Consumer survey: Atheistforums.org beats Brand X atheist forum

[Anymouse]

There are conversion stories here, deconversion stories, debate, discussion, and outright silliness, but I have not found a testimonial comparing Atheistforums.org to other atheist fora out there (like a soap powder advert).

This is not the first forum devoted to the discussion of atheism that I came to in my long, slow admission I was really an atheist carrying on with Wiccan trappings. I went to another atheism-dedicated forum, which I will call "Brand X." (Neither will I give advert space to another forum here, nor will I call them out in a place where they cannot respond. 'Tis unfair.)

I went to "Brand X" forum on the suggestion of my wife BethK, and like here, lurked for awhile. That forum is much more "hard-core": that is, there are few religious people on it.

"Brand X" does, as this forum does, ask religious and non-religious people to post how they came to their beliefs, and what brought them to their own forum.

After some time lurking and deciding that it might be worthwhile to create an account there so I might post, I did create one, and introduced myself, much as I did here. (I cannot find that original intro back from May here now, or I would link it to my pithy introduction.)

The entirety of the "Brand X" forum rounded on me in an ad-Wiccan attack. (Ad-Wiccan attacks are ad-hominen attacks, but much like Christian witch burnings without the pitchforks.)

This place, with its range of people from the entirely convinced and outspoken of religious belief such as Statler Waldorf; to the entirely convinced and outspoken against religious belief such as TheSummerQueen, and everyone in between, is much more accommodating of the new person. (Unless the new person makes a total ass of himself.) (And there is a near-first on atheistforums.org: a compliment to both Statler and SummerQueen in the same sentence.)

"Brand X" atheist forum, once they were done with me, almost convinced me to heap the whole of atheists in the same angry lynch mob pot. Fortunately reason prevailed, and after I'd sufficiently wallowed in self-pity, I went searching Ixquick for another forum. (I apparently was suffering from a spate of masochism.)

Ixquick's search engine brought me here. I lurked a lot longer. I saw the real knock-down, drag-out rows between members here that sometimes occur. But it was apparent that there was a set of rules regarding this: generally ad-hominens do not occur here except between people who already know each other well enough to know what they can write; much like friends calling each other names.

Atheistforums.org is much friendlier to all comers than "Brand X." I have, since joining this forum (and completing my admission I was an atheist in Wiccan trappings), referred others here; a few have joined.

"Brand X" however, gets nothing but scorn from me: not because they have a position (atheism) and are not afraid to show the courage of their convictions, but because if you have questions or do not agree with their stance, you "are not worthy." I have never been given reason to feel that way by anyone here.

James.

[Anymouse]

One should be allowed to vote up one's own posts: I thought this was quite humorous. Then again, maybe I don't understand humour.

[Zen Badger]

Kichi and I had a similar experience with another atheist forum.
We both noticed that anyone who veered from the party line even in the slightest just got banned.

Then Kichi got a two week ban merely for disagreeing with another member , No warning, nothing.

So we decided it wasn't worth our time.

BTW we were already members here, but we enjoy the atmosphere.

[Justtristo]

Kichi and I had a similar experience with another atheist forum.
We both noticed that anyone who veered from the party line even in the slightest just got banned.

Then Kichi got a two week ban merely for disagreeing with another member , No warning, nothing.

So we decided it wasn't worth our time.

BTW we were already members here, but we enjoy the atmosphere.

What forum was that may I ask Zen?

[Violet]

Isn't that obvious, Justtristo? It was 'Brand X'

[Tiberius]

http://www.crossfitbrandx.com/index.php/forums/

Yup...looks pretty dismal to me too.

[DeistPaladin]

That's amazing. Most atheists I know are ex-Christians or ex-something-or-other. Do they belittle ex-Wiccans or do they have a double standard for ex-Christians? Or are they trying to alienate 80% of the atheists out there?

If anything, I have more respect for the ex-religion atheists because they escaped indoctrination. Any idiot can be an atheist with no background in religious indoctrination. It takes a really critical thinker to throw off indoctrination.

Even those who retain their religion, I can't imagine belittling them unless they remain willfully ignorant or refuse to listen, especially if this willful ignorance is combined with a pompous attitude. That's when I break out the word "fucktard".

And I agree with the sentiment that this is a great place to exchange thoughts and virtually hang out.

[Rev. Rye]

I've had problems with another atheist forum in the past; This has been my third major religion and politics forum, and it appears like I've lasted here longer than I've lasted on either of the others.

Forum 1: Newspeak Dictionary. Obstensively a George Orwell forum, I thrived for a little over two years until one of the mods went apeshit and started flaming every single other regular. Eventually, everyone involved (flamer and flamee) got banned. The admin couldn't be arsed to stop him, so I moved to Forum 2.

Forum 2: CT Valley Atheists. Things worked out well for about 18 months before people started jumping ship. There was no mod going apeshit this time. The problem came on two fronts; one front, one which was so bad that people seriously considered shutting the forum down: spammers posting hardcore porn faster than the admins could remove it. The other front ensured that debate would stagnate because there were some theists (including one Catholic and one whose beliefs I could best describe as Demopheles) who... let's put it this way: could very well have failed the Turing Test. What I mean is that after reading a couple of his replies you were left believing you were actually arguing with a poorly designed computer program that takes keywords from what you posted and fashions pre-generated responses that have little to nothing to do with what you actually said to him.

Hey, at least on this forum, the theists are capable of argument. And besides, I think that the "Speak softly and carry a big stick" approach that Adrian uses with the banhammer works pretty well for forums.

[Angrboda]

I like this forum, but I must confess it is not my home forum, and I generally only come over here out of boredom or an itch to waste some time. This forum, imo, has better serious discussions than my home forum, but the other has a richer selection of frivolities, in my experience. And since I value the frivolity over the seriousness, I concentrate my efforts there. (Imagine that, a Taoist given to frivolity and eschewing seriousness! What are the odds!)

It's possible I'm simply missing the frivolity here, but every thread that comes up under "Today's Posts" for me seems bent on seriousness, mostly.

[Tiberius]

Why don't you create some frivolity then? ;-)