• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Future of the Forum

Whyatica said:
Not really going to comment on the forums issue, just with a fix for the login issues that people are having:

If you add this line to your hosts file (in OS X it's under /etc/hosts, don't know about other OSes), flush your Safari cache and/or DNS cache, you should be able to log in:

67.228.115.45 forums.randi.org
Click to expand...

Rick has turned off the caching, should fix the problem when cached records expire
 
With all due appreciation to icerat, were there any other offers to run the forum, and is it now too late to consider alternatives ?
 
Spindrift said:
Okay, what exactly does the community have to do to make it happen?
Click to expand...

Keep-calm-and-carry-on-scan.jpg
 
Slowvehicle said:
...
This forum is dear to me, and I will hate to lose it. Any move is going to involve some inevitable losses. If JREF really is letting go, when will whatever happens ... ?
Click to expand...
Randi's phone number seems to be publically available:
http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/staff.html, he seems to be still very active.
If you like this forum the way it is right now (except of course for the technical problems), you could perhaps try to call him (same for many of you here), say that you appreciate the forum, that because of him, it may have some "prestige", and ask the JREF continues to fund it, the budget required for that is not that big compared to the JREF's overall budget.
 
zooterkin said:
With all due appreciation to icerat, were there any other offers to run the forum, and is it now too late to consider alternatives ?
Click to expand...

Again with all due appreciation to icerat, it sounds like JREF wanted a way out and jumped on the first bus that happened by.

This brings up the awkward part and since no one else will ask, I will.

icerat: How do we know you're not just yanking our chain? Or worse, are well-intentioned but not up to the task? Nothing's worse than an eager, incompetent volunteer. You do sound like you know what you're doing and have apparently convinced JREF of that. However, JREF is looking to dump the forum, so I'm not sure their due diligence would be that reassuring. Please do not take offense, this is a skeptics forum, taking things on faith doesn't cut it.
 
zooterkin said:
With all due appreciation to icerat, were there any other offers to run the forum, and is it now too late to consider alternatives ?
Click to expand...

Nobody is more surprised than me the way this has panned out, and how quickly. I just volunteered our resources to help maintain the server.

That's pretty much where it still stands except now I'll ultimately be responsible for the bills too. :covereyes

My preference is (was) that the forum just keeps getting run by the team already running it. A few have decided to take the opportunity to retire their roles, which is understandable (it's way more work than most people are aware of) but others have also volunteered.

A community is all the people who contribute to it. Just because the name changes doesn't mean it's heart has to.
 
Well, another win for the homeopaths and such. I don't mean icerat, that's not the problem, it's the attitude of the JREF here that seems very poor. It means that they disappear from a variety of places on the net.
 
Spindrift said:
Again with all due appreciation to icerat, it sounds like JREF wanted a way out and jumped on the first bus that happened by.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I suspect say,

This brings up the awkward part and since no one else will ask, I will.

icerat: How do we know you're not just yanking our chain? Or worse, are well-intentioned but not up to the task?

Nothing's worse than an eager, incompetent volunteer. You do sound like you know what you're doing and have apparently convinced JREF of that. However, JREF is looking to dump the forum, so I'm not sure their due diligence would be that reassuring. Please do not take offense, this is a skeptics forum, taking things on faith doesn't cut it.[/QUOTE]

Francesca R said:
Also please tell us your real name. We want to know who we are dealing with. Thanks.
Click to expand...

How many of you know Darat's name? :D

Anyway, have at it.
 
Spindrift said:
Again with all due appreciation to icerat, it sounds like JREF wanted a way out and jumped on the first bus that happened by.
Click to expand...
True, but the first bus is not necessarily a bad bus simply by dint of being the first bus. Nor do you know how many buses arrived. I am at least a second bus, there may be more for all I know, but icerat was there ahead of me.

