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Debate forums?

Back in "the day", public message forums were a huge thing. So were live chat, but right now I'm more at public message forums. When I say "the day" I mean around 1998 or so I joined a bunch, saw them flourishing from then through maybe 2005 or a few years longer when they started to a state of decline, and then maybe sometime after 2012-ish the usage just fell through the floor.

Prominent among these was Yahoo Groups, which started out as Yahoo Clubs. There was also an MSN Groups, later a Google Groups, and maybe a few others of less popularity. Before all of these were the Usenet newsgroups largely populated by the geeks (me included). By this time, Yahoo was the king, though. Lots of debate groups with thousands of members and a decent number of active participants on any given day. We had regulars that were there for years -- and a real assortment of people from the academic sorts to the grandma to the stoner. These were great because the discussions were so varied. You'd get the formal debate types with the -brow intensly nuanced philosophical question which could take weeks to hash through, you'd get the granny bringing in whatever her pastor said last weekend that she thought would be a "gotcha" for the atheists, and then you'd get the idiot who thought he was a genius who came up with his own "brilliant" argument that was so moronic that it was incredibly fun to deflate in a matter of minutes and then watch how they try doubling down on it.

These forums were large communities that pretty much everybody knew about and at their peak it was never a question that there would be a steady participation and a bunch of regulars on all sides that you'd get to know and enjoy sparring.

But these debate forums have more or less disappeared. MSN Groups went away, nobody really uses Google Groups for much more than product support for this or that, Yahoo's group participation fell off to nearly zero and then got closed down (other than as an e- list that nobody uses), and I'm not sure that anybody even really knows what newsgroups are these days if there even are still any. There is Reddit and Facebook, but these aren't even close to the same. Different kind of participants, not as much variety (I don't feel like we're getting those funny granny debates, and the long detailed philosophical ones don't work in this format).

I wonder, though, am I pining for something long gone in the distant past that doesn't exist any more, or is there something I don't know about and should?

GeorgiaChris 3 Sep 22
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11 comments

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0

You don’t want to debate this dude.

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religiousforums.com (which despite the name has plenty of atheists) and ex-christian.net are two forums you might enjoy.

Orbit Level 7 Sep 24, 2020

Awesome! Thank you for the tip. I had never heard of either of these. I really appreciate it.

0

I did the AOL chat rooms "back in the day". Could have several chat rooms open at once but I am not into any debating scenery. I know illogical atheist like to do that all the time.

As to you picking on granny, was she a widow too?

Word Level 8 Sep 23, 2020
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You ask. "Debate forums?" In religion and spirituality? There are at least 14 different groups that are "tagged" for debate. Click on groups and search by "debate, then make sure it is showing groups, not post.

Word Level 8 Sep 23, 2020
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The traffic mostly migrated to Facebook. Which is a loss, in my opinion, because Facebook encourages talking at people more than talking with people.

Yeah, Facebook was one of the worst computer-related things that had ever happened.

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Pass

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I have no desire to debate anyone. What most people are doing is trying to create an argument that will support their belief in their Christian god. There is no such successful argument. It does not exist, so why do I want to go through this with anyone. BTW, this is also true with any other gods worldwide. No hidden beings told mankind to write a book.

Debating the existence of god, I'll grant you, is most often a giant waste of time. Debating other things, not as much.

@JeffMurray right. It is such a waste of time to debate my experience. Like, duh, I am right here.

I respect your decision to steer away from these things. That said, these things are much like the creationist debates and the internal dialogue that happens on "our side" about whether legitimate scientists should engage with those who grossly misuse science and whether there is a productive end to it. I won't claim to have the definitive answer to that, and I'm not really sure that anybody really KNOWS. There are good persuasive arguments both ways, on the pro-debate side and the anti-debate side. Even from the pro-debate viewpoint, I don't think the goal is ever to persuade the one making the opposing argument. That will almost never happen. Rather, if persuasion is ever a goal, the audience would be those lurking who aren't participating in the debate. One viewpoint says that addressing the argument gives it some air of legitimacy so let's not do that, while the other viewpoint says that not addressing it gives the viewpoint an unchallenged forum where the audience hears only that side of it.

