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LA JREF office closes, D.J. Grothe no longer with the JREF

Do not like.

DJ has done an incredible job. He really made TAM a great event, actively including diverse speakers and injecting fresh new programming.

This news makes me worry about his work being undone. And I was already a little worried about Savage being added to the board—only for his friendship with Skepchicks and seeming obliviousness to the problematic/poisonous SJW faction of skepticism.

Will Skepchicks return to TAM, now? :(

Hopefully not. But I imagine they and FTB are already writing their celebratory drama blog posts...
 
Wow! I hope the last person out of the foundation remembers to turn the lights off.
 
Ztarr said:
Do not like.

DJ has done an incredible job. He really made TAM a great event, actively including diverse speakers and injecting fresh new programming.
Click to expand...

When DJ took over the entire JREF staff was gone within a year. Those that replaced them did not stick around long. That should tell you something.
 
I hope this is good news. I would like nothing more than to resume my admiration of James Randi that DJ Grothe destroyed so completely. Maybe attending a TAM again might be kind of fun, too! I missed both.
 
Ztarr said:
Will Skepchicks return to TAM, now? :(

Hopefully not. But I imagine they and FTB are already writing their celebratory drama blog posts...
Click to expand...

Sara, is that you?

But seriously, though, you can almost hear the social justice legions clamouring with joy and trying to figure out whom to target next.
 
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Ztarr said:
Do not like.

DJ has done an incredible job. He really made TAM a great event, actively including diverse speakers and injecting fresh new programming.
Click to expand...

TAM was a great event before DJ was ever involved with the JREF. Whether it will continue to be one is up to the JREF.

This news makes me worry about his work being undone. And I was already a little worried about Savage being added to the board—only for his friendship with Skepchicks and seeming obliviousness to the problematic/poisonous SJW faction of skepticism.

Will Skepchicks return to TAM, now? :(

Hopefully not. But I imagine they and FTB are already writing their celebratory drama blog posts...
Click to expand...

I find it amusing that the only thing you really care about is the opinions of people you don't like.
 
Ztarr said:
DJ has done an incredible job. He really made TAM a great event, actively including diverse speakers and injecting fresh new programming.
Click to expand...

The Central Scrutinizer said:
TAM was a great event before DJ and hopefully will continue to be in the future.
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I should clarify that TAM was great before DJ and continued to be while he was there. In fact, TAM XII (2014) was among the best.
 
rjh01 said:
Just read that on Facebook. I note this page has been updated. Only James Randi is on it. http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/staff.html. The financial position must be pretty bad if Randi is the only staff member. There used to be five names on that list. That is apart from Sharon Hill who is still not mentioned on the page I linked.
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IIRC, recent financials have been under 1M each year, and dropping. Randi's salary was around 250K per year, and DJ's was around 100K.

With the change in direction (whatever that is), I suspect they decided that 100K can be used much better elsewhere.
 
Here's my prediction on TAM: the JREF will make a deal with Michael Schermer. Schermer will organize TAM next year "for" the JREF and take half of any money raised for the Skeptics Society. Eventually it will be a joint event and when the inevitable happens with The Amazing One TAM will become a 100% Skeptics Society event.
 
Certainly, I hope the best for the JREF...but it really seems that things are going downhill. Staff changes have been too frequent, which will severely disrupt long-term planning and organization. And I think that some recent policies, as well as reactions of senior members of the JREF to certain situations, have served to damage the organization's reputation, and isolate it somewhat from other individuals and organizations within the skeptical community.

I'm speaking as an outsider, and am not privy to everything that's going on there...but certainly, at least from the outside perspective, things seem to have been on a rather consistent downward trend.
 
And what does it say that in almost six hours there have only been 17 and (now 18)
posts on what is maybe the most important JREF related post in years? The lack of interest is palpable.
 
TsarBomba said:
And what does it say that in almost six hours there have only been 17 and (now 18)
posts on what is maybe the most important JREF related post in years? The lack of interest is palpable.
Click to expand...

Given that the Forum-that-used-to-be-the-"JREF-Forum" has been booted to the curb by the selfsame JREF, in what way is the soap opera of internal tsuris "important"?
 
Slowvehicle said:
Given that the Forum-that-used-to-be-the-"JREF-Forum" has been booted to the curb by the selfsame JREF, in what way is the soap opera of internal tsuris "important"?
Click to expand...

I believe you have made my point for me.
 
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