New RDF website to be launched next week

[Feck]

Most of the vitriol thrown was at his underlings .He chose to stand by and support them despite their obvious shortcomings .He still does.
Serious doubts have been raised about the people he trusts with his web sites . It seems by the almost universal disapproval of the new offering that the faith he has placed in certain individuals has been betrayed .

[lordpasternack]

Rum - what happened with the recent drama was more than a system failing to work - it was his protégés taking several wilfully spiteful actions that they knew would likely be frowned upon if only they were being overseen by their absentee landlord, and then abusing said absentee landlord's trust further by lying to him and/or wilfully allowIng him to be misled. For Richard to take full responsibility for ALL of his delegates' actions, including presumably their direct deceit with him, just seems like fashionable scapegoating to me. They are accountable adults - not children in his care. I think he should accept full responsibility for his non-management, while holding them responsible for actions taken implicitly against his will.

As per Richard's continued desire to want to make it his priority first and foremost to salve these young men's egos, even when they wilfully deceive him, well I ended up using the tactic of trying to punch the rose-tinted specs off his face. It may be something requiring a bit more subtlety…

[kiki5711]

Rum - what happened with the recent drama was more than a system failing to work - it was his protégés taking several wilfully spiteful actions that they knew would likely be frowned upon if only they were being overseen by their absentee landlord, and then abusing said absentee landlord's trust further by lying to him and/or wilfully allowIng him to be misled. For Richard to take full responsibility for ALL of his delegates' actions, including presumably their direct deceit with him, just seems like fashionable scapegoating to me. They are accountable adults - not children in his care. I think he should accept full responsibility for his non-management, while holding them responsible for actions taken implicitly against his will.

As per Richard's continued desire to want to make it his priority first and foremost to salve these young men's egos, even when they wilfully deceive him, well I ended up using the tactic of trying to punch the rose-tinted specs off his face. It may be something requiring a bit more subtlety…

LP

they may be playing "good cop, bad cop" game.. Where RD looks like the innocent party but actually agrees with the changes/but doesn't want everyone to know he does. The goal, I think, is to minimize community participation. There is no way that format can handle the amount of members and topics, anywhere near the old forum did. I don't think he's as gullible as you feel.

[lordpasternack]

Perhaps, perhaps, Kiki… Actually with respect to community participation and all that, I had yet another satirical response in the recesses of my mind to Richard's comments about people and their sense of entitlement - which of course remains, in Richard's head - more offensive than Josh and Andrews transgressions. I was going to say that if he had not intended to foster a sense of community in the end-users, and didn't want end-users to feel entitled to have a say in the direction of the site - and instead wished just to have the site more for his own personal aesthetic - well then I could give him some good ideas for how he could save a lot of money on hosting.

And what was he referring to about any offensive sense of entitlement, anyway? The presumptuous expectation that we could voice reasonable criticism on his site without being treated to the exceptional bad manners, spite, and utter incompetence of his protégés? The silly notion that the users of the site were entitled to be vouchsafed such niceties? I never understood quite what he was driving at with that remark, and something in me tells me that Richard may not even be so sure himself.

[Trolldor]

I think Richard has taken offense to those ideas that state "It may be Richard's site, but it should be run and organised how we want it to be. We are his all important cheer squad after all."

My only concern with the whole thing was the naivety with which they entered the venture, and then their exemplefied failure at dealing with it. What they need to admit is that Josh doesn't know what he's doing, he really doesn't. Any asshole can build a website, but to run a community-based website takes more than the leering look of an unshaven pedophile. Unless it's Wikipedia or MySpace, at which point those qualities make you perfectly suited for the job.

[Cunt]

I still think it's a bit disrespectful to presume that Mr. Dawkins did not know what was going on. Things went, and are going, exactly as he directs. I can't just pretend he is a dottering old fool who doesn't know what his forum, or his staff are up to.

Until he says different, I will assume that JT's actions are EXACTLY what Dawkins ordered.

I am darn near afraid to say it, but I think that you have some bias, lordpasternack (love?lust?) toward Mr. Dawkins. It may well be colouring your views.

The site is the way it is because that is the way the boss wanted it. Looking at it this way fits the facts, and allows me to continue to have a certain level of respect for Mr. Dawkins (though I admit I like him less now)

[lordpasternack]

I think Richard has taken offense to those ideas that state "It may be Richard's site, but it should be run and organised how we want it to be. We are his all important cheer squad after all."

I know - and I strayed from that type of conviction myself. The fact of the matter is that it has to be acknowledged that there has to be a bit of give and take if you want to foster any type of community, for any particular goal - somewhere between the extremes of: "It's my fucking site so you can just shut your fucking mouth and take what my little protégés mete out to you for voicing contrary opinions and like it" - and: "This site is for all of you, my pretties. Ask and you shall receive... after all, where would I be without you?"

[lordpasternack]

I am darn near afraid to say it, but I think that you have some bias, lordpasternack (love?lust?) toward Mr. Dawkins. It may well be colouring your views.

