Wowbagger
The Infinitely Prolonged
So, I have not commented much on this thread, yet. Mostly because I couldn't really think of anything significant to add, that hasn't already been yelled at everyone else, a bunch of times already, for a while. But, at the 11th hour I did think of a bunch of stuff.
I do recognize that no platform is sacrosanct. Things change. Forums and blogs and even social networks go up and down all the time. And, It's not like I didn't see this coming: JREF did always seem a little dodgy with their attitude about this Forum.
Above all, I hope the history of this forum is preserved, either in a new forum, or, if we must start from scratch (which, as I take it, is unlikely), then I hope our past posts can at least live on in a read-only archive of some sort.
To destroy that history would be a death blow for too many people. It would be like losing all of the saved games of your favorite games. Or a ship model builder finding his precious models destroyed by some careless jerk who simply thinks models are annoying.
I, for one, have kept a backup of many of my own posts. At least the ones I think are important to me. But, even I would feel like I lost something if the whole historic context they belong to were wiped out. And, I *know* most people probably don't have backups of their own posts, at all. So, as long as that priority is taken care of, I am probably going to be good with whatever else happens.
Again, preferably, that history should be transferred to another forum, where we can continue adding to it. And, I am lead to believe that is the likely plan, so far. The read-only archive is the less desired option: To be used only if the transfer cannot possibly work.
I was hoping to have news of web site hosting businesses I know of, that would be willing to adopt the site. But, sadly, none of them are willing to take it on. At least not for any discount or anything, and their reliability might not be as good as, say, Rackspace, anyway. So, I got nothing other than the standard "just go with Rackspace" option, in that department.
Either way it goes, perhaps someday, in the future, JREF will see the error of dumping the site, and would be willing to take it back again. When and if that happens, I hope we can accept it, and not be so overly bitter that to lose the opportunity to do so.
Forums are inconvenient things to run. But, sometimes inconvenient things are necessary. JREF almost dumped the Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge, because it was inconvenient to keep doing. Luckily, they changed their minds: They realized the Challenge is an important "hammer" (in Phil Plait's words) against the woo of the world. And, the world needs an organization willing to take that inconvenience on. Other challenges exist, but JREF has to be the one to lead by example, in that arena.
The forum has also been an important tool in the fight against Woo. Maybe not a hammer. Perhaps something more like a Swiss Army Knife: We can attack problems, such as 9/11 conspiracies, Creation Science/Intelligent Design, climate denial, and other stuff, in all sorts of different ways. We can take discussions in any direction they need to go! Maybe JREF will someday recognize the importance of that. Maybe they won't.
But, Wowbagger, at least, will live on! And on and on and on... somewhere. Probably forever.
I do recognize that no platform is sacrosanct. Things change. Forums and blogs and even social networks go up and down all the time. And, It's not like I didn't see this coming: JREF did always seem a little dodgy with their attitude about this Forum.
Above all, I hope the history of this forum is preserved, either in a new forum, or, if we must start from scratch (which, as I take it, is unlikely), then I hope our past posts can at least live on in a read-only archive of some sort.
To destroy that history would be a death blow for too many people. It would be like losing all of the saved games of your favorite games. Or a ship model builder finding his precious models destroyed by some careless jerk who simply thinks models are annoying.
I, for one, have kept a backup of many of my own posts. At least the ones I think are important to me. But, even I would feel like I lost something if the whole historic context they belong to were wiped out. And, I *know* most people probably don't have backups of their own posts, at all. So, as long as that priority is taken care of, I am probably going to be good with whatever else happens.
Again, preferably, that history should be transferred to another forum, where we can continue adding to it. And, I am lead to believe that is the likely plan, so far. The read-only archive is the less desired option: To be used only if the transfer cannot possibly work.
I was hoping to have news of web site hosting businesses I know of, that would be willing to adopt the site. But, sadly, none of them are willing to take it on. At least not for any discount or anything, and their reliability might not be as good as, say, Rackspace, anyway. So, I got nothing other than the standard "just go with Rackspace" option, in that department.
Either way it goes, perhaps someday, in the future, JREF will see the error of dumping the site, and would be willing to take it back again. When and if that happens, I hope we can accept it, and not be so overly bitter that to lose the opportunity to do so.
Forums are inconvenient things to run. But, sometimes inconvenient things are necessary. JREF almost dumped the Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge, because it was inconvenient to keep doing. Luckily, they changed their minds: They realized the Challenge is an important "hammer" (in Phil Plait's words) against the woo of the world. And, the world needs an organization willing to take that inconvenience on. Other challenges exist, but JREF has to be the one to lead by example, in that arena.
The forum has also been an important tool in the fight against Woo. Maybe not a hammer. Perhaps something more like a Swiss Army Knife: We can attack problems, such as 9/11 conspiracies, Creation Science/Intelligent Design, climate denial, and other stuff, in all sorts of different ways. We can take discussions in any direction they need to go! Maybe JREF will someday recognize the importance of that. Maybe they won't.
But, Wowbagger, at least, will live on! And on and on and on... somewhere. Probably forever.