Spindrift said:
This brings up the awkward part and since no one else will ask, I will.

icerat: How do we know you're not just yanking our chain? Or worse, are well-intentioned but not up to the task? Nothing's worse than an eager, incompetent volunteer. You do sound like you know what you're doing and have apparently convinced JREF of that. However, JREF is looking to dump the forum, so I'm not sure their due diligence would be that reassuring. Please do not take offense, this is a skeptics forum, taking things on faith doesn't cut it.
Click to expand...
I can't be specific about private communications, but nothing icerat has said or done gives me a moments pause in that regard.
 
These news... unsettle me. This forum means a terrible lot to me. I was barely 18, a broken and lonesome man when I found it. Suddenly I had a place with so many thoughtful and intelligent people, so much to learn, and a purpose of sorts. I found new friends, new communities, a new culture, a new language, new ways of thinking, new perspective. I shudder to think what might have become of me without this to hang on to, refer to, fall back on.

I have grown enough to more than stand on my own whatever I face, but this forum made me and I will not see it undone. Not without exhausting all the options.

We're at a crossroads now, and if we want to preserve this community, we must display great prudence. Who decides what, how disputes are settled, funding, direction... all of these things will mighty ripple in the fate of this place.

I wish there were more I could do for now. I suppose little more than melodramatic musings escapes me. But to all of those with the technical skills to keep it going, thank you. To all who ask the difficult questions, thank you. To everyone who puts in work to salvage this home... Thank you so much.
 
Francesca R said:
Also please tell us your real name. We want to know who we are dealing with. Thanks.
Click to expand...

And what would that avail you?

It so happens that I have posted my actual identity on this site. But that was my choice.

There is no requirement for anyone else to do so. Nor should they be forced to do so.
 
TubbaBlubba said:
These news... unsettle me. This forum means a terrible lot to me. I was barely 18, a broken and lonesome man when I found it. Suddenly I had a place with so many thoughtful and intelligent people, so much to learn, and a purpose of sorts. I found new friends, new communities, a new culture, a new language, new ways of thinking, new perspective. I shudder to think what might have become of me without this to hang on to, refer to, fall back on.

I have grown enough to more than stand on my own whatever I face, but this forum made me and I will not see it undone. Not without exhausting all the options.

We're at a crossroads now, and if we want to preserve this community, we must display great prudence. Who decides what, how disputes are settled, funding, direction... all of these things will mighty ripple in the fate of this place.

I wish there were more I could do for now. I suppose little more than melodramatic musings escapes me. But to all of those with the technical skills to keep it going, thank you. To all who ask the difficult questions, thank you. To everyone who puts in work to salvage this home... Thank you so much.
Click to expand...

That is a feeling of rejection. And, to be fair, I feel that sense too.

But take a moment to consider who is rejecting, and who is being rejected.

It is JREF rejecting the forum community, not the Forum rejecting you.

And at base, JREF does not participate in this community in any meaningful way.

So what is important? The preservation of a pointless link to a neglectful JREF? Or the preservation of your link to a community?
 
This news is really disheartening to me. While it does appear that the forum will continue in some guise, it certainly will not attract and maintain the caliber of poster it now has without the gravitas of Randi's name. I understand the stated desire to narrow JREF's focus, but I'm not aware of another place on the Net that has the expertise assembled at JREF in such a wide array of disciplines. Have a question about Etruscan architecture? Quantum chromodynamics? Assyrian religious observances? Start a thread, and you'll get not just an answer, but an authoritative answer. You won't get that at many, if any, other forums.
 
jhunter1163 said:
This news is really disheartening to me. While it does appear that the forum will continue in some guise, it certainly will not attract and maintain the caliber of poster it now has without the gravitas of Randi's name. I understand the stated desire to narrow JREF's focus, but I'm not aware of another place on the Net that has the expertise assembled at JREF in such a wide array of disciplines. Have a question about Etruscan architecture? Quantum chromodynamics? Assyrian religious observances? Start a thread, and you'll get not just an answer, but an authoritative answer. You won't get that at many, if any, other forums.
Click to expand...
You are making the assumption that incumbent members will abandon ship in droves. Why do you think that?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom