Forum Casualties, Deserters/AWOL & MIA

This is something that worries me too. Here is what little I know:

Craig Weiler has a website in which he says something about curtailing his activities due to ill health.

EthanT and Andy Paquette are both still about but are very busy and don't post much. I have contacted both for various reasons

Open Mind stayed with the old forum for some reason.

Gabriel got himself banned, by Alex I think.

I really miss Loneshaman, but I don't know what has happened to him.

Linda is back.

Chris told me he was leaving because I asked him to remove one particular post. I asked him not to go, to no avail.

I have never gone away, though I nearly did. I discovered a nast bug with the forum, which I think still exists, and might have something to do with some departures. If you lose your PW, and request a new one, it first checks with you by email that you wish this to happen (so it knows your email), then resets your PW and tells you it is sending the new PW to your email - but it never arrives!

I got back because I knew someone's email who could fix it for me!

David
 
David Bailey said:
have never gone away, though I nearly did. I discovered a nast bug with the forum, which I think still exists, and might have something to do with some departures. If you lose your PW, and request a new one, it first checks with you by email that you wish this to happen (so it knows your email), then resets your PW and tells you it is sending the new PW to your email - but it never arrives!
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If this can happen then it is probably the cause of at least some of the casualties, if knowing someone's email is a lifeline, can forum members be given an email so they can use it in such an event? Maybe no private email but one that moderators could check now and again to see if anyone needs the type of assistance you received.

Btw Gabriel's departure was ridiculous, with both parties ego's to blame in my opinion, but one more than the other.
 
The Moderator said:
L
Certain members of the forum were (apparently) holding to the position that males and females are physical equals, basically interchangeable in military combat roles.
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Physical "equals"? Obviously not. Interchangeable in military combat roles? Of course!

As long as the tests given are the same for all - anyone who has an issue with women in combat is swayed by their patriarchal beliefs.
 
Ian Gordon said:
David, both Typoz and LS left in the midst of a dispute here: http://www.skeptiko-forum.com/threads/wagging-the-moondoggie.2326/page-20#post-71443 (and next post)

From now on, you're really going to have to be on the ball and make sure you read every single post of every single thread in a timely fashion. :D (just kidding)
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Thanks for that information - and you have put your finger on a problem - I can't possibly scan everything that is going on! However, according to his profile info LoneShaman was last seen on June28 this year.

Anyway, I am glad that presumably LoneShaman is still around, and I hope he gets in touch with me. I'll try to persuade both him and Typoz to come back if I can.

David
 
The Moderator said:
Let's start checking off the above here in this thread. This will probably end up being the official record of the death of the Skeptiko forum.

I'll start...

Not too long ago we suffered a major casualty, the loss of our beloved tim. Certain members of the forum were (apparently) holding to the position that males and females are physical equals, basically interchangeable in military combat roles. Yes, it seems this-- or what he thought-- was a blatant denial of objective reality and lack of common sense killed our friend. So sad. If only tim could have envisioned the platoons of heroic young women who had hacked through the jungles of Vietnam.

Who else is there?
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Ian Gordon said:
Excuses, excuses.
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David Bailey said:
Well people do get ill, and sometimes die.
David
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Well, I'm indeed busy - unpleasantly busy, I would say - these days: in addition to my full-time job, I'm also studying to become a translator and is learning German language. Yet I have not deserted, I'm still here (as you can see). However, it is not possible for me to post as often as I once did: today, I can participate only occasionally, when I have some spare time. So, don't miss me than I seem to disappear for days: I'm always back in the end!
 
I'm not sure whether I'm typical but, for the most part, I stopped posting a long time ago - breaking my silence only rarely. Yet I still lurk and follow some of the more interesting threads. I too miss the likes of LoneShaman, Maaneli and Johann who could all present a good, educated case against the dogmatism of the resident skeptics - something I was unable to do. Constantly coming up against that wall of dogmatism is what led me to the decision to stay quiet. There is no meeting of minds, unfortunately.

Having said that, other forums and blog comment pages are much worse; we can all cite examples. That's why I never understand the complaints from the resident skeptics that they are not allowed to contribute to some of the dedicated sub-forums here. If I could offer a point of view on those restricted areas, it is this: sometimes the constant barrage of doubt-casting and nay-saying becomes annoying and the anger spoils the discussion. Some of the subjects are also probably way beyond the pale for many skeptics and may seem to verge on New Age or conspiracy theory clap-trap (some of it does to me too!). Nobody wants to discuss those subjects when they suspect some of the responses will amount to ridicule and sneering. Yet anyone can open a similar discussion in the CD forum where all who want to take part can do so. Is that so unreasonable? The CD forum has by far the most contributions of all the forums here.

Finally, one of the best and long running discussions ever on this forum was about evolution where LoneShaman, Michael Larkin and Paul practically educated me in the subject from both sides of the debate. That, in a nutshell, is the value of this forum: if you try to find a well-reasoned debate on evolution/ID using Google you will inevitably find pages and pages of aggressive Darwinist dogma countered by pages and pages of religiously motivated creationism. There are some reasonable debates involving Stephen Meyer and his opponents but they are few and far between. We need a place where the two sides meet face-to-face rather than sites like Pandas Thumb or Jerry Coyne's blog versus Discovery.org where each side is throwing grenades over the fence without considering removing the fence and just talking to each other.
 
I miss Sciborg.. It kind of worries me that he just up and vanished (as far as I know, anyways..)

Hopefully he is in good health and has just moved to more lucrative forums.
 
Just as an addendum to my previous post, I spent some time yesterday reading the MoonDoggie thread which seems to have resulted in LoneShaman deciding to quit. Now, while there is some pretty ugly language from LS in that thread, it is an example of what I was talking about earlier when I said the constant doubt-casting and nay-saying leads to anger which spoils the thread. That is why I stopped posting too and the particular annoyance in my case - as with LS (and others too) - was Linda. It is difficult to nail down one particular post proving these tactics (and I do believe they are tactics) but if you read that thread and compare it to other Linda classics, such as Pam Reynolds* and the question of how much Pam might have heard despite all the precautions, you see a pattern. It amounts to a concerted "nothing to see here" campaign by which she will insist that any given anomaly has a more mundane and prosaic explanation. Usually she will back up her alternative explanation by claiming some kind of expertise in the field, be it medical, biological or mathematical (particularly statistics). This was why it is a shame that LS, Maaneli and Johann have all gone - they could effectively call her on her BS. Yet she is always at pains to be civil and reassure the proponents that she has no agenda.

I'm sorry to pick out a particular member but I suspect that some of the valued members this forum has lost might still be around but for Linda. I wonder whether that gives her some satisfaction? I'm not going to indulge her in a conversation to find out, however. Once bitten, as they say.

* Search the old forum for threads about Pam Reynolds.
 
Kamarling,

It is good to see you here again!

I agree with a lot of what you have written, but I think by letting sceptics have some say on the forum, they tell others - including many that do not post - that sceptics only have weak responses. I mean, you don't have to be a medic to see that claiming that Pam Reynolds could have heard the process while her heart was stopped and her brain cooled is - to say the least - clutching at straws. I would suggest that you just put people who upset you on your ignore list.

David
 
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