The Skeptiko forum and us

Today, for the first time in months, I took a look at the Skeptiko forum. A brief look but enough to see what I needed. 

I have noticed a drop off in posts to our PQ forum so I wondered whether people have been slowly migrating back to the old haunt. Not that I see that as a problem but it raises a question in my mind. Is there a point to having both forums if we cover essentially the same ground? I did notice that several of the founders of PQ are still active on Skeptiko too. I was one of those who left Skeptiko due to some rather draconian changes made by Alex at the time. I stayed away because I was banned for commenting on those changes and have since declined to answer the invitation to ask for my reinstatement by email. At the time, I thought that a good proportion of Skeptiko forum users were similarly unimpressed with the new direction and many did indeed register and begin posting here.

However, on today's evidence, it looks like most have returned to the fold. So I wonder what everyone thinks now: is there a place for both? I don't see this as a them and us thing - rather as a question of unnecessary duplication. The critics vs proponents sub-forum is still closed but Alex didn't go through with the idea of deleting years of posts after all. Seeing as that is probably the most active forum here, perhaps that is a reason to stay open? However, from my point of view, I have Linda and Steve001 on ignore, Arouet, Paul and Bart/Sparky hardly post these days so Malf is probably the only sceptic I interact with.

Whether I would do as demanded and humbly ask for reinstatement to the Skeptiko forum is still undecided. It would certainly stick in my craw to do so. So I need to decide whether I actually need to keep going over the same old arguments in a never ending cycle. Perhaps a once in several months look at Skeptiko would be enough?

I still look at Skeptiko every day, but don't usually see anything of interest there. PsienceQuest seems to be significantly more active, and of the activity there is on Skeptiko, a lot is to do with politics and conspiracy theory rather than psi.

Is there a point to having both forums if we cover essentially the same ground?

There's an 'if' there. I'd say we don't cover the same ground.

Personally I made a couple of posts over there in the recent past but I don't consider that to mean I've re-embraced that forum. Far from it. If this forum is considered redundant, then I may quit posting online more or less completely (at least on the subject areas we cover).

Today, for the first time in months, I took a look at the Skeptiko forum. A brief look but enough to see what I needed. 

I have noticed a drop off in posts to our PQ forum so I wondered whether people have been slowly migrating back to the old haunt. Not that I see that as a problem but it raises a question in my mind. Is there a point to having both forums if we cover essentially the same ground? I did notice that several of the founders of PQ are still active on Skeptiko too. I was one of those who left Skeptiko due to some rather draconian changes made by Alex at the time. I stayed away because I was banned for commenting on those changes and have since declined to answer the invitation to ask for my reinstatement by email. At the time, I thought that a good proportion of Skeptiko forum users were similarly unimpressed with the new direction and many did indeed register and begin posting here.

However, on today's evidence, it looks like most have returned to the fold. So I wonder what everyone thinks now: is there a place for both? I don't see this as a them and us thing - rather as a question of unnecessary duplication. The critics vs proponents sub-forum is still closed but Alex didn't go through with the idea of deleting years of posts after all. Seeing as that is probably the most active forum here, perhaps that is a reason to stay open? However, from my point of view, I have Linda and Steve001 on ignore, Arouet, Paul and Bart/Sparky hardly post these days so Malf is probably the only sceptic I interact with.

Whether I would do as demanded and humbly ask for reinstatement to the Skeptiko forum is still undecided. It would certainly stick in my craw to do so. So I need to decide whether I actually need to keep going over the same old arguments in a never ending cycle. Perhaps a once in several months look at Skeptiko would be enough?

I was/am so angry about what occurred on that forum, I will never make another post on there again. I don't want to say anymore because I might regret it.

Ok, so I'm in a similar frame of mind to those who have replied above. I left Skeptiko for a reason and the reason is still valid. As I said, it is doubtful that I would even want to renew my activities there. I was trying to gauge sentiment, however, because - and these are merely my impressions - I saw that people who seem to have stopped posting here are now active again at Skeptiko. I wondered whether that was a trend.

I don't have a big problem with DB (apart from his politics) but I understand why others do. I had more of a problem with Alex and his seemingly ego-driven campaign to eliminate discussion of things of which he didn't approve and people who criticised him. Seeing as his own criticism of others has been his signature approach throughout his Skeptiko tenure, I found that a bit rich.

I've kept an eye on it and checked here and there something like every few weeks, but I just think there's more going on here, at least that I'm interested in. The few discussions that I've read over there still seem to be more geared towards ones that those who migrated were more or less not as interested in as the ones that are ongoing here. 

Plus, activity comes and goes in lulls. Sparky and Arouet may yet return. Paul had a streak where he was perhaps the most active poster here. It's possible he just got busy and may also post more frequently in the future. I know there have been times I've been unable to post or not especially interested, so I think if there's a down period it might just be a busy time of year for some normal contributors.

Plus, activity comes and goes in lulls. Sparky and Arouet may yet return. Paul had a streak where he was perhaps the most active poster here. It's possible he just got busy and may also post more frequently in the future. I know there have been times I've been unable to post or not especially interested, so I think if there's a down period it might just be a busy time of year for some normal contributors.

Don't get me wrong, I don't long for the return of Arouet or Sparky. The point I was trying to make is that there is a forum here which allows for direct confrontation between sceptics and proponents but that same facility was closed down by Alex at Skeptiko. My own opinion is that Arouet, Sparky, Steve001, Fls and Paul are - to varying degrees - dogmatic in their beliefs and approach to debate. Sometimes even dogmatic argument introduces information worthy of consideration but, in general, I find dogmatism tiresome. 

Still, it seems that there is a will to keep PQ alive which is gratifying.

I watch both and post there infrequently.  The conversation has been very much dominated by conspiracy theories.  Its starting to move slightly away from that but Max really hit the crux of the issue for me:  Alex made it known in no uncertain terms that Skeptiko is his, literal, playground and he has no interest in serving the needs of a community (just his own).

That's cool and all but I do find it incredibly shallow.

I watch both and post there infrequently.  The conversation has been very much dominated by conspiracy theories.  Its starting to move slightly away from that but Max really hit the crux of the issue for me:  Alex made it known in no uncertain terms that Skeptiko is his, literal, playground and he has no interest in serving the needs of a community (just his own).

That's cool and all but I do find it incredibly shallow.

Once one considers themselves more than a biological robot in a meaningless universe it can lead to a certain type of vanity.