• Wayfarer
    22.8k
    I think this forum is great except for the times when I get annoyed by it. But overall I think the quality is very good considering that the only entry criteria is a valid email address and promise to abide by the rules. There’s always a certain amount of static but overall it’s outweighed by the quality posters, thanks to all of you.
  • Michael
    15.8k
    In general, some of the spirit has gone out of the forum. I think some of the quality of the discussions has gone down too. I still love the forum.T Clark

    I blame Covid and the lockdowns. It's sucked the energy out of me.
  • Apollodorus
    3.4k
    I haven't been here for very long but as a general impression, I think there is too much philosofizing and arguing and not enough philosophy.

    Discussions should be less politicized and more balanced between the political "right" and "left". People shouldn't be attacked for criticizing Marxist political philosophy, for example. Otherwise, the forum becomes a generally left-wing to far-left enterprise and there is no real dialogue.

    Also, I don't seem to find any info on where this forum is located or who exactly owns or controls it. Does anyone know?
  • TheMadFool
    13.8k


    Has this site gotten worse? — hypericin

    Or...have you gotten better?

    I'm betting on you having improved in which case this site ain't no longer going to be of any benefit to you. You've graduated from this forum sir/madam, Congratulations! It's time to look for greener pastures. Good luck and do drop by when you feel like it and share your new-found knowledge/wisdom with your poor cousins (us). :smile:

    life kept me away until fall 2019.180 Proof

    Our loss, not yours!
  • Jack Cummins
    5.3k

    I have looked at the shoutbox several times while it was in the lounge and couldn't make much sense of it all. I read how some people seem to view it as central to the forum. I am a bit confused because it just seems to be a disjointed jumble, so what is the shoutbox meant to be, or is it just for people to say anything about anything?
  • Michael
    15.8k
    I have looked at the shoutbox several times while it was in the lounge and couldn't make much sense of it all. I read how some people seem to view it as central to the forum. I am a bit confused because it just seems to be a disjointed jumble, so what is the shoutbox meant to be, or is it just for people to say anything about anything?Jack Cummins

    Just a place for casual talk.
  • TheMadFool
    13.8k
    But overall I think the quality is very good considering that the only entry criteria is a valid email address and promise to abide by the rules.Wayfarer

    This definitely might be a factor if posts are of poor quality but then there's this paradox: if one must make quality posts, one must be an experienced poster; if one must be an experienced poster, one must, at one time, be a beginner; if one is a beginner, one usually makes bad posts; conclusion: if one must make quality posts, one (at some point) makes bad posts! :joke:
  • khaled
    3.5k
    I think an important question is what the poll would look like had it been phrased “Has this site gotten better?” Confirmation bias and all that.
  • Book273
    768
    I haven't been around long, just found the site recently, but I would suggest, that even though it has been a short period, the quality of the responses has gone downhill, mostly from a surprising increase in name calling and profanity. The name calling is surprising and detracts from the discussion. Maybe that's not new though, I haven't been around on the site that long.
  • Banno
    25.3k
    Yep, I'll agree with that. The quality of posts has gone down hill since you joined.
  • Book273
    768
    Opinions vary, but I don't name call.
  • Jack Cummins
    5.3k
    I wonder if rather than looking back with almost a sense of nostalgia to previous times on the forum, it is worth thinking how we can all work to make the forum a better place for exchange of ideas.
  • Harry Hindu
    5.1k
    Any philosophy forum that doesn't incorporate logic is a failed philosophy forum. When you can't differentiate the content of your site with what we see on FB and Twitter, what's the point?
  • Book273
    768
    This is as social media-ish as I get. I have no frame of reference for the other sites you mentioned.
  • Harry Hindu
    5.1k
    Count yourself as one of the lucky ones.
  • Book273
    768
    Thanks. It was a conscious decision years ago, I have just stuck with it.
  • Baden
    16.4k


    I don't know, but we do get these types of threads every few years. On the old forum too. So, it could be a "remember the good old day's" phenomenon. Then again, if you look at discourse in general, e.g. compare a 1970's U.S. celebrity interview with one today, there can be a clear decline in some quarters over time.
  • Baden
    16.4k


    You may, quite possibly, have been right about this all along.
  • Daemon
    591
    We are only responsible for our own individual contributions. Be the change you want to see.
  • Benkei
    7.8k
    Hey, I got some shit for free! This free shit really sucks!

    I love the place except for ungrateful cunts.
  • T Clark
    14k
    've put the Shoutbox back on the main page, in a new category (currently closed to new discussions) called "Symposium", and pinned at the top.jamalrob

    This is great. Thank you.
  • TheMadFool
    13.8k
    Any philosophy forum that doesn't incorporate logic is a failed philosophy forum. When you can't differentiate the content of your site with what we see on FB and Twitter, what's the point?Harry Hindu

    Not to contradict you but take a look at :point: Irrationalism (Britannica)

    [Irrationalism is the position] that reason is inherently defective and incapable of knowing the universe without distortion... — Britannica

    and also :point: Criticism of Rationalism (Wikipedia)

    ... Arthur Schopenhauer, describes the world as not organized in a rational way — Wikipedia
  • Harry Hindu
    5.1k
    My focus was on the over-abundance of religious and political discussions on this forum - both of which are rife with irrationality and emotional outbursts, not unlike what you see all over FB and Twitter.

    Try defending Irrationalism without using rationality.

    What is even more ironic are those that use rationality in religious discussions abandon it in political discussionsand vice versa.
  • T Clark
    14k
    I blame Covid and the lockdowns. It's sucked the energy out of me.Michael

    I hadn't thought of that. That may be true.
  • TheMadFool
    13.8k
    My focus was on the over-abundance of religious and political discussions on this forum - both of which are ripe with irrationality and emotional outbursts, not unlike what you see all over FB and Twitter.

    Try defending Irrationalism without using rationality.
    Harry Hindu

    Well, that's the catch isn't it? Rationalism recommends irrationalism, if not everywhere, at least in some areas where millennia of rational inquiry has nothing to show for it. Just saying.

    You're right about needing to avoid a Facebookization of the forum. I second that but with a certain amount of guilt I must say; after all I could be one of the people involved in this most undesirable transformation.
  • Harry Hindu
    5.1k
    Well, that's the catch isn't it? Rationalism recommends irrationalism, if not everywhere, at least in some areas where millennia of rational inquiry has nothing to show for it. Just saying.TheMadFool
    What areas are you talking about, specifically? Why would rationalism/irrationalism work in some areas and not others? What makes these areas different in why one works and the other doesn't?
  • Shawn
    13.3k
    I try and make it more interesting with #GuestSpeakers and #ReadingGroups. Those are my two main contributions.

    I plan to start a new reading group discussion group.
  • TheMadFool
    13.8k
    What areas are you talking about, specifically? Why would rationalism/irrationalism work in some areas and not others? What makes these areas different in why one works and the other doesn't?Harry Hindu

    Did you read the links I gave? I'm not completely sure about this but to be fair to irrationalism, rationalism hasn't much to show for its roughly 2 millennia old reign. In some circles, that would be considered a monumental failure, no?

    Look at these threads in this forum itself,

    Does philosophy make progress? If so how?

    Is there something like the [sic] progress in philosophical debate?

    Can the philosophical mysteries be solved at all?

    Just the tip of the iceberg of threads on philosophical "progress."

    I guess some philosophers simply gave up on rationality in utter frustration and wanted to try something new à la alternative medicine which has a similar reason for its popularity which is failure of allopathic treatment regimes and that "something new" is irrationalism.
  • T Clark
    14k
    I love the place except for ungrateful cunts.Benkei

    What about us grateful cunts?
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