Either way there are other good reasons (for some, at least) to participate in these. Personally, I just enjoyed the activity. I realize that's not everybody's cup of tea, but it was mine. I did make a great many friends both among those who shared the same viewpoint and sometimes surprisingly, those who had very different views.

@Word That's kind of an interesting one if included in that debate is whether or not we're part of a simulation...

@JeffMurray I've hear about a matrix theory of sorts.

@Word Once you hear it out, it's kinda hard to deny.

@GeorgiaChris I do not find scientists searching for answers about any gods because there is no persuasive argument on both sides. Science is not trying to prove a god. Bible believers try very hard to prove one and do not use logic and evidence.

2

What do you want to debate? Post a few questions and ask for peoples input.

There is not a lot of participation here.

@Dyl1983
What is your problem?

0

I miss them too. Mostly I used collegeclub.com and, many years later, MySpace. If you find something, let me know.

I was still religious when MySpace existed but I loved hanging out in Bush is an Asshole debate room.
Seeds of doubt were planted into me and helped lead to my path of becoming a Born again atheist.

1

AOL used to have chatrooms of every description. Those were fun but they're long gone as is AOL. MySpace used to be a big thing but that died out after Facebook opened..Point is, nothing lasts forever especially not on the internet.

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Why not start a Group or 2 on here? You can make it all one subject, or whatever you wish...free & easy!

Seems like he might be saying the quality or level of participation here isn't up to his liking.

@JeffMurray I did not look at it that way at first but maybe he IS an arrogant prick?

@JeffMurray I'm more saying that I'm not looking for debate with people who largely agree with me on most of the things I would be looking to debate. As far as I can tell, this site is largely if not entirely composed of those who aren't adherents to some sort of religious beliefs. It might have avoided half of the responses if I had been clear that I was looking to debate people who have religious beliefs, and the assortment of what those beliefs were and how people came to acquire those beliefs were all over the map back in the day and is exactly why it had appeal. It was fascinating to run across that completely novel way someone came to have a religious belief -- like the first time someone dropped in and described a very clear episode of sleep paralysis and was convinced it had been a demon attack.

It was eye-opening in all kinds of other ways, like learning how impossible it is to presume what another person's religious beliefs might be. An example was when a woman who had identified as "Christian" dropped in, I proceeded under the assumption that she more or less held to the beliefs of most of the others carrying that label, and quickly found that I had to spend time figuring out exactly what people who are part of Christian Science (the Mary Baker Eddy sect, not the young-earth creationists who claim to have a better application of science than people who do actual science) believe, and it was really intriguing to learn that there is a group whose basic premise is some sort of third party solipsism where we're not REALLY here physically, that it's some sort of illusion and we're just manifestations of the ongoing thoughts of a deity. Then there were the creationist claims that I'd never seen before that I might not have otherwise seen had I not been debating, like one guy who insisted that the mere fact that planets tend to be roughly spherical is proof of divine design because how else would that have happened.

I'm fascinated by the neverending assortment of things people believe, and maybe that is not unlike how people rubberneck as they pass the car wreck. These kinds of encounters are what I miss, and I don't expect that this is what I would find here with this particular membership. This membership is more of an opportunity to share in the misery and joy of life with like-minded people, to bounce ideas or to come home and vent a bit, like "can you guys believe the shit that's going on out there?"

@AnneWimsey That's not at all what I was saying. I actually agree with the sentiment I suggested. There have been quite a few posts (a couple of mine included) that I think should have produced a lively debate and substantive discussion that only saw a couple comments before it died. (And in contrast, likely would have on the forums he spoke of.) This forum is far more like the instant gratification for short attention spans format of Facebook than it is the debate forums of old.

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