jovian Posted May 30, 2014 Posted May 30, 2014 Hi friends, Approx 12-13 years ago, before I got introduced to philosophy and logic (which was not part of my country's school-system), I started a website/forum about paranormal phenomenas, ghosts, ufos, and the like. I thought it was interesting and wanted to learn more. As you may know, in this kind of pseudo-science milieu, everyone can have "their own truth". Horrible. Today I see this as an incredible dangerous way of thinking, and I'm glad to say it is "something of my past". I got introduced to philosophy 6-7 years ago via a podcast about trivium, quadrivium and logical fallacies. After that, I totally left the paranormal stuff. Meanwhile, the site was still running. Here is the big deal; During all these years, my website have grown to hold near 20000 registered members (registration has always been free). Now I am about to close down the website, because I cannot defend hosting a discussion forum where people every day grows "their own reality", in galaxies far away from the objective truth. What do you think I should do with the website? Should I remove all pages, posting a link to freedomainradio maybe? Could I use it to help others in the best direction for discovering that there is something called objective truth? Or would that be rude for those who actually signed up because of their interest in paranormal-stuff? There is this saying, "when the student is ready the teacher will appear", so I'm in doubt if I can help at all.. but then again, a podcast-show helped me and introduced me to logical fallacies. It saved me, sort of.. What you think? 20000 brains.. last time I watched Iron Maiden live, 20000 was hell of a lot of people (Note: I wrote this question to Stefan earlier, but I guess I should post it here instead and not bother him with this. At the time I sent the message to Stefan, I thought there was 18k users on my form. Actually, it is closer to 20k, so .. Maybe, if I somehow could introduce even 1, 2 or 3 of them to philosophy, I would be so happy, and the website wouldn't be the waste-of-time I think it is)
dsayers Posted May 30, 2014 Posted May 30, 2014 I don't know what to tell you about the website. Taking it down isn't going to free any of the minds of the members, or ever diffuse their ability to virtually gather for the sake of bias confirmation. Who knows? Maybe one day you'll be applying for a job as a community manager and having that site around could serve as credentials for your ability to grow and manage a community. You don't have to drink coffee to own a coffee shop. Were you ever able to identify how you came to be into that stuff? I used to be into ideas like karma and fate. Looking back, I think it had to do with my Christian upbringing. I was primed for my own personal truth as you put it, so once I had rejected Christianity, I think I believed in stuff like fate and karma to fill the void. Did you find the transition to philosophy a relief? I find comfort in the natural world as an impartial arbiter. I find it's a lot less mentally taxing investigating and accepting the real world than it is trying to square the circle of mythology, imagination, and reality.
TheRobin Posted May 30, 2014 Posted May 30, 2014 An idea might be to just have some subforum/page on your website that links to some basic logical and reasoning tutorials. Maybe organize it, so that complete beginners who are interested in growing a brain can easily work through some pages/exercises or whatnot. You didn't say whether you pay some fee to keep the site running though. So I personally probably wouldn't pay just to enable other people's crazy. But if it wouldn't cost me anythign, I might not bother putting the site down either and maybe add some logic pages for the more rationally inclined (or for those who actually seek truth as opposed to "their truth").
Brentb Posted May 31, 2014 Posted May 31, 2014 If you were an active participant in the forums supporting the beliefs in these paranormal things, then you may want to make a prominent post (pinned or starred or however your site gets people attention) letting everyone know that you no longer believe in the paranormal and why that is the case.
nathanm Posted June 2, 2014 Posted June 2, 2014 I agree that if it's costing you a lot of money to keep it running and you no longer believe in the subject matter it shouldn't continue, but I wouldn't just pull the plug on it instantly. You should state your views and then perhaps try to hand the keys over to someone else if the forum is to continue. I'm sure it's not the first time the founder of any given group has abandoned it after changing their mind. BTW, is there such a thing as a "Bigfoot Denier"?
jovian Posted June 5, 2014 Author Posted June 5, 2014 Thank you so much for taking your time to comment on this, guys! I will think of this. I will certainly let you know what I will do.
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