nice place to mellow out....Byron Bay.....for those that don't know .....isthe most eastern part of mainland Australia
MacM: I apologise. I misread the intent of your post, and took it at face value (i.e. as a meaningless "test"), rather than as a "benign quip".
NB: i am drunk, so please excuse any self-serving melodrama or typographical errors in this post i have not posted on this website with any regularity in quite a while. i don't intend to continue being a regular poster here. below you will find a rambling explanation and goodbye, for those who might be interested. ====== so, it recently came to light that sciforums practices censorship. that is the sort of thing that i won't abide. i have been considering leaving sciforums for a few weeks now. mostly, i have stopped posting, or at least, i have only posted once or twice in the last few weeks. i really intend to leave sciforums altogether, but i find that once i reached that decision, i became a lurker, reading, but not posting. and i have been a regular at sciforums for a long time now (about 2 years), and am mildly addicted, so it is hard to just disappear. i have been reading posts, lately, but not posting. I have become a lurker. the point is that, if i am going to lurk, i might as well be a contributing member. the goal here is to divorce myself from the board altogether. I am hoping that by posting this message here, i can facilitate the process of that divorce. if i am not going to be an active poster, i should just stop visiting altogether. to summarize my position, sciforums practices a form of censorship which i find unacceptable, to the extent that i am unwilling to contribute to the community. i have not tried to engage the admin in any form of dialogue about this issue, because it has been my experience in the past, that the admin ("Porfiry") is unwilling to engage in dialogue with users, and prefers to delete any posts which attempt such discussion. don't look for me at the banned forum p*h*y*s*i*c*s*f*o*r*u*m*s, either. they also practice censorship, and i don't want to be a part of their community any more than i want to be a part of this community. in fact, for a long time, there was a great temptation to leave sciforums for p*h*y*s*i*c*s*f*o*r*u*m*s, but i resisted, the main reason (in my mind) for doing so was that PF practices censorship, and sciforums doesn't. if you want chroot's style of abuse, i am sure you can find him there. I can't very well justify to myself leaving sciforums because of censorship and then going to PF which also practices censorship. So if i decide to leave sciforums, i must also leave PF. For a long time, the main advantage that sciforums had over PF was the lack of censorship. Some people saw this as a detraction; sciforums is too unmoderated, it has too much noise, it is not as valuable as PF, which has stricter rules about content. i always saw this as a virtue of sciforums. despite what people think of the value of your contributions, your right to contribute is always respected. well, now that sciforums practices censorship as well, i just don't see the point. i guess any further contributions by me to the internet physics community will be through s.p.r or s.p.s or else not at all. i may also like to become a regular contributor to wikipedia.org and wikibooks.org. these are places that value the same rights of free speech that i do, and embody the spirit of the internet, an atmosphere of free communication of ideas, uninhibited by censorship. i also hope that by renouncing my internet web board allegiances, i will get to spend more time on my thesis. this might be the best thing that ever happened to me. i would like to say, as i leave sciforums, that i have really enjoyed some of my time here. there have been a few posters, the names crisp, errandir, turin, oxymoron, cephas1012, schmoe, tarrou come to mind, people who have engaged me in intellectually stimulating and productive (both for me, and for the reader, or so i hope) discussion, which i found as fruitful as they did (i hope). it saddens me that i am unwilling to continue that tradition for political reasons. by and large, i dislike getting involved in political issues, but freedom of speech is one freedom which i cannot bargain over. it is the foundation of scientific research, and without it, we simply could not procede. so i wish to thank those posters here who made this a more valuable place for me and all the readers. i will miss our discussions. i find it unfortunate that one bad apple, with his bad posting behaviour ("chroot"), can influence the admin of this site to implement the censorship that we have here. but the fault lies not with the bad apple, but rather with the monarchical structure of the web message board. the childish behaviour of one poster prompted out moderator to enact his complete editorial control over the board, which is his right, as the owner of this message board. i cannot really fault chroot. nor can i fault the admin Porfiry. they were simply fulfilling their rôles. If it had not been chroot that provoked the admin, it would have been some other poster. the point is that these actions highlighted for me some aspect of this medium which runs contrary to my beliefs. The place seems to be a community, with every poster given equal voice. it appears to be the most pure example of a democracy to be found anywhere. but appearances can be deceptive. in fact, we are all here solely at the sufferance of the admin, and any voice we have is granted to us only as long as we do not annoy him. such a format for communication, i simply do not want to deal with. regardless of whom the policy was provoked by, it is the administration of this board that implemented the policy that i take offense with, and which is the reason for me leaving this board. this post is mostly a goodbye to people that i feel like i have gotten to know, something to give me a sense of closure on something which i feel had become a part of my life, and a chance to explain my actions for anyone who might care. so... ok. I will probably continue to read what's going on with the board for a little while, but i don't think i am going to post with any regularity anymore, and soon enough i will probably stop visiting the site as well.
