The last remaining evidence of atheistforums.com's existence, I think...

[Errorismer]

I heard through the grapevine that atheistforums.com shutdown recently do to the people owning the website not paying on the servers anymore.

I shutdown all my own internet forums and put them up for sale because I was tired of wasting my time, effort, and money on something that hardly anyone noticed—I might start making websites again if the desire ever returns as I still retained the skills learned from my experiences.

My own internet forums were the only places that hosted this last remaining screenshot of this community's existence, so now that those are gone, I'll just post it here.

Here ya go:



RIP atheistforums.com

2003-2026


PS: I was a regular member on this site called "Nuclear." Isn't it strange that the only person preserving their history was a regular member. Not even the admins bothered archiving the website before it's eventual shutdown. Wow.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

I heard through the grapevine that atheistforums.com shutdown recently do to the people owning the website not paying on the servers anymore.

I shutdown all my own internet forums and put them up for sale because I was tired of wasting my time, effort, and money on something that hardly anyone noticed—I might start making websites again if the desire ever returns as I still retained the skills learned from my experiences.

My own internet forums were the only places that hosted this last remaining screenshot of this community's existence, so now that those are gone, I'll just post it here.

Here ya go:



RIP atheistforums.com

2003-2026


PS: I was a regular member on this site called "Nuclear." Isn't it strange that the only person preserving their history was a regular member. Not even the admins bothered archiving the website before it's eventual shutdown. Wow.

Websites come and go. Tell me why I care.

Boru

[Errorismer]

I heard through the grapevine that atheistforums.com shutdown recently do to the people owning the website not paying on the servers anymore.

I shutdown all my own internet forums and put them up for sale because I was tired of wasting my time, effort, and money on something that hardly anyone noticed—I might start making websites again if the desire ever returns as I still retained the skills learned from my experiences.

My own internet forums were the only places that hosted this last remaining screenshot of this community's existence, so now that those are gone, I'll just post it here.

Here ya go:



RIP atheistforums.com

2003-2026


PS: I was a regular member on this site called "Nuclear." Isn't it strange that the only person preserving their history was a regular member. Not even the admins bothered archiving the website before it's eventual shutdown. Wow.

Websites come and go. Tell me why I care.

Boru

Well, it just goes to show how fragile the internet really is. If everyone stopped paying on their servers, the whole internet would disappear. Pretty scary if you think about it.

[Paraselene]

Yeah, bro, scary...

[Belacqua]

Well, it just goes to show how fragile the internet really is. If everyone stopped paying on their servers, the whole internet would disappear. Pretty scary if you think about it.

There's a thing called "Dead Internet Theory" which posits that most posting these days is done by bots or AI, and real discussion has long since dwindled away. I don't think we're quite to that stage yet -- there are still humans on line. But if there are any sites with active challenging discussion going on I haven't found them. These days you either have Substack pages where individuals write little essays, or echo-chamber groups where there's no valuable give and take. 

By far the best on line forum I ever saw was the one hosted by Amazon. People shopping for books would notice the discussion links and join in, so you got all kinds of people. The religion page had a real variety. There was a nuclear engineer who worked at sites all over the world. Though he was a Christian he was also a scientist and did a wonderful job of teaching creationists and young-earthers about basic science. There was an economic advisor for the Clinton White House. One guy who knew a lot about philosophy is now a professor at an Ivy League school and was written up at length in the New Yorker magazine. I have never known anyone as generous as he was about explaining difficult things. One guy made his living as a traveling salesman but knew an enormous amount about esoteric Christianity and Neoplatonism, that kind of thing, and had a wonderfully witty writing style full of double meanings.

Obviously people had fights and told silly jokes, but there was real discussion, too. I was very fortunate to have that resource while I was writing my doctoral dissertation. 

I suppose we have to think of these forums as being like conversations over drinks. It can be wonderfully informing, but it's not something that's preserved. We are very fortunate when various personalities temporarily align in such a good way. 

I do think there was a stage when things were active enough to be involving, but amateurish enough to be casual and inviting for everyone. That seems to have passed now.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Websites come and go. Tell me why I care.

Boru

Well, it just goes to show how fragile the internet really is. If everyone stopped paying on their servers, the whole internet would disappear. Pretty scary if you think about it.

(Bold mine)

I find myself unworried about things that will never happen.

Boru