I just checked the membership list and it stands at twenty-five. I think
that might be up a little. If I recall correctly the last time I checked
it was at twenty-three. There do seem to be a bunch of lurkers, that is,
people who have never posted or have not posted for a very long time.
Anyway, I never took note of Mostafa's email address, but I don't think
it is there now. The list does give a count of exactly how many posts a
member has made and I expect that Mostafa would be pretty near the top,
but I do recognize the top posters and the ones I recognize are not
Mostafa. In a way that is too bad and in another way it is good to be
rid of him. I will have to admit that I do enjoy, on some level, giving
him back what he gives. Else where I have seen some messages from other
people who push back against him and some of those posts have made it to
this list because he tries to load up his personal mailing list onto the
recipients of his messages, but most of them are about as irrational as
he is. My own tactic is not to throw tantrums right back at him nor to
throw the tantrums first, but rather, to challenge the logic of his
pronouncements and his failure to recognize reality. He can't handle
that. Finally he is the one who turns tail and runs instead of his
victims. Anyway, it would not surprise me if he returns. As much as I
might hope that I have made him see the failure of his theology I doubt
that I have. I expect that he will continue to beat others over the head
with his religion and it is not entirely improbable that he will be back
to do the same to us again. Maybe that is what he meant by his threat to
make me suffer. If it is he doesn't realize how much I enjoy making him
suffer when he has no refutation for my arguments.
---
Carl Sagan
“ The truth may be puzzling. It may take some work to grapple with. It may be
counterintuitive. It may contradict deeply held prejudices. It may not be
consonant with what we desperately want to be true. But our preferences do not
determine what's true. ”
― Carl Sagan
On 3/8/2019 3:23 PM, Miriam Vieni wrote:
Richard, I'm glad you found solace here. However, some of the folks who left,
told us why. Some didn't. I know about one person who died, but he never
participated on the list. He just lurked, and when the list moved, he didn't
move with it.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of R. E. Driscoll Sr
Sent: Friday, March 08, 2019 2:20 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: email lists
Miriam/Carl/Others:
I joined the list after the death of my wife. I think I sought solace but I
didn’t find it. I did find an interesting Jewish lady, a wildly interesting
forestry creature and a voluble Socialist. I think I have been very fortunate.
The major cause of missing contributors is most likely death.
Richard
Sent from my iPhone
On Mar 8, 2019, at 11:22 AM, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
A lot of list moderators consider that their lists are healthy and
successful when they attract and keep a lot of members. Each year,
Nolan mentions how many subscribers, DB Review has. Each week, Alan
gives statistics about BARD Talk. When I look back, it seems
unfortunate that so many people have left this list in anger: Ted and
Joe, among them. Evan left because the constant arguments in which he
found himself engaging, made him uncomfortable. Lots of other people
left and never said why. It's possible to imagine a time when one
person is left on the list, the one who believes that he has
successfully won all the arguments, but that doesn't mean that the
list is a successful thriving place for discussion. And it doesn't
mean that that one person has won anything or convinced anyone of anything. It
means only that he has satisfied himself with his intelligence and logic.
Of course, there are some people who are incapable of participating in
a constructive manner on these lists and they leave because of their
own demons.
Miriam