currently 1 user online (thoughts from an hour ago)
Offline goddamn, it's been 8 fucking years. i came late to the party, mostly existed on the fringe, never was with the in-crowd, typical of me. but shit, i guess i had staying power. now hear i am tonight, the only man on deck of a ghost ship. i never thought i might be the last guy to leave, close the door and turn out the lights. i know it hasn't come to that. not yet. but it's starting to look likely. strange thoughts on a strange evening.
what was it about this place? every other online communty i've ever been a part of, i was just passing through. stayed a few days, maybe a few weeks, then the shine wore off, things started getting redundant, and i just stopped coming around. but this place always drew me back. i almost think i would come here, alone, and post things i knew damn well nobody would read.
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
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For me the biggest attraction has always been the lack of censorship. Even a retard like Brian can say whatever without getting his posts deleted and his account banned. You have to go out of your way to accomplish nothing more than being a complete ass before there's even a chance at something happening. Whereas a lot of forums have biased or inconsistent moderation.
But also the intelligence average here is higher and always has been than elsewhere. Half or more of the contributers who spent much time here were and are intelligent people with intelligent things to say, even if they aren't always agreed with. Most forums I've looked at or participated in were overwhelming full of idiots.
That's really the reason the forum is so quiet these days I think. There aren't many people here who are shallow and post pointless topics incessantly. But when something interesting happens there's still a lot of responses from a number of different people. About the same as it has been for a couple years now I think.
I'd be sad if the day came when the site was gone. Almost been here 10 years.
Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.
A USMC forum for 16 years, but, eventually it ended. After a while there's only 5 people left, then a year later theres three with a few posters from the past showing up. In the end the forum was closed. It seems it's bound to happen. It looks toi mje that a time comes whne an individual has said everything they're going to, and is familiar with everything others have said.
The main thing about this site is--there may be few posters but guests online can go up to 500 or more. I can't see where any site being online for as long as this one still has that many guests online. I've seen The lowest number I remember is 35. I'd say that's an outstanding record. If I'm not mistaken-Ive seen over 2000 (it may have been 2500) online at one time. Week ends starting sometimes as soon as thursdays the count starts going up. Now I'd say the average is near 125 per day over all. This site still serves it's purpose even with out many posters. There's an Atheist site I look over from time to time--the most people online there ever has bee 89 at one time, and that site is over 5 years.
On other Atheist sites the last remianin 10 posters are the worst. Apparently they drove off all the well meaning ones and couldn't put up with the brashnes and off they go.
The only possible thing the world needs saving from are those running it.
https://sites.google.com/site/oldseers
Knowledge trumps faith and I'm not a Theist
Lies are nothing more then falsehoods searching for the truth
those are all good observations. i kind of see this place as one of those musty london clubs from a john le carre espionage novel: quiet, shadowy, dotted with a few old veterans who are calmer now, wiser, a bit cynical perhaps, with more and more empty chairs as old hands drift away or die off...i mean, we've even had a few die off, rest them. 2006-2008 was wartime i guess; blasphemy challenge and all that. now, when the next war breaks out, it'll be others who carry it on, and we'll get to look on critically and a bit enviously. in the meantime, we're thick as thieves, and obviously don't require much buzzing about to find our simple satisfaction.
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
The only possible thing the world needs saving from are those running it.
https://sites.google.com/site/oldseers
Knowledge trumps faith and I'm not a Theist
Lies are nothing more then falsehoods searching for the truth
Back at you retard.
The lack of traffic here has been addressed before. This is not a typical format first off. Secondly there was far less competition when he started this website and with the explosiion of more atheist websites and especially facebook and twitter where more have gone. There are plenty of non censord websites on FB whom I see as only booting people for spam or threats and www.atheistforums.org really goes out if it's way to allow the same language we exchange here.
Brian simply does not have the time or the budget to update his website right now.
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
Check out my poetry here on Rational Responders Like my poetry thread on Facebook under Brian James Rational Poet, @Brianrrs37 on Twitter and my blog at www.brianjamesrationalpoet.blog
i too treasure the lack of censorship. i only ever lobbied to get someone booted once and i think it was jean chauvin when he made some unusually vile remarks about someone's relative who'd just died. brian refused and, looking back, he was right. to be honest, had i been involved in the discussion, i probably would have been against matt shizzle's ban, as much as i despised the guy. unless, of course, there were other reasons besides his posts that i don't know about.
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
thanks for the memo from headquarters. i wasn't wondering why the traffic was low, i was just ruminating on the fact that it is low.
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
I first started on IIDB way back when, some twenty years ago, which later became, Freethought and Rationalism Discussion Board, which later mysteriously dropped off the face of the Earth.