lethe, Your post was hmmmmm...somewhat amazing. You are obviously very upset at having to make the choice you are bent on making. It is unfortunate that a sad fact of life is that if you have not any financial membership of an organisation you therefore have no rights within this organisation. As a regular and some what radical poster here I acknowledge at all times that my posts are subject to governess beyond my control. This I accept as a part of belonging to a "free of fee" community as a guest of the said administration only. I am writing this because I amongst many others will sadly miss your help in answering our numerous questions even if subject to possible censorship. Having toured 4 other forums This forum is by far the most liberal and tolerant and because of this it has my participation. The forum you refer to as PF has real issues of ego involved and I find this counter productive to research and the pursuit of knowledge. For example when was the last time a post was moved or deleted at sciforums with out some reason given? I would suggest this is rarely happening where as at PF it happens constantly. A quick look at their board and you will see so many moves. I would like to ask you to re-consider your position and attempt to put all this in a perpsective that allows the other posters here the on-going benefit of your expertise and knowledge. The problem is with all internet based forums is that censorship is common and most of the time it is unknown about. From my experience here it is rare but this is my opinion based on my observation. Scott
Hi lethe, When you are sober, read this and start posting again : Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! ------- Your main grievance against this site seems to be the banishing of the term PF from displaying. Instead of seeing it as a censorship can't we just take it as the administrator's/site owner's personal preference not to display this single word. Other than this single case, virtually there is no censorship of dictatorial kind here. You can always refer to PF as "PF" in any case. Come on, start your valuable contributions again for we can't afford loosing the star of P&M sub-forum.
lethe, I cannot pretend to know your exact thoughts or Porfiry's in this matter, but I can give you my perspective. I am fond of making up little examples, too fond I suppose. The censorship you are referring to is, of course, in regards to another forum. My impression is that Porfiry views that forum as a competitor to this forum. There is a ban on advertising in this forum, and in at least some other privately owned forums, I would guess. I tend to think of privately owned forums in the same regard as any privately owned enterprise. An automobile dealership comes to mind. The dealership welcomes anyone that comes to their dealership to examine their vehicles, even if their intent is to compare them to a competing brand. But I don't believe a Ford dealer would welcome someone walking around their dealership approaching customers with a huge sign around their neck stating 'CHEVROLET TRAILBLAZERS HAVE A $4500 FACTORY REBATE AND FORD EXPLORERS HAVE $0 REBATE. Do you believe free speech grants such a right, or does the owner of the Ford dealership have a right to ban such signs? I realize this is only a crude approximation, but it reflects my personal viewpoint. I can appreciate the fact that you see the situation from a different perspective. lethe, I have enjoyed your threads in the past, even though they, at times, exceeded my ability to understand due to my lack of knowledge.
I'm sorry to see you leave. I loved reading your posts and they were a great source of inspiration. Thanks!
I will miss your input, lethe. Best wishes for your thesis and beyond. I'm sure I will hear more of you in the scientific literature, if nowhere else. Of course, I won't know your name...
lethe, can you see www.physicsforums.com now ? It seems, Porfiry lifted off the censorship 3 weeks before !
Lethe, Let me add my humble view as well. You and I have rarely agreed on things. Well I guess it would be more accurate to say we have had harse discourse. I note that I was not among your favorites. But inspite of what you might think I found your responses and criticisims useful and helpful, if not at changing my views certainly in changing how I present them. I very much agree with each and everyone of the responders above and while I too will (would) miss your participation, I also very much respect your integrity to do what you feel you must to defend your view. In that regard you and I are alike. Here's hoping a shot of tomatoe juice might clear the fog and you will rejoin the forums. Best of luck in any case. PS: You are welcome to that other site (can't mention it) where alternative thinking is encouraged. It starts with "U" and I am close to the owner and can assure you of your membership. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Everneo, I am afraid your post eludes me but to not sidetrack this thread, please PM me if you have a problem with my post to Lethe.
even if you do have financial membership (i have donated to sciforums), you don't seem to have rights. what happens to your posts? they are moved to pseudoscience? i would hope that your posts do not get deleted, right? that is the difference between moderation and censorship. i would agree with that. that's probably why i stayed here so long yes, in my opinion, PF has some issues. yes, well, it seems the censorship here has been lifted, so i may have to reconsider my position. i was under the impression that the admin was not listening or willing to change policy. censorship may be common on web boards, but in USENET, for example, it simply doesn't exist.
but this point of view doesn't really make the problem any better in my eyes, you know? you are telling me that instead of having some form of censorship imposed on me, i am having some weird personal preference of porfiry imposed on me. yes, well it seems that now you can even say physicsforums again, so i may reconsider my position. but i don't know, the whole thing leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. sciforums is mostly free of these censorship problems that plague other forums, however, this whole thing has made it clear that this status of being free of censorship is completely subject to the whims of the sites owner
i don't know what site you are talking about. what is the site, and why can't you assure me of a membership? i hope you are not talking about the place where you host UniKEF. that site doesn't work in my browser.
thanks crisp for the sentiment. the feeling is mutual. thanks james. yes, i wonder if we can get the arxiv to take submissions with a pseudonym. that would be cool, but i doubt it. and even less likely for PRL or such
