Simon:
I'm also resurrecting things too. Like Jebus but with less water-walking and water-winery happening.
What!!?? No wine!! Appalling.. just appalling.
Forum cleanup and archive
by Simon 80 Replies latest forum announcements
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Terry
So, for all practical purposes, there will be no such thing as a Minimus archive!
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slimboyfat
jgnat things can be read on different levels. And many of the best readings of anything are against the grain, and contrary to authorial intention, including really poor novels. They are the stuff of history.
Well I really don't like the idea of forum cleanup at all, because fundamentally I don't think any discussion should be classed as worthless and erased. But I've had my say and it's not my forum.
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jgnat
I mean, her handsome alien abductor had his way with her - graphically - at least a dozen times before they arrived at the home planet. It was so predictable even the sex was boring!
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Simon
I don't think any discussion should be classed as worthless and erased.
Really, there are plenty that can be removed that will not be any loss to the world or future civilizations looking back at us. Some examples of the type of things:
- Help, my post is blank
- Sorry, duplicate, please delete
- I sent you a PM
- So and So is a Troll
- Spammer alert
- How to use XYZ feature (from 2 forum versions ago)
- Post random words
- Here's an awesome link (but it's to geocities)
- Here's a funny picture (but it's no longer hosted)
- OMG, it's snowing
- What did you watch on TV last night (from 8 years ago)
- Please people, stop swearing (mostly my posts)
- etc...
Saying we need to keep everything is like saying every gas bill and receipt should be kept in case it is needed in future. Sure, there is a chance that it might be ... but oh boy, you'll be living in clutter just in case you do!
We're not going to be losing anything of value, it's not like we're going to half the topics or anything like that (even close to that - probably about 0.2% of posts if my math is correct).
By doing this the site will run faster, be a little easier to manage and also enable some features to work better (search / clustering and related topics). Nothing of significance will be lost and we'll be keeping lots more besides (yes, I like all the 'welcome / hugs / thank you friends / hello / goodbye' topics and most everything in between). Not sure we need a record in perpetuity of every little argument that's ever been though.
As I said, it's actually made me quite sentimental going through things and seeing people's first posts, all the friendships develop and some people moving on, some sadly leaving us in more tragic ways and people coming together to help those in need or to offer advice or comfort.
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Simon
So, for all practical purposes, there will be no such thing as a Minimus archive!
Ha, I think people would notice if I culled all the Minimus topics.
Well, at least Minimus would and then he'd ask everyone else if they noticed and how we felt about it.
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slimboyfat
jgnat, yeah but historically, if it is part of a pattern, it may be an interesting question to ask, why were people writing about abduction sex with aliens in the early twenty first century? How do we place it in cultural and historical context? How could studies like these be performed in the future if the relevant data were destroyed:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1540-5931.00008/abstract
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slimboyfat
Simon, using the Lars example, even if every thread he ever posted was totally worthless on face value, and even reading it against the grain (as in looking into the mind of a renegade Watchtower chronology fantasist) was a waste of time (neither of which strictly speaking I would like to concede) even in that case, what about the careful (and not so careful for that matter) responses that have been written over the years? Even how those responses changed and developed over the years might be interesting to observe. Maybe at one time people were more willing to engage such claims on a biblical or religious level, whereas nowadays, as fewer forum members are religious in any sense, secular critiques are more often deployed. All interesting phenomena in their own right if you ask me.
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Simon
Everything is backed up. I could make it available in future but I'm not having nutters flooding the main board with their endless drivel any more. They simply have no off switch and there is a definte 'broken windows' syndrome where the more you allow, the more appears.
Should we also be keeping trolls and spam for the witty replies or scathing insults?
Ultimately, you only get one chance to make a first impression - it would be better if people finding the site didn't think "wow, what a bunch of krazies !!!"
So yes, all the crazy theories and conspiracies and what not - keep as many as you want. I'm just not hosting them for free any more.
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AnnOMaly
I'm glad everything's backed up, Simon. While I fully understand the need for a clear out, I do take slim's point. Here's my opinion FWIW, and a suggestion.
Taking Lars again - his nutty threads are a significant part of the history and character of this board. Twelve years he's been posting here off and on! It's not right that all his threads should just vanish like that.
So here's the suggestion. Keep a sampling of them for posterity. He says the same thing over and over again so most of the threads won't be missed, but a few key ones could stay - ones where other posters properly engaged with him (rather than the ones that only have silly gifs and retorts ), ones with his mind-numbingly detailed chronology-conspiracy rants, ones where he gives his dumpster story and how he was on the run from the CIA or Illuminati or whoever, and where he posts his sleeping black child pics, links to his Diana Ross impersonation videos and ones where he declares he's the messiah. All that are needed are two or three from 12 years ago or when he posted as JCanon; two or three from a few years later as Larsinger58 and another two or three recent ones.
In his case, it's a service to the internet. You know, whenever anybody googles "VAT 4956" Lars's nonsense erupts all over like rash. Yet this is the only place, I think, where he kicks off his shoes and gives a fuller picture of what he's really about. That can only be helpful to those seeking information and quickly wanting to sift through any wacky stuff.
