HughMcB wrote:...One of our wonderful friends,
Life, has set up an alternative forum for all of us blow ins to go and get some perspective on things (if only as a temporary measure). People here at Rationalia have been beyond wonderful to us, I really don't have enough words (or time) to fully convey our deepest gratitude to letting such an unruly mob as us infest your quiet little part of the interwebz and kick up such a fuss.
It really is such an awesome reflection of character that you have welcomed so many strangers (along with old friends) so unselfishly into your humble home. I for one can say that I will remain frequenting this abode as I find it a joy to take part in with so many wonderful individuals.
...
http://www.rationalskepticism.org/index.php
...
All newcomers, oldcomers, latecomers and prematurecomers are welcome.
Hi Hugh. I visited rationalskepticism.org , and am mightily impressed; you'd think its RDF...even including the tiny avatars.
But does the search engine work? 
The avatar size at rationalia is much better, as is the forum name. I'm hoping to make my avatar fill the entire page! Maybe I can post it repeatedly?
Anyway, I might join and begin wasting time on 2 forums!
On another topic: RDF wants to vet posts. There are other sites that do that...and boy, do they suck! There's no dynamism & speed to their debates. Here's one, vetted site, that I contributed to, simply because there's a Josh defender called 'askegg' slagging off RDF complainers as
"incredibly childish", and blaming them for the vile destruction of thousands of posts.
Galaxian wrote:
"Hi everyone. I've been a member of RDF since within weeks of its inception in 2006.
There's a lot of disinformation being bandied about, perhaps accidentally or some on purpose. From the user's POV, the functionality was OK for almost 3 years. But in mid July 2009, for no reason I can fathom, the search engine was disabled without warning. Since then I haven't been able to download page-assemblies of only my posts (any page I download has other people's posts in it as well).
It was repeatedly promised that this was a temporary glitch, & that Google would meet all our needs. But that's rubbish. It indicates the level of amateurishness or deception that pervaded the IT department at RDF. The search engine has not worked since then.
Then a few days ago the forum was shut down and several members' thousands of posts deleted without warning, & without the courtesy of allowing them to download their contributions. This is directly analogous to book-burning. To the best of my knowledge, what 'askegg' has written is not true. The quotes that Richard has brandished in his diatribe were due to livid anger AFTER the vandalism done to some members' records. Those colorful reactions were, in my opinion, well deserved for the infamy of the acts that elicited them. Furthermore, those quote are not from RDF, but from other places on the net after RDF was already closed down & records destroyed. They have been carefully gleaned by RDF to use as a disinformation exercise.
Richard Dawkins is entitled to steer his website in whatever direction he wants. But he is NOT entitled to destroy web archives, or agree to their destruction, without first having the common courtesy of allowing their owners the chance to download them. I don't care what the lawyers might have advised RD.net; it is natural justice that the contributors, who freely made RDF what it was, are the ultimate owners of the knowledge that they produced.
There are other forums/sites, far far larger, which have no problems running. Before July 2009 I didn't notice any major inconvenience. The arbitrary and capricious events, often keeping even the mods out of the loop, smack to me of some other agenda that we are not privy to. The disgust of thousands of members who have now joined other sites is not "incredibly childish" as askegg alleges. It is a rational reaction to devious behavior & abominable treatment. Askegg should pull his fingers out of his ears (his avatar), and visit this site (among several) which elucidates what has happened: http://www.rationalia.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=75
You'll be pleased to know that at rationalia.com we've also put links & encouragement to your site here: http://www.rationalia.com/forum/viewtop ... 88#p362488
There is some good in the suicide of RDF; Many atheist forums, such as this, will now grow, out from under the shadow of 1 man's forum."
