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talk.origins server down again

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Peter Nyikos

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May 21, 2020, 5:23:09 PM5/21/20
to
No posts have come in on talk.origins since 1:30 today [EDT, according to which
it is 5:15 as I type this].

These downtimes are of unpredictable length, but some can drag on for a week.
So we may need to turn sci.bio.paleonotology into a sort of "talk.origins-in-exile"
for the interim.

This includes being hospitable enough to go along with topics involving
creationism, despite what the s.b.p charter might say. This has been the
case with these t.o. downtimes in the past, and now we even have the
unprecedented lockdown measures against the coronavirus to reassure ourselves
that we aren't doing anything really out of line.


Peter Nyikos

erik simpson

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May 21, 2020, 6:31:44 PM5/21/20
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The world can probably limp along without TO almost indefinitly.

dale

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May 21, 2020, 9:33:33 PM5/21/20
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thought I was banned ...

--
Minister Dale Kelly, Ph.D.
https://www.dalekelly.org/
Board Certified Holistic Health Practitioner
Board Certified Alternative Medical Practitioner

Peter Nyikos

unread,
May 21, 2020, 10:00:58 PM5/21/20
to
Well, you can't be banned here: DIG (David Iain Greig, the power behind the
robo-moderator) not only has no authority here, he has never posted here to my recollection [1].

However, I request that you respect the hospitality of sci.bio.paleontology
by posting responsible comments that do credit to your status as an
ordained minister.

[1] This is despite the way I have urged him for years to post daily updates here in
s.b.p. whenever the t.o. server is down, to let us know what the prognosis is
on how soon things will be back to normal and/or what the problem is
and/or what is being done about it.

DIG has never even acknowledged these suggestions, even though I've done
direct replies to any announcement he makes to t.o. soon after any downtime is over,
making this suggestion. I've also emailed him at two different email addresses
he has used to post to t.o. All to no avail.


Peter Nyikos

Peter Nyikos

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May 21, 2020, 10:36:14 PM5/21/20
to
That's one big difference between you and me. For all its shortcomings,
TO is the only forum I know of where there are so many people of intelligence,
with expertise in many areas, who are free, willing, and able to discuss things
on just about any subject under the sun with others, without being ostracized
for having opinions that are very much at variance with that of the majority.

I know very well that some of us have to put up with a tremendous amount
of unfair, unjustified verbal abuse and even libel without hope of anyone
else standing up for us. But as long as we can fearlessly set the record
straight, without our corrections being censored, it is worth the trouble,
because even the worst of our abusers can sometimes provide us with new
understanding of subjects in which we are keenly interested.

Of course, the most relevant ("on topic") of these are: biology, cosmology,
planetary science, and geology. But it's quite gratifying to see that
much valuable information on such sundry matters as religion, history, climatology,
and even literature can sometimes be exchanged in t.o.

Perhaps most important of all, every regular participant who isn't a full time troll
can benefit from exposure to opposing viewpoints, so that at least they aren't in
total ignorance of what people very different from themselves are like.

And so, I think TO is still a most valuable and unique asset which is
well worth preserving even if it takes great sacrifices to make it work.


I do fear, though, that all too many regular participants are like you:
thinking that if TO were to go the way of so many other Usenet newsgroups,
gone altogether or becoming complete wastelands, it would be no big deal.


Peter Nyikos
Professor, Dept. of Mathematics -- standard disclaimer--
University of South Carolina
http://people.math.sc.edu/nyikos

dale

unread,
May 21, 2020, 10:36:37 PM5/21/20
to
I will do my best on things within the discipline I have, expect other
posts to be in the form of questions

reminders will be appreciated

don't expect floods


> [1] This is despite the way I have urged him for years to post daily updates here in
> s.b.p. whenever the t.o. server is down, to let us know what the prognosis is
> on how soon things will be back to normal and/or what the problem is
> and/or what is being done about it.
>
> DIG has never even acknowledged these suggestions, even though I've done
> direct replies to any announcement he makes to t.o. soon after any downtime is over,
> making this suggestion. I've also emailed him at two different email addresses
> he has used to post to t.o. All to no avail.
>





jillery

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May 22, 2020, 3:55:02 AM5/22/20
to
Is it just my imagination, or are these T.O. shutdowns correlated with
modifications to Beagle?

Peter Nyikos

unread,
May 22, 2020, 8:02:23 AM5/22/20
to
On Friday, May 22, 2020 at 3:55:02 AM UTC-4, jillery wrote:
> Is it just my imagination, or are these T.O. shutdowns correlated with
> modifications to Beagle?

Some are, and it looks like this one was, because Beagle is already back up.

However, it would have been nice for DIG to give us advance warning, if that is
indeed the case.

On the other hand, you probably do remember a downtime last year that lasted
for almost a full week. IIRC DIG admitted that a mistake of his had screwed
things up, but it sure took a long time to fix that, and I don't think it was
his intent to give Beagle any modification at that point.


Peter Nyikos

jillery

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May 22, 2020, 12:51:03 PM5/22/20
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On Fri, 22 May 2020 05:02:22 -0700 (PDT), Peter Nyikos
<nyik...@gmail.com> wrote:

>On Friday, May 22, 2020 at 3:55:02 AM UTC-4, jillery wrote:
>> Is it just my imagination, or are these T.O. shutdowns correlated with
>> modifications to Beagle?
>
>Some are, and it looks like this one was, because Beagle is already back up.

<https://towardsdatascience.com/correlation-is-not-causation-ae05d03c1f53>


Peter Nyikos

unread,
May 22, 2020, 3:26:25 PM5/22/20
to
So what?

Why are you bringing causation into this picture?

Peter Nyikos

jillery

unread,
May 22, 2020, 4:20:53 PM5/22/20
to
On Fri, 22 May 2020 12:26:24 -0700 (PDT), Peter Nyikos
<nyik...@gmail.com> wrote:

>On Friday, May 22, 2020 at 12:51:03 PM UTC-4, jillery wrote:
>> On Fri, 22 May 2020 05:02:22 -0700 (PDT), Peter Nyikos
>> <nyik...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> >On Friday, May 22, 2020 at 3:55:02 AM UTC-4, jillery wrote:
>> >> Is it just my imagination, or are these T.O. shutdowns correlated with
>> >> modifications to Beagle?
>> >
>> >Some are, and it looks like this one was, because Beagle is already back up.
>>
>> <https://towardsdatascience.com/correlation-is-not-causation-ae05d03c1f53>
>
>So what?
>
>Why are you bringing causation into this picture?
>
>Peter Nyikos


Since you asked, your "because" brought causation into this picture.
You're welcome.

Oxyaena

unread,
May 23, 2020, 1:29:06 PM5/23/20
to
On 5/21/2020 9:33 PM, dale wrote:
> On 5/21/2020 5:23 PM, Peter Nyikos wrote:
>> No posts have come in on talk.origins since 1:30 today [EDT, according
>> to which
>> it is 5:15 as I type this].
>>
>> These downtimes are of unpredictable length, but some can drag on for
>> a week.
>> So we may need to turn sci.bio.paleonotology into a sort of
>> "talk.origins-in-exile"
>> for the interim.
>>
>> This includes being hospitable enough to go along with topics involving
>> creationism, despite what the s.b.p charter might say. This has been the
>> case with these t.o. downtimes in the past, and now we even have the
>> unprecedented lockdown measures against the coronavirus to reassure
>> ourselves
>> that we aren't doing anything really out of line.
>>
>>
>> Peter Nyikos
>>
>
>
> thought I was banned ...
>

Please fuck off.
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