Departure

[Simon E.]

" Power " is not the point. Malcolms departure and the individuals response to it is the point.
Incidentally I never said that I was " leaving" the forum ...melodramatically or otherwise.
The element of " melodrama " was introduced by someone too immature to be holding the role he holds on the forum. I said I had nothing to contribute to its debates.
Now perhaps you could address the issue at hand rather than displacing your feelings.

[Sally Gross]

Dear Friends:

The time has come for me to bid adieu to this particular forum.

You know how to find me via my blog, http://www.atikosha.org.

I will not be checking back in so there is no point in replying this post.

Malcolm

What can I say? I hope that Malcolm revisits his decision and returns to the forum.

[Stewart]

" Power " is not the point. Malcolms departure and the individuals response to it is the point.
Incidentally I never said that I was " leaving" the forum ...melodramatically or otherwise.
The element of " melodrama " was introduced by someone too immature to be holding the role he holds on the forum. I said I had nothing to contribute to its debates.
Now perhaps you could address the issue at hand rather than displacing your feelings.

Simon E Thu 14th June 2012

Good will to all of good will.
Any contact I have in future with this forum will be of a " read only " kind.

Not to mention your 'On needing a shower after logging on' and 'After the Shower' threads, which IMO were melodramatic. If those were your true feelings.... just don't post, simple.

[Indrajala]

The degree of homophobia, folk belief, faux asiatic life style imitation, sheer unpleasantness, rampant egoism disguised as spirituality, sheer credulity, and new age wooliness, the willful and fearful embracing of a pre-Age Of Enlightenment cosmology that dislocates the holder of such views from their present reality, and other elements that characterises much of the forum input made it inevitable.

This forum ain't that bad.

[gregkavarnos]

Dear Malcolm,

We've had our run-ins in the past (and present ) but you know that I have a vast quanitity of respect for your knowledge. I melodramatically announced my departure a while back, but habits are hard to break. It helped me to leave for a while and review the "why's" regarding staying and/or leaving. Some time off from here will definitely be of benefit to you (and some of the individuals here that have set themselves up as your arch-enemies).

Hope to see you here again in the future.

Greg

[ReasonAndRhyme]

The degree of homophobia, folk belief, faux asiatic life style imitation, sheer unpleasantness, rampant egoism disguised as spirituality, sheer credulity, and new age wooliness, the willful and fearful embracing of a pre-Age Of Enlightenment cosmology that dislocates the holder of such views from their present reality, and other elements that characterises much of the forum input made it inevitable.

This forum ain't that bad.

There is definitely something going wrong here. The moderators tolerate much too much aggression, brainwash attacks and other BS. I'm about to "leave" for similar reasons. I will not (yet) leave completely, but withdraw myself and reduce my activity here to an absolute minimum. For me this is an ongoing process that started shortly after I joined. My ignore-list is getting longer and longer, and my motivation to participate in discussions is getting less and less.

When I found this forum, I naively believed, this was E-Sangha 2.0. But it isn't. Which is why I'm not asking Malcolm to come back. This is just simply not the right place for people who are interested in rational and brainwash-free discussions.

[udawa]

I miss that other really knowledgeable bloke who used to post here - you know the one I mean, who was always defending traditional Buddhadharma; what was his name.... Namdrol, that's it!

But yes, it's sad that Malcolm has moved on. No doubt he will reappear at some point. Look forward to it.

[gregkavarnos]

This is just simply not the right place for people who are interested in rational and brainwash-free discussions.

When one person tries to inform another, it may be perceived of as brainwashing. When one person persists in being rational, another may perceive them as being dogged.

Go figure.

[mindyourmind]

Go well, old friend.

I know that you did not derive nearly as much from this forum as we did from your presence.

[Indrajala]

There is definitely something going wrong here. The moderators tolerate much too much aggression, brainwash attacks and other BS.

Dude, we all have lives off this forum. You know ... working full-time? Families? Practice?

We can't police every single post by every member.

