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Sunday, July 20, 2008

Impact of the strike

Okay, looks like there are still some folks arguing with Ray (one who's a Christian - which I think is cool.) That's cool though, the point of this was just a curious "let's see what happens", and I don't think we should berate anybody who still chooses to post there (not that I really can imagine any of you doing that).

Anyway, it's only been on for a couple days, and it looks like Ray's getting about 1/4 to 1/3 of the number of posts that he normally does. What will be really interesting is to see what this is like in a week. How can Ray feel like a martyr when there aren't enough Roman soldiers to pierce his side?

15 comments:

  1. It'll be interesting to see how many of Ray's echo chamber come over here to test the waters.



    The effect of the strike will be cumulative, I suspect. So it's probably premature to try and gauge what our impact is.

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  2. Also, JG is being fantastic, taking them on as one of them.

    "So what I don't have a blogger profile? I just created the account on Friday just so I could comment on Ray's nonsense."

    Bravo, sir.

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  3. I see that Ray is already trying to bring you all back by putting up another anti evolution screed. Stay strong and resist the tempatation- let Ray twist in the wind with his fundy sycophants. The most substantive discussion I've ever seen there that didn't involve atheiasts was a thread with a couple of fundy chicks debating what kind of purse was the best for carying tracts.

    And I agree - JG is doing a great job. I love how he answered burton by saying he wawsn't an atheist so he wasn't on strike.

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  4. I only read of the 'strike' until after it started, but didn't have anything to say anyway. Meanwhile I and many others were having tremendous fun with a muslim troll on rdnet. Until he stopped being a troll and now only copypastes entire books. Idiot.
    I'm quite confident that without the atheists and scientists posting at Ray's, they'd just go back to their usual business. This happens on every single religious site, forum and blog I've seen: congratulate each other, then some people post less and less out of boredom and eventually leave altogether. Then someone realizes they're not getting the attention they crave so desperately, Jesus still isn't back, science is still progressing - so they start going on the theological offense, artificially creating a schism. It's communication entropy observed. They split into the smallest parts and eventually create new sites and leave for other sites to repeat the cycle. Their problem is that each time entropy strikes, they lose some for good. The desperation already shows in many churches and groups. I'm somewhat perversely curious how the final outburst will look. Will it be a bang or a whimper?

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  5. The most substantive discussion I've ever seen there that didn't involve atheiasts was a thread with a couple of fundy chicks debating what kind of purse was the best for carying tracts.

    Wow. Seriously? I mean, nothing surprises me with fundies, but do you mean a full-on debate, or just a quick exchange of words?

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  6. I agree with Clos, Ray is now trying to use reverse psychology and telling us to take a longer break. In reality he needs us, his blog is based on us but he would never admit that. Eventually most of the christians will realize Ray gets boring fast without us. He doesn't deserve more posts on his blog anyway, he's a rude and intolerant person.

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  7. I agree with clostridiophile, stay away for good or at least until Ray changes the name of his blog to something other than Atheist Central. The name change has not been an issue of contention but it speaks volumes about Ray's attitude towards us. Ray pulls the strings and we dance! The atheists can't stay away from my blog so I'll name it Atheist Central! Screw'em

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  8. I say we all write "jesus titties" in Ray's comment thing at the same time. Maybe then his head will explode or something.

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  9. I didn't actually notice the strike when it started (I've not been checking up that much lately) and, to be honest, I've got kind of bored of trying to explain the same things to the same stupid people who aren't even listening to the answers to the questions that they asked.
    I've also got another outlet for my energies coming up - when school starts again in September my daughter's school becomes a Church of England school affiliated with the local church. Now, I don't know quite how strongly to react to this; my school when I was her age was a Christian school, although not officially, and things like not joining in with prayers were disciplinary matters, in fact one of my earliest memories is from when I was six and got yelled at by a teacher for suggesting that the whole religion thing was a bit silly (I genuinely didn't realise that people took it seriously - I thought that they were kidding) including the whole, "well, when you're burning in hell for all eternity with the devil sticking red hot pokers up your arse and demons scooping your eyes out with spoons then you'll see how serious it is," speech. Thing is, it didn't change my mind about believing in god(s), it just taught me that some people get very nasty and unstable when you disagree with them. Nowadays I'd either laugh it off or lay them out, but back then it scared me into silence for about eight years.
    So, in the long term, I'm quite sure that my daughter will be alright and isn't going to be converted any time soon, but I don't want her to go through the same bullying that I did. Mostly at the moment I am carefully innoculating her against the more obvious lies and stressing that, no matter what anyone says, she can never get into trouble for telling me things and ayone who ever says, "if your parents find out about this you'll be in trouble," (a common tactic used by my old teachers to make sure that I didn't get any backup from anyone else) is guaranteed to be in ten times more trouble than she is just for saying something so manipulative.
    Anyway, long story short, I'm pretty much out of the "Comfort Commenting" game; I was doing it in the hope that lurkers on Ray's blog could see just how dishonest Ray and his ilk are and maybe start thinking for themselves, but I've other priorities now.
    I'll still drop by here, though, just to stay in touch with the gang.

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  10. SS and milo,

    Exactly, its more fun just to laugh at him and his goobers over here...and this in reality is 'ATHEIST CENTRAL' although, we welcome anyone of any bent that gets a metallic taste in their mouth when they look at that mustachioed jesus freak.

    Plus the added bonus of making him look stupid for changing the name. We should continue to swell our ranks by contacting new skeptics over there and telling them about us.

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  11. I'm tempted to stay away for good, but every time that I try to do that I find myself sneaking back for a look at the latest inanity. I must enjoy frothing at the mouth and the pain that I receive when my head hits my desk.

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  12. I agree.

    You know that they feel it when they still feel the need to talk of us.

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  13. What we really need is to get this site as one of the first few hits on a Ray Comfort Google search.

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  14. Lance (re Fundy Chicks)

    No, there was actually a protracted discussion of the purse issue. A couple of emily/michelle/brittany types were weighing the relative merits of quick access versus keeping the tracts in a smooth unwrinkled condition.

    As an aside, I just know that the i's in those names are dotted with smiley faces.

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Unlike Ray we don't censor our comments, so as long as it's on topic and not spam, fire away.

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