Atheism Plus/Free Thought Blogs (FTB)

[Wildy]

She's probably still sore about not being to popular on "her" forum, the SGU board.

Well it doesn't help if you insult them.

 

[UnrepentantSinner]

She's probably still sore about not being to popular on "her" forum, the SGU board.

Link?

 

[The Central Scrutinizer]

I was playing around a bit on twitter last night and noticed that the #atheismplus tag has pretty much been hijacked by jokesters and trolls.

 

[Walter Ego]

HGTVS&M

Originally Posted by Mr. Scott

Yes, Rebecca's statement, "internet forums, which are by definition awful," is laughably illiterate. By definition? A hallmark of phony intellectualism.

At least she didn't say "which literally are by definition awful".

I'm sure that would include this one since she managed to get herself suspended and then banned here.

 

[brodski]

I was playing around a bit on twitter last night and noticed that the #atheismplus tag has pretty much been hijacked by jokesters and trolls.

how could you tell which comments were meant in earnest and which were parodies?

 

[Krikkiter]

Yes, Rebecca's statement, "internet forums, which are by definition awful," is laughably illiterate. By definition? A hallmark of phony intellectualism.

In (some kind of) defense of Rebecca and A+ (but not really), I think this is what's at the heart of the whole A+ thing.

I was talking to a few friends the other night about all of this - these are people that had no idea about the forum itself or FtB or even organised atheism - and we came to the conclusion that it's all the kind of pretend intellectualism we got up to when we were in our early years of university. We were all so passionate about what we were studying and we just had to either sit around telling each other about whatever it was - history, education, the environment, science, communications (FSM forbid!) etc - or try to ram it down other people's throats.

I remember what it was like and I cringe at our naivety.

I think that's what A+ (and some of FtB) is all about and it shows in the way that they run the forums. In practice, it just doesn't work unless there are people that have some serious, real world experience to bring to the table.

They come across as inexperienced and careless. Passionate and enthusiastic but still inexperienced and careless.

 

[RebeccaBradley]

Well, Al Stefanelli has packed his bags and left Freethoughtblogs, apparently of his own free will. After his hard-hitting post on Schrodinger's Rapist, it was only a matter of time.

http://freethoughtblogs.com/alstefa...boarding-call-last-post-on-freethought-blogs/

 

[Mr. Scott]

I'm sure that would include this one since she managed to get herself suspended and then banned here.

Oh, then Rebecca literally hung herself, like the road the a-plussers are literally on, since, by definition, they cannot tolerate diversity of opinion [sic++] and repeatedly lie to cover up their abuses of moderator privilege. Would it be fair to label them good-intentioned bullies?

 

[ShadowSot]

Link?

On Twitter:

To be clear, that forum is a pocket of dumb in a sea of awesome. (mmmmetaphors!) Basically every other rational person gets my point so NBD

 

[Walter Ego]

Oh, then Rebecca literally hung herself, like the road the a-plussers are literally on, since, by definition, they cannot tolerate diversity of opinion [sic++] and repeatedly lie to cover up their abuses of moderator privilege. Would it be fair to label them good-intentioned bullies?

Watson has an interesting history with JREF and TAM. She used her association with JREF to launch herself as a public personality and even got married onstage at TAM 7 (see video below). The marriage didn't work out.

The skinny on her banning is that she was accidentally given admin privileges because of a software glitch and promptly used this privilege to ban and delete the accounts of people she didn't like, including her "arch enemy" Scrut (The Central Scrutinizer).

Her version of what happened can be found here. The bizarre thing is that she didn't think she did anything wrong.

 

[Piscivore]

The skinny on her banning is that she was accidentally given admin privileges because of a software glitch and promptly used this privilege to ban and delete the accounts of people she didn't like, including her "arch enemy" Scrut (The Central Scrutinizer).

That's not what I remember- the admin privilege abuse was someone else who's name escapes me, I thought, and she was banned for her sock account "Radial Tire".

ETA: I guess I was misremembering:
http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3662761&postcount=1
http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3753348&postcount=1

FETA: Xouper was the guy I was thinking of: http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26136

 

[Hokulele]

That's not what I remember- the admin privilege abuse was someone else who's name escapes me, I thought, and she was banned for her sock account "Radial Tire".

