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This site

I have been on this site since it's early stages.
I left and came back.
There was a mass exodus from this site.
Why do you think so many members have left this site, including admin?
What was the mission of the creators of this site?
Is there anything that we can do collectively to improve this site?

Unity 8 May 4
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12 comments

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1

I just emailed the site that holds the certificate status. I'm curious to what it would take to take over the site. Whether myself or a group of us depending on cost. Which would also mean we would need some tech help. I would hope we have people in the community who might be interested in that area?

Despite a seemingly vast majority who oppose socialism within this community, it just might take the entire village to pull this off if we want to keep it going. It might be a good experience for those with the most negative views of socialism to engage in an actual true sense of it, over the false rhetoric it receives which has been brought in from the outside.

Since I've found my way to this site, it has always bewildered me to how so many have avoided the vast potential of false indoctrination of religion, yet here within so many people refuse to decline the false indoctrinated atmosphere of western politics and information manipulation. Which should lead one towards having taken the time to learn the 3 basic types of socialism to discover how they've been manipulated in that regard also.

I would be willing to put some small amount of money per month towards maintaining the site long term, and running it in a better way than now. I have no tech skills whatsoever, but would be willing to support it financially. The site does seem to be running really slow now, even tho it's back. I am also wondering why glennlab helped me find the other site, Atheist Universe, by contacting me on FB, then later blocked me on FB, before this site came back online. Since the messaging feature still doesn't work on here, this is my way of letting him know, publicly tho it may be, that I would like an explanation from him, even if it has to happen in front of the community...

@TomMcGiverin I didn't get anywhere with the attempt. I actually got a lot of flak from the company that the certificates are through, simply for asking what we could get done. When I informed them that the site had been uncertified for so long and we wished to take it over, they referred me to a logistics type of forum page correlated to the company. From there it was as if I was a criminal. The derogatory remarks and accusations were astounding. Rather than simply advising me that it can't be accomplished with reasoning, I was personally attacked on multiple levels. A very hostile environment, even from the moderator of the forum. In which I, as I might do when here when someone is persistent in being an ass, I pushed their plate back at them. And like here and on social medias, that was unacceptable. They didn't recognize a civil address, and when I fed them their own incivility, they couldn't manage to understand why my address became such. Apparently, equality and freedom, like with the westernized governments, work to punish others while they can act anyway they wish.

I was actually surprised that I was directed straight to the site today without the certificate notice popping up. It's been about 2 weeks since I tried to come in. Have the certificates been updated now?

@William_Mary Apparently, they have..

1

The site is running and loading way slower this week. I'm thinking that the end may be near...

1

Same. The site was great at the start, really good discussions going on. It all changed with Trump's run for POTUS and as the site is dominated by Americans, became very polarised. Trump equals Bad. Vaccines equal good and no arguments. The world is not that simple and I for one expected agnostic/ atheist types to not get hooked up in group think. How wrong I was.
It became a bit of an echo chamber. And in a sign of the times, every time people chose to confront any particular issue, offense was automatically taken.

puff Level 8 May 5, 2023
3

The site misbehaves. It's getting very buggy. There's a lot of assholes on here, some people may think I'm one of them. There's no moderation, which is what I love about this page. Other people may feel differently.

Did you see @puff taking up the entire opening page with BS (quelle surprise!) posts the other day?
Imagine coming on here for the first time and being faced with That? i certainly would have never returned!

@AnneWimsey That would be due to our time differences. I get the same from certain members on the other side of the world.

@puff then ferpetesake stop acting so rudely! Taking up the entire lead page????????

@AnneWimsey Noted. I'll try to space things out. I do try to mix up subject matter.

3

Yes, get rid of everyone who disagrees with me.

7

Having been here since 2017, it feels like the site has been through a few different incarnations since then. I've come and gone a few times because work and relationships took precedence, and I imagine that's why other people have left as well. I still miss them, and others I see on other sites. Some were here more to find a relationship than friendships, and they left when they found one. I know a few were finding their online life here too all-consuming, so they left for real life.

I believe @admin created this site as a social experiment, or at least that's what he said in the article he wrote. He created a number of them using the same programming, so updates are easy to do across the board, and I think that's why he's allowed us to continue. He's clearly not spending any time on fixes, and doesn't seem to want to "rule" us (other than giving us the power to block when desired), so as long as he's kind enough to do basic updates to keep us live, and pays for our web hosting and domain name costs, I'll stay until it crumbles around us, and be glad of the opportunity he gave us.

