Comments on A few parting thoughts

Go to Religion in the Modern World - Add a comment - Go to A few parting thoughts

Personally I would encourage you to stay on.

I would hate to see you go.

I enjoy your erudite and insightful tomes.

Like I encourage my son, Kooka, to stay.

Although it is very enjoyable (a hoot) to read the nonsense of those who differ with us, I need to read something sensible, like what you have to offer.  It maintains my sanity.

posted by Xeno-x on August 14, 2009 at 10:45 AM | link to this | reply

Raphael222 - Where are you going to go?

That's an interesting question to which I do not have an answer; other than to say that the desire to post my thoughts concerning religious opinions is no longer the same as it once was.

If a person is not an American evangelical Christian, in this part of the world there are very few forums or formats to express one's religious opinions without bearing the brunt of hostile reactions. Blogit was good for this at one time because it was a closed shop with some controls over the reactive behavior of other members. What has taken place over the last couple of years however, is that in conjunction with this site's declining membership we have also seen a decline in divergent religious opinions being posted here.

What is left over with only a few exceptions; is post after post of American evangelical Christians praising their version of God. This reality has a twofold effect; praising the American evangelical version of the Christian God is something I'm obviously not going to have any interest in participating in. With virtually no other alternatives to participation in this category, this places me on the outside looking in so to speak.

My other interests (web authoring etc.) garner little interest in this forum and are better suited for discussion elsewhere.

posted by gomedome on August 14, 2009 at 7:11 AM | link to this | reply

Where are you going to go?

...to post your thoughts?

Jonathan/Raphael

posted by Raphael222 on August 14, 2009 at 6:01 AM | link to this | reply

on reading this post I spilled the near entirety of my breakfast shake on

my keyboard, thus taking me a half an hour to slop up the mess...

please read in between the lines...

Thanks for being a friend for so long and all of your interesting insights.  I learned a lot from you.  Mainly based in not so commom, common sense...

posted by mysteria on August 13, 2009 at 1:59 PM | link to this | reply

I used to read you and others regularly but I live away from my computer and I am short of time. Its 10.16 pm and I just started reading. Then I have to drive home! Sorry to see you go!

posted by Soul_Builder101 on August 10, 2009 at 7:17 PM | link to this | reply

sorry to hear you're leaving.... I haven't been around much either but

I still try to pop on now and again to read the regulars.  There are fewer of them these days.   I've considered quitting many times... maybe I finally will once my subscription runs out.... who knows.

anyways, I wish you well and will definitely miss catching up on your latest debate... always entertaining!  Take care!  

posted by -blackcat on August 10, 2009 at 1:33 PM | link to this | reply

kooka_lives - Re: Damn, that sucks

I always wondered how you've managed to maintain so much patience with those retards. They are in that dangerous area of human intellect where they are too friggin dumb to figure out just how dumb they really are.  

The differences in our heritage plays a role here I think. In Canadian society there is no place for their obtuse brand of politico-religious bullshit. This would be true in most free societies, with parallels to what they wish to impose on others found only in third world or Islamic countries.

My candid view of how you are able to endure these people is that you are a patient man by nature and you have been inoculated from the disease they spread by growing up in a society that tolerates them.  

The only hope we can have for these types of people is that eventually they will realize the world's resources are finite, the liberals they hate tolerate them to a much greater degree than vice versa and that their imaginary friends are no more valid than any other people's imaginary friends. . . and of course; keep these crazy bible thumping bastards away from the nukes.

posted by gomedome on August 9, 2009 at 12:07 PM | link to this | reply

Re: elinjo - Re: A few parting thoughts.

Thanks for the reply Gomedome. So all there's left to say is good luck to you and your various projects.

posted by elinjo on August 9, 2009 at 12:04 PM | link to this | reply

elinjo - Re: A few parting thoughts.

I can only speculate about the business end of this site as I have no more information than any other member but I do have some knowledge of what it takes to make something like this work.

Currently, I believe that even with what seem like high membership fees, this site is not a big money maker. It may have been at one time but I just cannot see it being so today, I concede very little chance that I am wrong on this.

If we were to err on the side of conservative estimates and say that this place has 200 active members, between the different membership plans we can use a rounded $10 as a common fee. That's only $2K, with this business model splitting that in half, with one part being distributed as earnings and the other part to cover costs. After costs, what could be left to cover the site admin wages? $600-$800 per month would be the answer using my crude example but we do not know how much server capacity is actually being maintained.  

It matters not if I am wrong by even a couple of hundred active members, there is likely no real money in this site for the owners until there are thousands as opposed to hundreds of active members.

posted by gomedome on August 9, 2009 at 11:48 AM | link to this | reply

Re: Gome, best wishes....

ash_pradhan - thank you

posted by gomedome on August 9, 2009 at 11:31 AM | link to this | reply

sam444 - there is some merit in what you are saying

But you are inadvertently defining the blogging experience for everyone by implying that there is an obligation to read those who have read us. Where it may be true that when someone first arrives at one of our blogs and leaves a comment, that a visit to their blog is simply a common courtesy, reading those who capture our interests will eventually take precedence.

