothering you.

Edit: Forgot something. As num1cubfn has said, if you don't like what you see in this part of the forum, then please stop reading it.

[cowiz]

Ele - I'm afraid it is because we are good people and we want to help that this is happening. It will settle down in fairly short order and the chaos will resume to normality.

We would not want to leave our friends hanging would we? We has the same opportunity when TAF and Ratz were formed.

[Pappa]

[
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

Can you both please remember the rules. Likening someone to a racist and telling someone to fuck themselves are both not ok.....

Thank you.

[life]

It is just a forum .. it might be a special place, it might be many things but ultimately it is just a ROOM..in which you interact with other poeple.

You can still stay in touch with those people. There are also many like-minded people here - join our community.

Repeatedly venting is not going to change anything. You may be angry and upset but all you are
doing now is dragging this forum/community through the mud and making all us who have been posting here for a year feel uncomfortable and out of place is a forum we started.

Have some respect

I'm sorry that 'we' invaded your homely place here and I'm not being sarcastic.
I do wanna make clear that I'm not whining because of the people but because of the unique content that went down the toilet.
Let me exaggerate a bit: Imagine you're holding the last copy of The Origin Of Species in your hands, you read it and realize what a marvellous discovery it really is. Then someone comes along, burns it down, taps you on the sholder and says "Oh come on, don't be so upset...it's just a piece of wood with some black ink on it you know..."

[Ironclad]

I must admit I was a little worried that a great influx of fallen angels may upset the peace of this established forum.
It is, however, of great interest to many, what has only recently gone down. Although I guess the New Posts area has changed dramatically and is perhaps a tad of a nuisance to those not overly interested, there does seem to be very many, "What RDNET Did", type of threads. Too many I suspect.

I hope things get back to calm waters soon.
And thanks again for the space to chill, and hopefully make some new friends.

[Pensioner]

I did say in one of my posts that I did think that this forum is like a mates house and it would be ill mannered to criticize the furniture or décor as a guest. That’s what we are, a guest.

I’m just grateful that we from RDF have been welcomed here and no one has said I told you so. Except Clinton he is just a shit. Is he a mod on this site? I take it back if he is.

[rachelbean]

I can understand where you are coming from, El. You have to understand that most of us were called/invited here. When we got here, we were welcomed (which was wonderful) and shown a forum created specifically to talk about the RD.net issues, and that's where it's been kept as far as I know. Give us some time and it certainly will die down, but it's a little too quick to ask people to get over it. It seems like you have strong feelings tied to your community, so I'm sure you can understand that we do as well. As for not joining your community before, myself (and I imagine most rdf'ers) had no idea it existed, but I am very glad it does and wish I had found it sooner

Sorry for all the clamor, and thanks again, for letting us all into your house.

[num1cubfn]

[
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

I never said you were a racist, merely that your idea of "this forum was better before new people came over" is very similar to what we hear in the states from people who don't want Mexicans to enter the US. Part of what made the US a great country (not that is so much anymore) was that there was such an influx of diverse people to the country. Yes, times changed for the people who were there, and many hated that the Irish or the Italian were comming over by the boat load because they didn't want change. I see it as a very fitting simile.

I also did not mean to imply that you were the only person who ever has such views, it's a common part of the human condition that there are some people we accept as "one of us" and some that we don't. I think it's important that we make a conscious effort to fight that urge, and to accept that all people are human beings, regardless of what clique they are a part of.

I want to say that I very much like this forum, and I like some of the memes that this forum has (Like listing a cheese name as an answer to a poll, etc.)

As a gift of peace, I offer you

P.S. I understand very much how hard it is to see your forum change. It seems that you care very much about your forums. In this regard, both you and the RD.net people have something very much in common. Our forums will be deleted. Going by how much you like these forums, I feel safe in saying that you would be quite upset if it were to happen to rationalia. I'm sure you would also be quite grateful to find another forum where most of your community moved to where you could maintain those relationships if that were to ever happen.

P.P.S. In rereading the OC, I can see how you would mistakenly think I was backhandedly calling you racist. That was not my intent, and I apologize that you thought I said that. I very much DO think that there are many racist republicans in America, and I was only referring to them as racist, not you. The issue I was discussing with you had nothing to do with race, and while I meant the "keep new people out" part to be a simile between the two situations, I did not intend for that to apply to the racist part as well.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

It is just a forum .. it might be a special place, it might be many things but ultimately it is just a ROOM..in which you interact with other poeple.

You can still stay in touch with those people. There are also many like-minded people here - join our community.

Repeatedly venting is not going to change anything. You may be angry and upset but all you are
doing now is dragging this forum/community through the mud and making all us who have been posting here for a year feel uncomfortable and out of place is a forum we started.

Have some respect

I'm sorry that 'we' invaded your homely place here and I'm not being sarcastic.
I do wanna make clear that I'm not whining because of the people but because of the unique content that went down the toilet.
Let me exaggerate a bit: Imagine you're holding the last copy of The Origin Of Species in your hands, you read it and realize what a marvellous discovery it really is. Then someone comes along, burns it down, taps you on the sholder and says "Oh come on, don't be so upset...it's just a piece of wood with some black ink on it you know..."

Now imagine that you are sitting, quietly reading your favourite poetry book - also the only one left in the world - and someone grabs it and begins frantically scribbling down everything that they can remember of The Origin Of Species across the Emily Dickinson and T.S.Eliot that you love so much.

Nobody is wrong to feel hurt here. We are only wrong when we disregard how the other side feels.

[Heresiarch]

To my fellow RD refugees. Please remember that this was a small, tight-knit community and we've just parachuted in, gotten out of the lifeboat and started causing drama. Try and be considerate of the original members of this forum as they are going through a major upheaval as well.

To the original community here. Hang tight and don't panic. I'm sure things will calm down a lot over the course of a few more days and us incomers will start to integrate and make more friends with the old times.

Don't start hating each other and getting an us and them attitude. We're all on the same side.

[Clinton Huxley]

Except Clinton he is just a shit. Is he a mod on this site? I take it back if he is.

Good Grief, that would be like "work"........I need a lie down.