The way I remember it, she was suspended for Radial Tire, grandfathered since the sock was made before the rule, then when she came back from suspension, something had happened to the auto-unsuspend function which gave her the admin privilege (that word!). The main offense from the admin rights, as I understood it, was that she took screen-shots of private information, as well as the mod discussion area, and posted those. The banning of Scrut was fully justified.

Of course, this is all from memory and the reality was probably something completely different.

 

[Piscivore]

The way I remember it, she was suspended for Radial Tire, grandfathered since the sock was made before the rule, then when she came back from suspension, something had happened to the auto-unsuspend function which gave her the admin privilege (that word!). The main offense from the admin rights, as I understood it, was that she took screen-shots of private information, as well as the mod discussion area, and posted those. The banning of Scrut was fully justified.

Of course, this is all from memory and the reality was probably something completely different.

Yeah, now that you say that I remember.

 

[zooterkin]

The way I remember it, she was suspended for Radial Tire, grandfathered since the sock was made before the rule, then when she came back from suspension, something had happened to the auto-unsuspend function which gave her the admin privilege (that word!). The main offense from the admin rights, as I understood it, was that she took screen-shots of private information, as well as the mod discussion area, and posted those. The banning of Scrut was fully justified.

Of course, this is all from memory and the reality was probably something completely different.

Without going back to check, that is pretty much how I remember it, too.

 

[westprog]

In (some kind of) defense of Rebecca and A+ (but not really), I think this is what's at the heart of the whole A+ thing.

I was talking to a few friends the other night about all of this - these are people that had no idea about the forum itself or FtB or even organised atheism - and we came to the conclusion that it's all the kind of pretend intellectualism we got up to when we were in our early years of university. We were all so passionate about what we were studying and we just had to either sit around telling each other about whatever it was - history, education, the environment, science, communications (FSM forbid!) etc - or try to ram it down other people's throats.

I remember what it was like and I cringe at our naivety.

I think that's what A+ (and some of FtB) is all about and it shows in the way that they run the forums. In practice, it just doesn't work unless there are people that have some serious, real world experience to bring to the table.

They come across as inexperienced and careless. Passionate and enthusiastic but still inexperienced and careless.

There appears to be an implied accepted position on all social and societal issues. This consensus doesn't mean that general agreement is reached. When someone discussing an issue is told to read a previous thread, it doesn't imply that there was any final synthesis achieved. It means that someone put forward the unofficial official viewpoint, and that any further discussion could not change that. Thus people don't get banned for disagreeing - they get banned for not following an instruction to make themselves familiar with a previous ruling. However, it's never expressed in quite that way. There's a total certainty of virtue, and opposition implies evil.

 

[Axiom_Blade]

To be clear, that forum is a pocket of dumb in a sea of awesome. (mmmmetaphors!) Basically every other rational person gets my point so NBD

Well, I guess I must be irrational, because that didn't make any sense. Where is this "sea of awesome"?

Is it near the Beach of Badical? And the Mountains of Rocking Your Face Off?

 

[Mr. Scott]

Watson has an interesting history with JREF and TAM. She used her association with JREF to launch herself as a public personality and even got married onstage at TAM 7 (see video below). The marriage didn't work out.

The skinny on her banning is that she was accidentally given admin privileges because of a software glitch and promptly used this privilege to ban and delete the accounts of people she didn't like, including her "arch enemy" Scrut (The Central Scrutinizer).

Her version of what happened can be found here. The bizarre thing is that she didn't think she did anything wrong.

Wow. The comments on that youtube page, a real a zingerama. Divorce is unimaginably awful.

What amazing narcissism! Two people imposing a private moment on a bunch of unsuspecting people to bolster their own egos. The staged nature of the event is a circus, a natural move on behalf of an unimpressive skeptical figure who constantly gets raised on a pedestal due to her sex in a movement of nerdy and pathetic males.

I found the diary I kept at TAM 5.5. I wanted to like her, but there was just something icky about her.

Here's my entry about her party Jan 26-27 2008:

Really loud party. Left around 11:00 PM and by midnight cops were called and they threatened Rebecca with a $200 fine if they had to come out again.

 

[Mr. Scott]

My favorite remark criticizing A+ is, "we have a much more dangerous common enemy."

 

[The Central Scrutinizer]

how could you tell which comments were meant in earnest and which were parodies?

I couldn't

 

[WillyWonka]

The banning of Scrut was fully justified.

Not wanting to be pedantic, but any reason to ban Scrut is fully justified.