Sophisticated
The new Jesus and Mo considers a question that I often ask: whence came Mo’s reputation for being such a kind lovely fella?
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The new Jesus and Mo considers a question that I often ask: whence came Mo’s reputation for being such a kind lovely fella?
(off topic)
Ophelia, the door to the withdrawing room is locked again. ;-)
I was going to comment there to express mild dismay that FTB has deleted B&W entirely.
Although all the posts are preserved here, it’s very difficult now to find a past post you remember because the post pages themselves were on FTB. Copies here only appear in the big list of all posts, which is currently about 650 pages long. :-(
And all the discussions attached to those posts are now gone.
It’s a shame given that long defunct blogs like Blag Hag, for example, are still preserved.
(/off topic)
Silentbob – I suspect it’s all part of PZ’s site tidyup. For me Blag Hag no longer shows on the menu, but a google search still finds it (B&W is gone). Maybe we’ll find that all the blogs vanish over the next few days/weeks. Shame to loose the discussion though.
Rob, you’re right; BlagHag is no longer there.
As for all the blogs vanishing, it may be more than you think. A post I found in my RSS feed that isn’t on the website indicates that the following folks are leaving their current digs for a brand new network: Alex Gabriel, Alix Jules, Alyssa Gonzalez, Ani Sharmin, Ania Bula, Aoife O’Riordan, Ashley F. Miller, Benny Vimes, Brianne Bilyeu, Chris Hall, Dana Hunter, Dori Mooneyham, Greta Christina, Heina Dadabhoy, Jason Thibeault, Luxander Pond, Miri Mogilevsky, Niki M., Sincere Kirabo, Stephanie Zvan, Tony Thompson, and Zinnia Jones.
As I mentioned over on PZs blog, I suspect this exodus has to do with them being unhappy with PZ for not being sufficiently vicious towards Ophelia last summer.
Alex Gabriel and Co. are leaving and taking their tens of readers with them!
That’ll show somebody something, you betcha.
@ 3 TonyInBatavia
No Blag Hag is there (as I write), it just isn’t linked to from the sidebar. I wouldn’t be bothered if they just removed the link to B&W from the sidebar, but they’ve deleted all the pages.
Also, if you recall, the exodus from FTB isn’t news. I speculated along the same lines as yourself a month ago.
Ah, I stand corrected. Menu item missing, BlagHag pages still active.
As for predictions, I suspect I got you beat on the date. :) Last summer, when PZ refused to join the chorus of Ophelia-haters, I predicted they would find a way to take it out on him. He had just posted something that (unjustifiably) semi-sided with the despisers, but he refused to declare Ophelia as the face of pure evil. That was enough, I predicted, to put him on the outs.
It took a bit longer than I thought it might, but there you go.
(I know, I know, I’m asking you to take my word on it, but there’s no way in hell I’m venturing back into any of those threads to try to find what I said.)
I wasn’t picking on Blag Hag, BTW (I loved Blag Hag), it was just an example. Another one would be Crommunist Manifesto which is long gone from the sidebar, but still hosted.
I suspect (with no real foundation) B&W has been deleted to prevent Ophelia from claiming any more ad revenue.
(Also, apologies to Jesus & Mo for hijacking their thread ;-) .)
Oh did they. Well that’s nice.
Tony @6, I recall the post you speak of.
I kind of admire PZ for putting a brave face on the split, because split it is. He’s giving them a shout out in support. Clearly that bunch wanted something they felt they couldn’t have at FTB. It’s interesting to see who went over. Mostly people I no longer follow or used to follow and had lost interest in.
B&W is back on the side bar BTW.
Yeah, I agree with this part. Still, I will follow some of these bloggers to Orbit. Sorry, but I’ve been with them for quite a while and I still consider those whom I follow decent people, with interesting things to say. Infuriating sometimes, yes, but show me someone who is not infuriating on and off and I will show you a complete bore.
I wish good luck to PZ even though his move strikes me as a desperate measure.
Rob, I’m with you about PZ. And, oddly, I want this to work out for FTB. I like the idea of hearing new voices and I am hopeful that PZ’s new approach, which he described here at comment #25, truly takes root (so to speak):
I just hope the new blogger selection process didn’t include criteria with remnants of the now-standard (with the crowd that’s just left) chorus “we declare our social justice assertions as doctrinal knowledge, to which all others must abide and no one can challenge.”
As for those who are gone: good. For one, the “we declare our social justice assertions as doctrinal knowledge” part of the chorus is a main part of their network’s vision statement — that word “know,” I don’t think it means what they think it means — but with an outrageous and laughable claim that they will entertain criticism.
For two, I admittedly still hold a massive grudge for the way they treated Ophelia, for their spectacular lack of tact, empathy, sympathy, understanding, or even just plain human decency. It still floors me that they demanded doctrinal adherence, end of discussion, there’s nothing more to talk about, while, fucking duh, there’s a massive amount still to talk about. In that regard, they’re definitely doing skepticism wrong. Worse, these advocates are doing advocacy wrong when they refuse to listen for nuance or subtlety and refuse to pause long enough for research, questioning, or anything that actually leads to greater understanding. It’s all accept-our-assertions-or-you-are-the-enemy with these nitwits.
And, for three, these chuckleheads have been gumming up my FTB RSS feed for far too long. I can now ignore them so completely that I won’t even be aware I’m ignoring them.
@ 9 Rob
Oh, so it is! The whole things back. :-) False alarm then, Ophelia, I jumped the gun. They must have just been doing some housekeeping yesterday.
Yesterday, any link to FTB B&W returned the message, “This site has been archived or suspended”.
But it’s back now.
Ariel, no need to apologise to me! My concern with the Orbit is that it will be something of a monoculture. Strange to say I know, but they are so fiercely diverse in such a doctrinal way that the diversity is only in the label they each identify with, rather than what they think or how they express themselves. Biodork is probably the only blog I’m actually surprised to see go and that I read with regularity any more.
Tony, I largely agree with you. having said that there are a number of words I want to reclaim from various ‘communities’ (scare quotes quite intentional). “Know” is high on the list, as is questioning, scepticism and advocacy.
Some of the new FTB blogs have posts up already and they look like they may be interesting to visit again.
Man we really have taken over this thread. I hope it drives a bit of traffic back to J&M.
Well I’m glad it’s back. I found that rather disturbing.