This is the lounge. You can discuss anything you want, but you will do it kindly.
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Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
This is the lounge. You can discuss anything you want, but you will do it kindly.
Status: Heavily Moderated; Previous thread
Yesterday, I posted a link to our “FtB Customer Service Department”. This was intended as a joke — we don’t have such a thing — to mock the idea that we do have such a thing. We don’t. Unfortunately, it backfired on me: some of you saw it was in fun and sent in very complimentary messages about FtB as a whole (thank you very much), and some people sent in serious technical concerns which I’ll have to forward to the appropriate parties (note that we already have a link for that sort of thing, Technical Support), and a few people sent in wacky demands and apparently didn’t understand that we don’t have a central authority.
Here’s the full story on authorities at FtB.
Some people have demanded that we provide a direct line to the Executive Committee, the Complaints Department, and Customer Service for Freethoughtblogs, so that if you really want to yell at the Director and all those people who control the content on this blog network, you can do so. We hear and obey. There is a new email address that you can use to get access: FtBCustomerService. Send your concerns there, and the people in charge will deal with it appropriately.
The Executive Committee is very busy, and the Director is both secretive and occupied with making sure each blog meets specific standards, so please only use this email address if your concerns are very important.
I had three kids and I never noticed this phenomenon, but now I want to drive babies through tunnels.
Elon Musk is naming two of his drone ships using the Iain M. Banks ship naming conventions. They are the “Just Read the Instructions” and the “Of Course I Still Love You.”
The FtBCon discussion of the psychology of trolls was interesting, but one thing I think it could have used is some appreciation of effective trolling strategies. Look at what they’ve accomplished with wikipedia; they have driven some people off the internet, and the ongoing online harassment is at least a distraction to many of us. This is the real threat: that trolls are working to dominate the discussion, and sometimes they succeed.
Greg Laden is talking about one way trolls work: the Serengeti Strategy. He cites Michael Mann on this topic.
Wikipedia is preparing to throw the last bits of their credibility down the waste disposal. In a long running and contentious internal debate between feminists and a flurry of throw-away gamergate accounts, an arbitration panel made up almost entirely of men has decided to prohibit anything but the gamergate position. Mark Bernstein has an excellent summary.
We’re taking advantage of the Pharyngula IRC chat room to provide a venue for free-flowing discussion of FtBCon panels this weekend — it’s a bit faster and more interactive than just leaving comments on YouTube videos (which is a bit like throwing jewels into a cesspit, anyway). But I should let you know that the IRC channel does have a Code of Conduct, and a large number of moderators to enforce it. Read and obey.
This is the lounge. You can discuss anything you want, but you will do it kindly.
Status: Heavily Moderated; Previous thread
He’s the organizer for the Gateway To Reason conference coming up this July in St Louis, and apparently, a few of my hatin’ leeches have been pressuring him to drop me from the speaker lineup. Most ironically, a blogger who declares himself a voice for inclusiveness in the atheism and skepticism movements
is now writing to all of the other speakers, asking them to add to the pressure to get me booted (I also apologize to all of you, too). This kind of thing happens a lot: I’ve had kooks write to all of the faculty at UMM to denounce me. It gets old fast, I’m afraid.
