AF.org down?

[abaris]

By the way for anybody who hasn't figured it out I'm Nomad from AF.org, just gone back to my old tradition of using my name.

I always knew you as Brian. Nomad doesn't ring a bell with me.

[jerry mcmasters]

So is the story here simply that whoever was running AF just hit the kill switch just like that? Without any advance notice? How cold do you have to be to do something like that?

[abaris]

How cold do you have to be to do something like that?

Very. But Tiberius always gave the impression of being removed and withdrawn.

[Dānu]

So is the story here simply that whoever was running AF just hit the kill switch just like that?  Without any advance notice?  How cold do you have to be to do something like that?

Nobody knows. Tiberius hasn't been actively involved in the forum in years. He may not even know that it's down.

[abaris]

He may not even know that it's down.

Some 7 years ago, it took him about a week to notice. I don't know how long it's down now. But if he doesn't respond to mails or calls, something else is amiss.

[Dānu]

I first noticed it about 2:00 on Thursday.

[Mad Hatter]

Such a culture shift is inevitable as long as the forum continued to shrink... when you're talking to the same people over and over, it's kind of what happens. I logged on to AF.org less and less over the last few years because it just became boring.

But it was a relatively late development and not connected to losing members. When I joined, it was a fun and welcoming place. When I left, it was a let's gang up on people place. It also became more and more of a place where a law school degree would have been helpful in keeping up with the ever changing and newly introduced rules. In short, the lightheartedness I liked when I joined got entirely lost.

I enjoy reading other people's perspective on how things changed. From my perspective, the first big culture shift I noticed was a sudden influx of prolific mainline Christians (Roadrunner, Catholic Lady, etc.) And that IMHO helped AF become more vibrant for a while because before that, most of the prominent Christians seemed like fundamentalists (Drich, Huggy) that were easy targets for trolling. Then like the rest of society, political tribalism started to infuse nearly every discussion. 

AF became self-absorbed in discussions about civility, lead by those same mainline Christians, who then left in a mass exodus. Depending on one's point of view, that was either an self-righteous hissy-fit or an example of "get woke, go broke", maybe a little of both. You decide. Either way, AF never truly recovered from the sudden loss of multiple prominent contributors. When I checked back into AF there were far fewer threads and most did not interest me. That was until the last few months when vulcanlogic and polymath had some good threads like "Do Chairs Exist" etc. I also liked reading Belacqua's posts because, like me, he seemed to have a soft spot for classical mysticism. It did seem like things were on the upswing though, at least until the white screen.

I was part of that "mass exodus". We left for the very same reasons other members left, a toxic environment, cliquishness from the mods, and it seemed that Tibs just lost control of the site....and we weren't the only ones who left at that time for those reasons. You remember Mark and Joods, just to name a couple, and Thump left just a very little bit before we did, and more left around that time. The mass exodus didn't just include the Christian members. It seemed to have happened in a couple of waves, and all for the very same reasons.

[TheGentlemanBastard]

Ask her if Tiberius is okay.

You really think, she would be posting about biking or hiking, if her husband wasn't OK?

The truth seems to be, Tiberius just lost the final spark of interest in the forum and pulled the plug. As I said, he wasn't even active some nine years ago.

He was running NFL pick 'em leagues at AF as little as 5 years ago. I'm thinking his interest waxed and waned, waxing a little less and waning a little more until this. If he did simply pull the plug, no matter the reason, without at least offering the site up to others to own/operate, that is way beyond "dick move."

[TheGentlemanBastard]

Such a culture shift is inevitable as long as the forum continued to shrink... when you're talking to the same people over and over, it's kind of what happens. I logged on to AF.org less and less over the last few years because it just became boring.

But it was a relatively late development and not connected to losing members. When I joined, it was a fun and welcoming place. When I left, it was a let's gang up on people place. It also became more and more of a place where a law school degree would have been helpful in keeping up with the ever changing and newly introduced rules. In short, the lightheartedness I liked when I joined got entirely lost.

I enjoy reading other people's perspective on how things changed. From my perspective, the first big culture shift I noticed was a sudden influx of prolific mainline Christians (Roadrunner, Catholic Lady, etc.) And that IMHO helped AF become more vibrant for a while because before that, most of the prominent Christians seemed like fundamentalists (Drich, Huggy) that were easy targets for trolling. Then like the rest of society, political tribalism started to infuse nearly every discussion. 