The site is the way it is because that is the way the boss wanted it. Looking at it this way fits the facts, and allows me to continue to have a certain level of respect for Mr. Dawkins (though I admit I like him less now)

I admit I do have bias, because I think I have a little insight into Richard's temperament, that I know him in some way enough to gauge that he wouldn't do such-and-such a thing or other. But of course, that's the same kind of trust I think Richard invested in Josh, and I'd be willing to accept if I was wrong, and be very disappointed. But my feelings aren't just based on passive observation of Richard, but from direct communication with him, where I pestered him about some things to do with the site - to the point of aggravation - and what seemed to come across between the lines was that he was mostly ignorant about affairs going on on the site, and he stated quite explicitly that he had no time for thinking about rules and regulations.

Also, that whole charade to do with the threads on what semen tastes like, seriously - and felching, and ass-to-mouth - which Richard and Josh eventually purged... Well, that was also symptomatic of their vast ignorance of forumland, and Richard's hands-off approach to running things. That went on for months and months before Richard finally decided that he didn't think discussing the gustatory properties of human ejaculate were really a worthwhile venture for his site. He didn't have a sudden change of heart. He just didn't have a fucking clue what was going on - not the foggiest idea, the faintest awareness. And it isn't too difficult to extrapolate a little from that scenario into others...

In a past post on this forum, I happened to lay into Richard and Josh's vast ignorance of the forum and say essentially that they didn't, and couldn't, have a clue what they were on about in their reasoning for why the forum had to be abolished - but that was another post and another topic...

PS. And if Richard ever cares to know the source of some of my particular character traits, then put simply, I blame my bastard ancestors. To name three that I seem to be carrying the legacy of - my paternal granda's dad was purportedly a flawed clever man with a wry sense of wit, who, when his son told him he needed a new carpet because the colour was fading, responded: "Paint it." And my gran is a very perceptive and feisty woman who says she prefers to tell it like it is, and once told one of her managers that she wasn't so desperate for a job that she had to work under an idiot like him. And my granda is a headstrong and often cynical bastard who says he can't have a proper relationship without the odd argument. And basically I'm all their fucking fault and there's nothing I can do about it now.

[Calilasseia]

I've given this new place a brief outing.

I have to say, it's bland in comparison to the old forum.

I can remember the days when I'd be facing down duplicitous supernaturalists in convoys after posting the sort of comments I've just posted up there. Indeed, over at RatSkep, I'm back in mortal combat with another duplicitous creationist, just like the good old days, and frankly, the excitement is now completely absent from RD's new site. Compared to the old forum, it's a mausoleum.

Even the old front page offered more discoursive combat than this.

[Deep Sea Isopod]

It's taking too long to change the page.

[Bella Fortuna]

It's taking too long to change the page.

Don't worry, you're not missing anything...........

[kiki5711]

Perhaps, perhaps, Kiki… Actually with respect to community participation and all that, I had yet another satirical response in the recesses of my mind to Richard's comments about people and their sense of entitlement - which of course remains, in Richard's head - more offensive than Josh and Andrews transgressions. I was going to say that if he had not intended to foster a sense of community in the end-users, and didn't want end-users to feel entitled to have a say in the direction of the site - and instead wished just to have the site more for his own personal aesthetic - well then I could give him some good ideas for how he could save a lot of money on hosting.

And what was he referring to about any offensive sense of entitlement, anyway? The presumptuous expectation that we could voice reasonable criticism on his site without being treated to the exceptional bad manners, spite, and utter incompetence of his protégés? The silly notion that the users of the site were entitled to be vouchsafed such niceties? I never understood quite what he was driving at with that remark, and something in me tells me that Richard may not even be so sure himself.

Now that I think back about it all, it seems it may be a bit of this and that, a combo of mixed messages and some naive relationships among that little crew there running it all. I remember Richard made threads at times that were kind of peculiar to me (somewhat personal but nor really disclosed as personal). The reason they seemed peculiar to me is because they never really came to a closure. Richard just posted them, and when some uncomfortable feedback came from a posters or two, he just disappeared, and then came back later with a new thread somewhat serious in nature ie. regarding his book etc.. totally ignoring the previous post. If he just meant to throw out a subject to be commented on, like throwing a bone to the dog, he must have known there was going to be some replies. He can't say he was totally oblivious of what was going on in the forum since he was a poster there and I know he must have browsed to check out what else people are talking about besides his books. If he never did, that would be totally weird and very childish, I think.

After the closing of the forum, or was it during, can't remember, seeing that he dedicated his newest book to Josh was kind of freaky. I mean, here's a guy we all do not like, and it definitely feels he does not like the members. For some reason he took it upon himself the battle against the membership and went on to prove how wrong we all are, and his motivations are true and honest. It makes for juicy gossip, if we only knew the truth. ..

Well, it's all water under the bridge and I have learned to pick and choose my battles. This is not one I'm interested in getting annoyed over. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

[lordpasternack]

I just cannot get over how inferior the new site is to the old. They said it would be an upgrade... What they really should have said was "reformatting" or "streamlining" - which is the proper euphemism for downgrade...

I mean, I knew it would be inferior, but not that utterly crap.

[Thinking Aloud]

From a post by THWOTH at RatSkep...

[Feck]

^^^^^^^^