I love the Atlas Forum. I love her so much that it hurts and makes me angry, frustrated and saddened when I see her in bad shape.
All around the world in Human history we've seen attempts at forums that could better the lives of people. Sadly, most of these attempts failed. But, for almost 11 years now, the Atlas Forum has remained the sole torch that carries the light of freedom around the world. Many other countries now live under monarchies, dictatorships, and even anarchy. But Atlas Forum remains freedom's last best hope. Where would people look to without the Atlas Forum? Dailykos? Democratic Underground? Reddit? It's a scary thought, which is exactly why we need to keep the fundamental principals of the Atlas Forum alive and well for freedom's preservation.
Today, however, I see a bleak picture for the short term Atlas Forum. I see a forum where people fear using the word dumbfock, which our forum was founded on, which appears on our moderator criticism threads, because they are afraid that they may offend a select few people.
Moderators and higher-ups...must stay out of the lives of the Atlas Forum users. Don't tell us what thread to go to, don't take the posts we earn, don't tell us what words we can use. MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS.
The business of Moderators is NOT to control the Atlas Forum users. It's the job of the Atlas Forum users and the spirit of opebo to help Atlas Forum run.
When I hear Atlas Forum members speak about "BRTD making too many polls", I know exactly what they mean. I see a forum where people are terrified to do or say what's fundamentally right for fear of insulting a very small fraction of people. I see a forum where people do everything they can to not receive infraction points, just because they insulted Politico. They are entitled to do that. The unalienable rights they have to act that way are what they are entitled to. Just as BRTD can make disgraceful polls about opebo, regardless of how despicable they are, that is his right. It is the same that Atlas Forum users have the right to drunkpost. It's fact. It's our history. It's what Atlas Forum was founded on.
That's the difference between the ideologies. In the majority of Atlas Forum, if you ask somebody what they are, they don't say "a firemen" or a "teacher"...they say, "An Atlas Forum User".
So comes my fear for the next four years. Inks stays a mod. My fear is that this will show Atlas Forum's divisions. As is the case with virtually every moderator, women and African Americans will overwhelmingly love them, while white users will overwhelmingly hate them. Thus no matter what occurs (and don't rule out another JewCon sock with an avatar from some random state) Atlas Forum will appear more divided than ever before along racial and gender lines.
But in my heart I know Atlas Forum will come back, it's just a question of if and when. I still see a forum I love.
- 20RP12
Disclaimer: I do not intend to offend anyone, rather I am poking fun at some popular forumites and forum memes.
The content of the preceding post has not been reviewed or approved by
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