AF became self-absorbed in discussions about civility, lead by those same mainline Christians, who then left in a mass exodus. Depending on one's point of view, that was either an self-righteous hissy-fit or an example of "get woke, go broke", maybe a little of both. You decide. Either way, AF never truly recovered from the sudden loss of multiple prominent contributors. When I checked back into AF there were far fewer threads and most did not interest me. That was until the last few months when vulcanlogic and polymath had some good threads like "Do Chairs Exist" etc. I also liked reading Belacqua's posts because, like me, he seemed to have a soft spot for classical mysticism. It did seem like things were on the upswing though, at least until the white screen.

AF lost a lot of atheist contributors due to that particular civility kerfuffle as well.

[Spooky]

Appears to be back up.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Appears to be back up.

It opened up for me. It seems to be working but I didn't see any explanation for the hiccup.

[arewethereyet]

I'd suggest if anyone has content they don't want to lose, you may want to grab it now.

[Jackalope]

I have no idea why it's back up, but it is.

All the people who pinged me here or PM about being involved with the replacement, I'll add you to the group later when I have more of a spare moment.

Not sure how necessary it is now.

[arewethereyet]

I have no idea why it's back up, but it is.

All the people who pinged me here or PM about being involved with the replacement, I'll add you to the group later when I have more of a spare moment.

Not sure how necessary it is now.

I have a spreadsheet for those I heard from.  Will be happy to send it to you or to merge with who you have.

[Jackalope]

I have no idea why it's back up, but it is.

All the people who pinged me here or PM about being involved with the replacement, I'll add you to the group later when I have more of a spare moment.

Not sure how necessary it is now.

I have a spreadsheet for those I heard from.  Will be happy to send it to you or to merge with who you have.

Dew eet.

Please, anyone who is interested in being involved, contact @arewethereyet she herding the cats, I am herding the nerds.

What I mean by that is that you have IT experience and want to help, get in touch with me.

Otherwise, get in touch with @arewethereyet

[Phaedrus]

My IT experience is limited to the Stephen King version, unfortunately.

[Tomatoshadow2]

Yeah I was wondering and trying for the longest time to get back on AF, I was like wtf happened haha.

[Mad Hatter]

Appears to be back up.

It opened up for me. It seems to be working but I didn't see any explanation for the hiccup.

Huh ...I just now got a white screen. It's not coming up on my end.

[Minimalist]

I get a white screen on Firefox but it came up on Chrome.

I blame Fuckface!

[Thumpalumpacus]

Appears to be back up.

It opened up for me. It seems to be working but I didn't see any explanation for the hiccup.

Huh ...I just now got a white screen. It's not coming up on my end.

It just now opened up for me. I'm using Chrome and haven't cleared cache in a couple of months.

[Brian Shanahan]

By the way for anybody who hasn't figured it out I'm Nomad from AF.org, just gone back to my old tradition of using my name.

I always knew you as Brian. Nomad doesn't ring a bell with me.

I was Dorfl and Wololoo and one other name I forget.  I think Nomad was adopted after you left.  It's a "The Stars My Destination" reference.

[vulcanlogician]

Hey guys. I just saw that AF.org is back up. Thanks for letting us crash here for a few days when we were homeless. Very much appreciated.

It seems unlikely that you'd ever need the favor in return, but feel free to regroup in our base camp if the need arises.

Gratitude.

[Fireball]

Hey guys. I just saw that AF.org is back up. Thanks for letting us crash here for a few days when we were homeless. Very much appreciated.

It seems unlikely that you'd ever need the favor in return, but feel free to regroup in our base camp if the need arises.

Gratitude.

C'mon, man, don't be a stranger! I visit both because there is a difference in topicality. 

[vulcanlogician]

C'mon, man, don't be a stranger! I visit both because there is a difference in topicality. 

Quite true. I'm not as avid a poster as I used to be. I tend to only get online every few days.

But, yeah. The change of scenery was nice. I'll try to poke my head in a little more often.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Hey guys. I just saw that AF.org is back up. Thanks for letting us crash here for a few days when we were homeless. Very much appreciated.

It seems unlikely that you'd ever need the favor in return, but feel free to regroup in our base camp if the need arises.

Gratitude.

We actually did that when TTA went down, and this is only thanks returned in kind, brotha. Hoping all the same that you and your ilk () stay around.