We're all adults here and leave it up to members to discuss things. Unless it becomes an issue or someone is clearly being antagonistic and belligerent we're not going to step in whenever people start disagreeing. We're all responsible for what we write.

I'm about to "leave" for similar reasons. I will not (yet) leave completely, but withdraw myself and reduce my activity here to an absolute minimum. For me this is an ongoing process that started shortly after I joined. My ignore-list is getting longer and longer, and my motivation to participate in discussions is getting less and less.

This is a free service. You don't pay anything to use it.

When I found this forum, I naively believed, this was E-Sangha 2.0. But it isn't. Which is why I'm not asking Malcolm to come back. This is just simply not the right place for people who are interested in rational and brainwash-free discussions.

How is it that you get brainwashed on an internet forum with diverse opinions?

[ReasonAndRhyme]

How is it that you get brainwashed on an internet forum with diverse opinions?

I don't. It's just not possible to have a rational discussion around here without getting interrupted all the time.

You know, what I really found interesting the other day was that when you were attacked for asking a perfectly harmless question by somebody who tried to intimidate you that you would go to hell for such "slander" you told the person to stop because otherwise you would treat his behaviour as trolling:

I am just wondering why isn't anyone on here saying anything to Huseng? There must be a single good Dharma Friend that he trust that can notify him of the dangerous state of mind he is in? It's not the first time someone who only focuses on knowledge and philsophy who has turned onto the path of slandering the Dharma.

Perhaps you might point out where I have been purportedly slandering the Dharma. If you do not, this constitutes baseless slander against me and will be understood as trolling.

(viewtopic.php?f=66&t=1653&start=20#p127990)

Which is exactly the right reaction to this type of brainwash attack. What I am asking for is that you moderators also intervene in such cases when somebody other than you is the target.

And this has nothing to do with being understaffed, it's a matter of general policy.

[Indrajala]

You know, what I really found interesting the other day was that when you were attacked for asking a perfectly harmless question by somebody who tried to intimidate you that you would go to hell for such "slander" you told the person to stop because otherwise you would treat his behaviour as trolling:

This is simply a free user-driven internet forum with loose rules and guidelines in place so things don't get overly volatile.

As I said not every post can be policed.

If you're so unhappy nobody is forcing you to stay here.

[ReasonAndRhyme]

If you're so unhappy nobody is forcing you to stay here.

Exactly. People who are interested in brainwash-free and BS-free discussions are wrong in this place. That's what I'm saying. You, however, are obviously right here.

[floating_abu]

E-sangha 2.0 (in the latter stage) would be awful ! Huseng's response in that other thread actually showed maturity, I thought.

[floating_abu]

Dude, we all have lives off this forum. You know ... working full-time? Families? Practice?

We can't police every single post by every member.

We're all adults here and leave it up to members to discuss things. Unless it becomes an issue or someone is clearly being antagonistic and belligerent we're not going to step in whenever people start disagreeing. We're all responsible for what we write.

I have not been here for a long time, but if this is really the ethos of the forum, it sounds much more mature and healthy than many other Buddhist forums who mistake purity to be the right standard.

E-sangha was great! - but before the last takeover - and then it sunk because it was becoming dogmatic and ridiculous and what a waste of such a great meeting place and so many diverse viewpoints, discussions and fantastic members at the time all together! Nothing has ever come close to that again for me at least - nor do I believe that exists again. Thanks for your efforts and services here.

Abu

[Indrajala]

If you're so unhappy nobody is forcing you to stay here.

Exactly. People who are interested in brainwash-free and BS-free discussions are wrong in this place. That's what I'm saying. You, however, are obviously right here.

I'm quite pleased with this forum.

[Tara]

The team are criticized whether they under moderate, over moderate and everything in between. It is not possible to please everyone all the time. No one is forced to come here. If you don't like this forum and the way it is run then rather than derailing threads with complaints get in touch with an administrator or if you don't want to do that then get in touch with the owner.

As this thread is now off-topic it seems a good place to lock it.

Regards,