I'm not quite sure, @Unity, what you mean about collectively improving the site? Do you mean increasing membership? Becoming self-sustaining? Trying to acquire the site from Admin?

4

I reported and blocked members who personally attacked me for being a Democrat.

Since joining in 2017, I have 226 followers (Thank you!) and blocked 113 jerks.

Brushes off hands.

I've only blocked 5 people.
I welcome vigorous debate and disagreement and only block when it gets to personal attacks and stalking in other Social Media accounts. But block who you need to feel comfortable here.

5

Who exactly are these hordes that have left the site? i know one died(@ ain't misbehavin'😉)one left because with 2 little kids & a hubby it took too much of her time, and she wrote a farewell. (@cutiebeauty)
I have seen no other stalwarts missing....

I hope she is doing well.
She has a talent for writing.

7

I know that one exodus happened just after it was discovered that the originator also created SlugDotCom, which turned at least as far to the Right as this site did to the Left. Many Agnosticators assumed he was secretly some authoritarian extremist and they wanted nothing to do with anything he created.

I think they were mistaken, though it appears his heart was at least a little more sympathetic to somewhat right-of-center politics.

That said, I think he was equally disappointed in how one-sided Slug also became, while he was trying all along to get the various factions to talk to each other instead of making echo chambers for themselves.

I don’t know if he has given up altogether, or is possibly working on a new idea to get the polar camps to engage each other civilly. I hope it is the latter.

skado Level 9 May 4, 2023

You are right about that, Admin was also disappointed in what SLUG eventually became just as sure as he was disappointed with this site. At one point around the one year anniversary of IDW's launch, Admin had mentioned to me how he was thinking about doing away with the site over what he considered to be islamaphobic hate posts, and was considering either handing the site over to someone else or totally doing away with it. The end result from that was a new format with a slightly modified aim, which he called SLUG, and in my opinion only made the site more of an echo chamber.

Is it not fairly clear by now most on either side really do not which to have discussions with each other?
It's sad, I love a good discussion but it seems to always get boiled down to single issues.
Ya either believe in god or not.
Ya either crown trump king or ya don't.
Ya either think the dems are bad, corrupt and evil or ya don't.
There is no accepting that Biden saved the economy, has created jobs and is interested in re-creating the middle class in the U.S.

I managed to avoid any bad interactions for the most part. I don't do ad hominem arguments. If someone can not stay on topic I pass on by.

It's disappointing the Admin did not do more to curb the hostile environment. Some of that was left up to the person(s) who started different groups within this site. I feel admin could have been more hands on to stop the bad actors.

4

I remember when you had left, and you were among one of the first members on here that welcomed me to the site when I was a new member, some five years ago when on your old account. At one point I too had paused my account, as some of the member drama on here after awhile got to be too much.

I think those who had permanently left the site including Admin did so due to the back and forthing political-based arguments and the dehumanizing remarks that often go along with such arguing. On at least one occasion Admin himself had mentioned to me how he felt the sites he created (this one and IDW/SLUG) had fallen short of intended goals, to bring others together for a common purpose, but instead created a hostile environment where members verbally attack other members for certain personal viewpoints. Don't think Admin was wrong either for feeling that way.

At this point, with Admin pretty much already gone, going forward not sure what we could do to improve things enough in order to keep the site running, and by June 2nd the site could go down if the security certificate is allowed to expire like what had happened with IDW.Community. knowing how some of the political chats on here get confrontational at times, haven't bothered as much recently with posts on that topic, and have focused a bit more on humorous and philosophy posts. Should be interesting to see what happens on June 2nd.

9

Admin one, the creator left, I am told. Because he found that his often right wing views, did no tune in with the many left wing people who came to use the site, and he was disappointed that it had become a left wing forum.

So he has a bizarro version of this site called slug.com. It's ultra right wing, almost fascist. Admin had been missing from that site as well. I actually have a profile on that site, I mostly lurk. Many on slug have speculated that he may have passed away. It's possible. It's gonna happen to all of us.

That's funny shit! It highly correlates to part of my comment I just made above. It might also explain why my group seemingly received unfair equality on many aspects of the rules and operations and why my attempts to communicate with the site went unanswered. It highly speaks of hypocrisy as a self-proclaimed agnostic in the sense of being such in one arena while in other arenas the characteristics are voided. A free thinker want a be that can't be. So many of them here.

7

Member since Jan, 2018.
I am glad the site still exists even though moderators seem to have abandoned it.
Someone must still be paying the bills though.

An alternate way to keep in touch would be good.

Maybe a yahoo group or something.

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