I so do not want to get sucked into the drama – Pharyngula
I run a blog, not an open forum, and I’m reminded once again why I prefer the former.
The Richard Dawkins site is . This substantial change is causing a great deal of unwarranted anxiety & people are , and many are flocking to a , which is also just fine. They’re also complaining to me, which is odd. So I’ll say a few words.
First and foremost, it is not my site, and it is not your site. It is Richard Dawkins’ site. People have lost sight of the fact that Dawkins has his own views on how the site should function, and he has the right and even the obligation to try and shape it to his goals. If you don’t like it, fine, go somewhere else. I know, that sounds so cavalier, but that’s the reality of it all. Richard spends the money to keep it going. He’s the boss.
There has been a lot of vilification of Josh Timonen going on, which does not win my sympathy. Josh is a good guy, and he’s neck-deep in work for the RDF & not just the richarddawkins.net site, and not just the forum, which only represents about a quarter of the daily visits to the site overall. Yet the forum represents most of the drama and trouble in maintaining the whole business. If it’s not reflecting Dawkins’ vision, and if it’s a headache to maintain, you have to appreciate why they would think revising it would be a smart idea.
I’ve been active in forums on the web in the past, and I’ve also played a role as a moderator. It takes a lot of work to keep a forum afloat. Every one I know of follows one of two paths: a slow decline into quiet apathy, or a rapid growth in membership and activity which leads to an eventual implosion into chaos, acrimony, and drama as disparate interests try to tug the forum in different directions. The forums at richarddawkins.net should not have competing interests, but only one: that of the Richard Dawkins Foundation. I think the recent changes are intended, in part, to remind participants of that.
The forums are not going away, but they are going to change in character. That hurts if you have an attachment to the old forums, but this is reality, and reality is dynamic and change happens all the time. Adapt or die. Who knows, the new format may be even better than the old & try it!
You can always just come to Pharyngula and chat here. Or any of the other atheist sites on the net. The community is not going away and is not harmed by a change in one outlet for its expression, and if it is, then it’s not much of a community, now is it?
So, . Adapt. Express yourselves wherever. Check out the new RDF discussions when they emerge later. This is not a crisis, it’s a change.
One very weird thing about this whole contretemps is how people are treating Josh like some evil Rasputin. Josh and Richard are on very good terms, and Richard has clear opinions on how the site should be run & and there is no doubt about who is in charge.
February 24, 2010
I don’t know that it’s Dawkins’ site exclusively (in the moral sense), not once he has allowed a host of people to become invested in it.
I’ve never liked the attitude that it’s a privilege (except in the narrower sense) for one to comment on a forum, especially since most blog owners very much desire comments.
Nonetheless, Dawkins, or some entity close to him, pays for it, and has the primary responsibility for its proper functioning.
Because of that, it is primarily up to Dawkins (again, in the moral sense) to deal with it as he sees fit.
IOW, I mostly agree.
But when a blog owner acts arbitrarily and without proper respect for commenters (I think of LGF, for instance)–not the case with Dawkins, as far as I know–it does not simply come down to the fact that someone “owns it.”
Dawkins is not to be faulted because he is not being capricious or unfair (not that I can see), not solely because he owns the site.
Timonen deletes accounts (even of moderators) with every single of the 5,000 to over 10,000 posts ever posted from each one of them, rickrolls the search engine, prevents people from talking to each other and (thus) from going elsewhere, and messes with the admin log . There is simply no reason other than “I find it fun” why the discontinuation of a forum could possibly lead to such actions. Timonen should have been fired long ago, should seek therapy if any exists, and (till cured) should not ever again be given a position where he can do anything to people or information other than staring at them from a safe distance.
What have I overlooked?
* Though… the one Dawkins cites is a work of art. I’d almost feel flattered to have that one directed at me.
(1) People given advance warning of a problem are much better able to prepare for it, and they suffer less from it.
(2) People who give advance warning that they will do something that negatively affects another person are perceived as being more open, more honest, and more respectable than those who do not.
(3) People don’t like surprises. Making a surprise out of a bad event will always enhance negative reactions to that event.
The fact that American corporate culture is in love with the myth that no advance warning for layoffs is best is yet another indicator that most executives haven’t a tenth that rationality they pretend to have, and that their “business knowledge” is deeply polluted harmful myths and unnecessary callousness.
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