I didn't start on Rational Responders until I saw a post from Brian Sapient concerning the challenge. I came over but didn't stay long because the level of the discussion was way below my tolerance for stupidity. I think most of the problems came from Jean and the others mentioned, but I later came back a few years later and then stayed.
I've dropped out of sight once in a while but always come back to see what is happening, but you are right, this is a shell of a forum compared to what it used to be and I think there are times when people leave 1) because they are intolerant of logic 2) because they can't debate on a level playing field or 3) they are just trolls and eventually get kicked or tired of posting.
I stick around, still contribute to Brian S a little each month to keep the board running, because the core members are solid, logical, people. Some people come and go, like Beyond has been out of sight for a while, and Vas always has a good science post, I ignore some people, wish others would come back and always look forward to a good discussion with religious people because at this time of my life I've seen it all and can no longer be stumped in a debate by religious believers.
And not to forget mentioning iwbiek who is far superior than any one I've met online when it comes to the history of Eastern/Indian religions
and btw, I see 144 guests online too but how can that be? are they bots? people afraid of joining a real conversation?
No retard, this isn't kindergarten.
Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.
Shizzle crossed lines and refused to stop. He was breaking laws. Not to mention he made Brian37 look almost reasonable.
Almost.
Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.
lol i appreciate that, but being better at something than most of the online community isn't much to brag about, i'm afraid.
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
I have a list of 20 online forums just like this one that I used to post at. 5 or 6 years ago they were all active. Now they are virtual ghost towns in comparrison. And I've also noticed some time ago that the believers, for the most part, jumped ship long ago. The militant atheists and hardcore skeptics are the last ones standing. The four regular posters on the Skeptic's Annotated Bible, for example, pronounced the forum dead officially in a thread to that effect.
Where there still linger the aforementioned hardcore skeptics there is no serious discussion or debate. The subject is closed. The peace talks, if you want to call them that, are over.
Put that way we won the war.
Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.
No one ever wins a war, son. Being a Canadian you probably don't understand war like Americans, which I'm. No. There's no winning a war, the question is how much money did the big guys behind the curtain make. Richard, Penn, Christopher, those guys . . .
Most Atheists know what's in the bible as well as they so all that happens is another bible lesson, which one doesn't need. But, I would have to be tolerable and respect them just the same.
The only possible thing the world needs saving from are those running it.
https://sites.google.com/site/oldseers
Knowledge trumps faith and I'm not a Theist
Lies are nothing more then falsehoods searching for the truth
I know, but compared to what I've encountered.
I don't think the subject closes. It lingers.
New generations will come after we are long gone and ask the same questions. There will be people who claim to have all the answers. They will gain followers.
There will always be a debate on if their is a creator or if there isn't, unless you have total destruction of all life. Then and only then will the subject close.
I would agree but there are some people who cross the line and then you have to be stern with them. You can still respect their belief but you do not have to respect their unkind words.
Just because the US is incapable of winning a war or because there are always losers in war on all sides doesn't mean wars can't be won. In the absence of an official declaration of war and an official surrender, once must observe behaviour in order to judge the victors. As a significant reason of the decline in activity on atheist sites can be directly linked to a huge drop in theist participation, the implications are clear. We're still here, waiting for a rational argument or evidence. But the theists have apparently given up.
I doubt Sagan, Hawking, Tyson, Carlin, Darwin, or Penn ever got any money from atheist activities. Penn is one of the premier entertainers of the 20th & 21st centuries; and Carlin as well. Sagan was a prolific author who promoted science, not focused on atheism. Hawking is today's Einstein. Darwin was a scientist who didn't even see his discoveries accepted. Indeed even today millions of uneducated people foolishly claim he was wrong. Tyson & Nye are ambassadors from science to the ignorant. 99% of everything they've done is completely unrelated to atheism. I guaranfuckingtee they all made millions of times more money doing their specialties than they ever did through atheism.
Hitchens, Dawkins and their ilk are different. They obtained celebrity directly because of atheist activism. I'm sure they've done well for themselves. But I don't respect them much. Hitchens particularly was an idiot.
Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.
You ever hear of those World War II soldiers in Japan locked up in the mountain caves thinking the war was still going on 30 years later? [Laughs]
Hitchens was an idiot? Take that back! I had great respect for Hitchens as a very intelligent man of integrity.
Unfortunately, I think you are naive. Look at the Introductions page, of this and any number of forums. Occaisionally there will be new posters but they seldom make it past the introduction page. You can't judge by the visitor stats, either, unless you specifically distinguish between bots, spiders etc. and live hits. I think you are right about one thing, though, in a sense. The subject isn't closed, but the discussion is.
well, so much for the whole turning over a new leaf spiel...
What do you mean?
Difference being noone is hiding.
Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.
I stop by here and there and see what's going on. Still supporting RRS though I post rarely right now. Too much else to do last few years.
Also same battles over and over with theists gets boring after a while as well.
