Where Are My Fellow Refugees?

Some of us are still here.

i am not here...

does anyone else notice the number of people online? all of a sudden it jumped to over 5000, when it had been running from 1 to 2 thousand. just after they finished doing maintenance the last time, that short break which maybe no one noticed except the other side of the world members. i think it is slowing down now, sometimes as few as 850. what i was wondering is are they members only or does that include guests? anyone know?

unless the method of counting has changed, it would include guests. and bots.

The eye doctor, maybe, due to the eye bleeding white and gross green and yellow colors.

With everyone abandoning the philforum and most of the rest still here likely to be MIA in the near future, there just doesn't seem to be much of a point anymore, thus, proving that community is more important than numbers.

taking a different tact, you can blaspheme my county, state, city or community all your want but the people are sacroscant.

I wasn't referring to your people but rather the people from the philforum. We lost our people because they did not find this community desirable. We were told this place was bigger and better, but without our friends, most of us don't/didn't care. Personally, all I see in the bigger aspect is more noise, more trolls, and more **** I could care less about. Hell, finding stuff can be rather tedious and I am sick of weeding out the **** I find and things tagged inappropriately.

I put a lot of time and effort into the old philforum and it is disheartening to see it in shambles now as it is hosted on a2k. Oh well, at least it is not my problem now.

all of us were at one time refugees to a2k, many have come and gone, many are missed but many have clung on to become a dynamic community. Included in the many are slugs and flamers and outright shitheads but the community is still here an still dynamic with daily changes as different people and different ideas and different personalities drop in and drop out. I personally don't see the incorporation of philoforum as "group invasion" but rather as more posters with greater variety of opinions and perspectives and quirks to ad to our own opinions, perspectives and quirks. Actually I think the majority (by far) welcomed philoforum including the philo-babble I see so much of but, just as a2k oldsters skip/ignore my posts and threads but I and thou are able to do the same with anyone. take what you can use and disregard the rest. Above all, have fun if you want to or don't if that is your want. constant change is here to stay.
The Dys, also known as Cranky Bob

Let it be known that I don't like the Dys, aka Poopity Head in Chief..

I don't have a right to anything that someone else has a right to take away from me. -- Jefferson

Yea, so Robert made a good point: a philosophy forum isn't a money making opportunity. That suggests that a subscription based arrangement with by-laws would allow a group of people to set their own course.

Obviously the group would never form in the first place if people had to pay for it. So the latter-day emergence of a sense of right comes from what?

These and many other probing philobabble questions could be asked. 'Course it would help if there was an atmosphere of giving a hoot, as opposed to the bar being set at seeing how clever a one-liner I can come up with.

I think Robert meant no more or less than to preserve a philosophy forum and manage it in a way that it would be self perpetuating like a helium balloon as opposed to a led zeppelin. I admire that. But I have to say: this forum lacks something that I believe would be necessary for a community to explore philosophy. In a word: Moderators.

having invested time, energy and content into phil forum.....if you had been part of a group of friends in real life for an extended period do you really think that you would have no more right to right to decide direction than someone who everyone just met yesterday? You are the one with the long running relationship with everyone else, you are the one who has proven your worth as a friend over the long haul. You are the one who in fully invested and because you are human could not just walk away now, not the newbie.

You are the one who has earned some rights, and while they are not recognized by law failure to recognize those rights shows a failure of morality.

Robert and I have clashed on this point repeatedly: My contention is that he owning the virtual clubhouse does not give him the right to do what ever he wants. In my opinion that while he has the primary investment (by far) in a2k, and he has a duty to act in a way that takes into consideration the needs and desires of the other vested interests. Likewise, the old owner of Phil Forum had the same responsibility to the Phil Forum folks in my opinion, and did not exercise it.

However, I know one forum where the owner straight up says that he is the dictator, that it is his way or the highway, so my opinion is certainly not universally agreed to.

We have moderators, but we operate differently.

That might not be to everyone's liking so for those who preferred the old policies we are going to make a forum and import all the philforum members and put the previous moderators in charge.

That way you can have a curated and more heavily moderated forum if you prefer.

This is not the basis of our disagreement, the basis of our disagreement is that I think your incessant predictions of doom are completely unfounded. Your desires do not represent community desires but you try to don that mantle as if you spoke for the community. And in any case, when I do things to put the community in charge (e.g. voting) you decry that as popularity that will destroy the site.

Cut the nonsense already, the majority of the community doesn't want what you advocate either. It's just mindless gainsay.

the moderator argument is the one that puzzles me most, i'd think that moderation would be anathema to philosophy, being a block to free and unfettered thinking

My speculation is that the reason it works is that philosophy isn't only about thinking. Reflecting on life is going to inevitably touch on the things that matter most to people. In fact I'd say the average philosophical debate has hiding within in it emotion that's personal and universal at the same time.

A simple demand that people show respect for each other goes a long way. The one who deserves the most respect is not the one who's read the most books, it's the one who ventures to speak honestly. I think that requires a more protected environment or it's just not going to happen.

That's my take.

I prefer less curation myself, but can also appreciate curated culture. When groups are around I'm going to make idiot-free groups myself as well but I'll probably always prefer a more open market place of ideas as my main forum to haunt.

One of the benefits of having moderators somewhat versed in the subject in a philosophy forum is that posts and threads can be moved to more appropriate forums, thus making the discussion easier to find and to join; this is especially true if the membership is not confined merely to those with "academic" knowledge of its branches and subject matter.

So, has Mark Noble left us?

he timed out.

Well, hopefully, he having a superfilindiouslyness terrific day, somewhere.

Reyn...