Over the years I have had many commenters where I did not read or comment on their blogs, I couldn't read their posts. Whenever I did I was always left with concerns for the future of our species . . . they were so full of fire and brimstone that all I could do with some of them was beat them with a stick until they stopped coming back for more.

posted by gomedome on August 9, 2009 at 11:29 AM | link to this | reply

Re: Gome, you've got a habit with this blogging business.

Pat_B - there is a lot of truth in what you are saying. Blogging every day on a site such as this does become habit forming but there is little in the way of withdrawal symptoms when blogging for the last while has been forced.

I know it is a slow time of year but again the dwindling size of this community demonstrates itself for us by being even slower than past years.

posted by gomedome on August 9, 2009 at 11:17 AM | link to this | reply

Damn, that sucks

You'll be missed that's for sure.
I've been thinking about leaving myself.
Running around in circles with some of these bloggers gets old and I have so much else I've been getting invovled with that I've not been blogging very much at all.

Well thank you for everything over the years. I really do think you've been one of the bloggers who has made a real difference here and made this place worth being active with.

posted by kooka_lives on August 9, 2009 at 11:09 AM | link to this | reply

Re: I'm late to say sorry to see you go...we've had our good times here

Ariala - Thanx for the best wishes - You and I joined within the same month, it's hard to believe that it has been 6 years. Things were much different around here back then, the community was larger and still growing, the format used here was new and unique. Other forms of user content sites were also in their infancy back then but have evolved over those few short years into the social networking phenomena.

I cannot help but feel that a site overhaul examining and updating where necessary; everything from the underlying concept to the user features, is long overdue.   

posted by gomedome on August 9, 2009 at 11:00 AM | link to this | reply

TAPS. - I haven't given removing my blogs much thought

I also don't know if I will ever find the time to finish any of several yarns I had hoped to spin into a book or 2 someday. Right now my interests lie elsewhere.

posted by gomedome on August 9, 2009 at 10:41 AM | link to this | reply

Re: I do find myself agreeing with you that when you think how much money

Kabu - I don't know what more one person can do than 6 years of prolific contribution and periodic efforts at site promotion. Appreciate that the will must be there to continue doing so, which is something that is lacking right now.

As for the money involved, I doubt very much that the numbers are significant these days. We can only speculate from our observations and make crude estimates based on what we know . . . but I would be surprised if this site took in any more than a few thousand dollars per month and produced enough net revenue to be anything more than a part time job for someone.

posted by gomedome on August 9, 2009 at 10:37 AM | link to this | reply

A few parting thoughts.

Blogging and commenting take time and effort. About 85% of the time I try and leave a comment after reading an entry. It is rewarding when a discussion gets going about something or other.

posted by elinjo on August 9, 2009 at 9:34 AM | link to this | reply

Gome, best wishes....

the world is huge, pop in when you can!

posted by ash_pradhan on August 9, 2009 at 9:23 AM | link to this | reply

I think Blogit is slow! One thing I do is attempt to read as many as I can in hopes of a return click but even that has been lax! It is a read and be read blog but it seems to miss that one dramatically of late! If I don't get a return click I normally stop reading a person for I value my time and why waste it on those who won't waste it on me! sam

posted by sam444 on August 9, 2009 at 8:05 AM | link to this | reply

Gome, you've got a habit with this blogging business.

And I'm thinking you probably can't just quit it cold turkey. So when you land in some other venue, will you let us know where you are?  I think Blogit's going through the summer doldrums -- others have mentioned it's slow (or dead) around here lately. The number of readers has winnowed down to damn few, so it's not just your column that's getting neglected.

posted by Pat_B on August 9, 2009 at 5:56 AM | link to this | reply

I'm late to say sorry to see you go...we've had our good times here

together (remember the early days of Blogit and the army or whatever it was? LOL)  I just want to wish you the best in your pursuits and interests...the good thing is, you can always return at a later time, if you choose.  Thanks for the design on several of my blogs.  Dunno why my pic on Life A. To A comes and goes, but maybe it's just my server.  Anyway, will miss the bunnies, too!

posted by Ariala on August 9, 2009 at 5:52 AM | link to this | reply

May I ask, will you be leaving your blogs/posts here for posterity as some do, or will you be deleting them before you go as others do?  Now and then I enjoy looking back at what was written by those who are no longer here.  Also, if you ever finish (or write more of) Walking Down the Psycho Path, I would love to be able to find it wherever it is posted.

posted by TAPS. on August 8, 2009 at 9:56 PM | link to this | reply

I do find myself agreeing with you that when you think how much money

this site is making for those that own it and how little we get, it should be a more exciting place. I love the friendships and having my mind challenged but so many great bloggers are not here anymore. Now why don't you stay on and try changing this place for the better.

Oh and no 5 day wait for a click on this blog. LOL

posted by Kabu on August 8, 2009 at 9:13 PM | link to this | reply