PJTS
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"I guess it's time to ask if you live under high voltage power transmission lines which have been shown to cause stimulation of the fantasy centers of the brain due to electromagnetic waves?" - Me
"God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, - it says so right here on the label. If you have a mind capable of believing all three of these divine attributes simultaneously, I have a wonderful bargain for you. No checks please. Cash and in small bills." - Robert A Heinlein.
Yeah. They come and go in all shapes and sizes. We mostly share news between each other. On occasion we get a debate going but usually all of us (including the theists) are just ignoring Brian37 and his posts.
That's what I see going on too! Probably too many other places to go. Though it seems there are a fair number of guests all the time. Theists don't care what you bring as proof and will continue to live on in their dimension of reality that does not exist so why bother is how I currently feel about it.
I'll continue to stop by and see what's going on, meanwhile have a good one.
PJTS
____________________________________________________________
"I guess it's time to ask if you live under high voltage power transmission lines which have been shown to cause stimulation of the fantasy centers of the brain due to electromagnetic waves?" - Me
"God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, - it says so right here on the label. If you have a mind capable of believing all three of these divine attributes simultaneously, I have a wonderful bargain for you. No checks please. Cash and in small bills." - Robert A Heinlein.
I lost all my fightiness. My beliefs haven't changed but my interest in arguing about them has. You can't change anyone's mind and once the arguments have all been laid out a dozen times what's the point?
The other reason is I don't think religious belief matters that much to most people. Almost everyone I interact with is religious but it's only culture-deep. Almost no-one really cares and the people who do aren't going to change their minds. Religion, politics, sports---they're not worth bickering over since it's all running on momentum outside of my control, or at least outside the amount of energy I'm willing to spend. You might as well say you're going to eradicate "liberalism". It means something different to each person and yet it's a related meme so massive you can't comprehend it's scale.
Also getting older, busier career, busier family, etc.
I loved this place though and I'm glad it was around when I needed it.
Everything makes more sense now that I've stopped believing.
My thoughts also. If a person is following a faith based belief they aren't open to change unless there is an event which forces them to change, like seeing a leader of a religion rape a kid or running a drug ring, etc.
However I had a strange experience today. My dad's health is failing and I was driving my mom home after seeing him when she started to ask me questions about the formation of the solar system which eventually ended up with "where did humans come from"?
Very strange for her to ask those questions given she has been a devote catholic for roughly seven decades.
After arguing for 100s of posts in same cases over and over again with one after another it became obvious that the only people possibly affected were the watchers - meaning the guests.
And most people I know that claim to be believers don't bother much with it.
Time is more important right now as well.
But I will drop by here and there.
PJTS
____________________________________________________________
"I guess it's time to ask if you live under high voltage power transmission lines which have been shown to cause stimulation of the fantasy centers of the brain due to electromagnetic waves?" - Me
"God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, - it says so right here on the label. If you have a mind capable of believing all three of these divine attributes simultaneously, I have a wonderful bargain for you. No checks please. Cash and in small bills." - Robert A Heinlein.
yeah, the theist arguments have been repeated and addressed so many times that they're easily accessible with a quick search of the site. when theists come around with the same tired arguments, it tells me they just want a scrap and are not interested in the answers, as the answers are all here, in triplicate at least. i'm older now. when i started here, i was 25, childless, and hadn't even started building my house yet. now i'm 34, with a home to maintain, three kids, and a genuine career. i don't have the time or the energy to let some theist with an ax to grind get my dander up over the same tired-ass shit.
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
I did some research on Mr Henson. It seems that his recent posts here not only already exist in the same context but his flawed defense of his beliefs are the same. I found such posts here and on other atheist websites. It was amusing to see people reply in the same exact way to him, pointing out his cherry picking and twisting of words. Yet, he comes back every once in a while to post again. How mysterious the human mind.
I think religious trolls have mostly moved to facebook. As for me, I started a new project that keeps me pretty busy and have decided I am going to cash out and retire next year. As things slow down I'll come around more.
If, if a white man puts his arm around me voluntarily, that's brotherhood. But if you - if you hold a gun on him and make him embrace me and pretend to be friendly or brotherly toward me, then that's not brotherhood, that's hypocrisy.- Malcolm X
I had been wondering where you were
Let's keep the lights flickering - this place saved me from complete insanity - I remember turning up very angry and twisted. And it was a great place to learn to argue, as well. We also had some epic debates with some very silly people, as well as some clever and thoughtful theists, too. I read a lot of ex muslims lately - a brave bunch who think in very much the same way many of us do and they need all the support they can get. Hope everyone's doing very well here.
"Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination." Max Planck
Yeah. I think it should stay up as long as possible. I know it won't stay forever. Eventually it will go down for one reason or another.
Of course there is the chance it could be made in to a corporation of some sort. Maybe a board of directors, etc.