Goodbye, Ray

To Mr Ray Comfort
From the entire Raytractors community

Originally started as a means to mobilise and bring together those who oppose the misinformation, dishonesty and wilful ignorance promoted by your good self, this group very quickly grew into a large and diverse community. Composed of individuals with no common thread other than their response to you, they grew exponentially, attracting like-minded and not-so-like-minded people from across the net.

But all things must come to an end...

Their time had come. As the blog died, remaining only as a fossil testament to what once was, the individuals who made up this community walked away from the one who inspired them, who caused their community to exist in the first place. As time went on, they found that they could not confine their criticism to one man: the sheer irrationality that he embodied was not his alone. Their very name, the banner they went under, was limiting them.

And so, they changed. Their identity could no longer support who and what they were, so they adapted, evolving into something different at a glance but the same at heart. They built a new environment more conductive to discussion and communication than the blog they had for so long run in tandem to your own, and they named themselves anew, that all who saw them would see and understand that they were not the mere detractors of one purveyor of lies, but the opponents of all those who would use misinformation, pseudoscience and intellectual dishonesty to promote bigotry and hate amongst those who are unable to establish truth for themselves.

They drafted a letter, in third person and in past tense because it sounded impressive and important, and they sent it to the one who had brought them together in the first place. In this document, they announced their newfound independence, and wished Mr Comfort the best in the future. Although they would continue to read and comment on the words uttered by this one, they no longer defined themselves by him, and they would exist as an entity separate from him. They again extended the same invitation to him and his followers that they had previously: if any of you wish for an honest and free exchange of ideas and opinions, without the censorship, format and rules designed to stifle inquiry and prevent individuals from providing evidence and support for their opinions, then you are welcome to join us at the new venue, which you can access from the old BlogSpot. You will be welcomed with open arms by those who used to be the Raytractors.

And so, in a final act of dramatic timing, they signed off with the name they had chosen for themselves, their new identity, which identified them not as your detractors... but as something more.

Goodbye Ray. And thank you for bringing us together.

SMRT.
Skeptical Minds and Rational Thinkers.
http://www.wearesmrt.com/bb/index.php

Draft SMRT forum rules

After a flurry of activity this morning, we've come up with a draft of the forum rules. I've seperated the suggestions into Rules and Values. The former being "Follow these or else", the latter being "Please respect these values - they encourage healthy debate".


Absolute minimum:

RULES

• No Trolling (need to define this)


• Embedded pics/videos should be tasteful


• Warnings will be handed out for the breaking of Rules or the habitual violation of Values. After accruing 3 warnings, this may (at the discretion of the Moderators) subject the user to {insert something nasty here}.

The following values we could probably stick at the top of the forums, as a "Read This First" or something

VALUES

• No Preaching (need to define this)


• Cite your sources as often as possible


• Be civil, but creative cursing can be an asset


• No mention of the missing "a" in SMRT


• Be rational


• Be open-minded / wear a thick skin


• Have fun


• The forums are intended to be self-policing and democratic


• Flagging posts shouldn't be done to harass other people

Not restrictive enough? Something missing?

Let us know what you think...

Hey look...

... I'm lazy. I made completely different image without actually adding anything. All I did was change the lighting and background.

I like this version better. And it fit's well with current events. Plus, we're in New Zealand: I stole someone's holiday shot from everyone's favorite search engine.

"Oh Google, you wacky emergent monopoly."

Group Potrait

[Click for full image]



It came out differently to what I was expecting: I'd had the thought of something which matched our current colour scheme, and... well... eh, just click it and see for your self.



Apologies to those people I had difficulty drawing: TheShaggy, Beamstalk (I tried to draw you both, but your images were too pixelated) and everyone I simply ran out of time for, including Benjamin Franklin, Revenant, Felix and ExPatMatt among others.

I would have got more done if I hadn't spent Sunday helping clean up the yard: we're still recovering from that bloody storm.



I may continue adding people when I feel in a good mood, and can easily make 'other versions' for special occasions... like the 5th of December!

Picture Update: The Final Countdown

OK guys, this is it. I've set a deadline. On Monday, I release the picture, finished or not.


I've still got a few people to add, on account of things beyond my control (Storms, work, sudden attacks of severe laziness), and I have to add all the finishing touches to make it look better, but I've got the weekend so most of it should be done in time.

I was going to say more, but I don't want to spoil anything. I'd rather increase the anticipation, so that on Moday I can *erk* shatter your pathetic expectations of artistic quality with the harsh and disappointing reality of my own mediocrity!!!!! AAAAAARRGHHAHAHAHAHA- *erk* Sorry, I think I got possessed there. Someone call Bob Lason!

Over One Thousand

That was too easy.

Break out the alcohol, fire up the babyque, turn on the retardoray and prepare the mustache clippers: SMRT just entered the ranks of... something... thought I had more than that... nevermind.

1000+ posts! Paaaaaarrrrtyyyyy!

We Have A Theme Song

Group Portrait: Fair Warning

For my forum banner heading image submission thingumajig, I was planning to try drawing a "group portrait" of a number of the Raytractors/SMRT (to go next to the text).

For anyone who doesn't know my style: The Penisgate 08 Parody. I'll probably add much better shading and effects to this one, though: I don't have to emulate Gunther here.

So this is fair warning: anyone with an even vaguely human avatar is fair game, and previous "history" may be taken into account when considering clothing and extras. Examples Taken Completely At Random And In No Way Absolutely Certain: Lance gets a beer stein, Kaitlyn gets a witches hat, Non-Magic gets the Photoshop icon, Maragon gets a light blue t-shirt, etc.

If you want to sit this one out and not end up in the picture, let me know.

And if you don't want to be based off of your avatar, have a request for how you'd like to appear, anything at all really, you can either send me an email at qu.quasar@gmail.com, or drop a comment in the comments. I can only do so many people, so priority will be given to people who respond first and people who have the highest post counts. And people without a mustache. Could someone link me to that post where everyones post counts were added up?

And if everyone drops me a note telling me to keep my pathetic wannabe artistic aspirations to myself, I'll call it off. No seriously, if you think it's a bad idea, let me know: I'm a little worried I might just be in a lack-of-sleep induced period of insanity. Again.

PS: Just so you know, I'm going to be drawing myself in there as well. I'll be the skinny guy with blonde hair and glasses. And possibly a mustache.

Edit: Oh, another group that will get high priority will be anyone with the guts to use themeselves as their avatar. Mainly because I'm a terrible hypocrite. [generic smiley]