…just thought I’d mention this here, as I know there are a few Randi Forum members on the dope, and this whole thing has played out so fast and so quietly that I’m sure that many haven’t heard. Announcement here:
A new Facebook group has been created. (JREFUGEES)
Yeah, it’s rather confusing over there right now as to what exactly is going to happen.
So why did this happen?
They wouldn’t change the smilies.
…I think this statement sums it up: its the closest to an official statement that we are going to get:
http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?p=10154146#post10154146
This is speculation based on what I can figure out.
To summarise: the forums were getting sluggish. Then after someone tried to fix it they almost completely broke. (Apparently the forums have never ever been backed up!) I suspect that someone asked for money to fix the forums. The JREF took a look at the forums for the first time in a decade: and promptly had a heart attack after seeing what people were actually talking about.
So rather than fix the forums, the JREF decided to simply close them. A rescue effort was formulated. Thread started, volunteers stepped up, emergency plan enabled. JREF agreed to instead of closing the forums, to let them go. This was all done without notifying the Forum Admins and Moderators at all, who were completely left out of the loop, and were rightly miffed.
And thats where we are at the moment. The guy who has stepped up to take over the technical running of the boards is a staunch defender of Amway and a borderline conspiracy theorist. But the admins and the people who have been dealing with him have vouched for his integrity, so I’m not in the position to really make judgement there.
Sounds a bit like the old Fido SCIENCE forum, which was moderated by a devout Mormon who never, ever let his beliefs get in the way of rational moderation. cough
This sounds suspiciously like how I envision the death spiral for this board.
Funny.