O well, they come they go, they do a little shopping. Just unfortunately their not always as good looking and humored as Bish.

Good. It would be a shame to lose members. Maybe you've calmed down since the initial post.........

I was contacted by a wobbly mod, asking for an explanation as to my quietness of late, hence I made a post.

On that note, anyone know what's happened to Pengs?

I did PM him a little while back but it wasn't even read...

I turned off PM notifications before I left (8-p) Anyone got any other contact details? Does he have an e-mail address on his profile? Or a known mobile number?

Well, that still gives you the option to PM them back and explain, without going public if you choose, without even being able to read a response. On the few occasions I've left a forum, it's been very quiet with no need to draw attention to myself, a PM to the owner to delete my account no big thing. IME (and this is not aimed specifically) people who have made huge dramatic posts about leaving, tend not to, they just need the attention and the validation from other forumites. The fact that they make big dramatic leaving posts, indicates that they are definitely coming back, if only to read the responses.

Well, I'm probably one of the people you don't like, so I thought I'd share given this thread is still bubbling away. The following post is entirely my opinion and should not be seen as representing anyone other than me.

I don't care about your race, religion, sexual orientation or anything else. Don't get me wrong, it's not completely irrelevant. Rather, it's simply interesting. There are of course, matters of cultural and linguistic relativism and the need for understanding, but fundamentally, I enjoy talking with and listening to, other people. I joined the old place nearly five years ago. I've had all kinds of discourse over there, from random nonsense conversations of no consequence, to raging passionate debates on some Texan's decision about how to educate their kids in a religious context. Sometimes I've loved it, sometimes I've found it incredibly frustrating. However, it has almost always engaged me. The people there were of mixed ages, opinions and backgrounds and some very worthwhile, intelligent and entertaining conversations were had. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my time.

Since we moved here, things appear to have changed a little. A lot of the same people are here, but not everyone, and there are some newer people. Also, some of the old regulars seem to post a little less. This has created a new dynamic, which I mentioned to another forumite you probably don't like, a couple of weeks ago. I couldn't put my finger on what had changed then, but perhaps now it seems clearer. He noted my tendency to attempt to engage, and listen to, people (especially when it comes to discussions on faith) and not to vehemently shout them down without reasoned and considered argument. He also had noticed the new atmosphere and we both agreed that we still enjoyed it here despite the changes.

Over the past couple of months, you have reminded me of the way that Qui-Gon Jinn talks about a young Obiwan Kenobi, "He is headstrong and has much to learn of the living force. But he is capable." Recently however, in my view, you have let anger cloud your judgement. I tried to be understanding in your thread and offered advice, but you continued to be incapable of restraint both here and in the real world. Is that my problem? No. I just couldn't sit there and let you be angry, arrogant and impolite to some people simply because they expressed an opinion.

We've had a lot of people here who say they are going to leave and then after a multi-page thread ensues, they don't. I'm bored of it and I'm not the only one. Personally, I think IF you're leaving because you hate people here or whatever, that's incredibly childish. If you decide to stay, be prepared to have arguments some times and be prepared to explain yourself sometimes. If not then as you so eloquently put it

If anyone here (including you Bish) has a problem with, or a comment about what I've just said, I would welcome further discussion, a separate thread, a PM, or a combination. I love discussion and I really genuinely believe that if people talked more and tried to understand there would be less issues in the world. If not, then once again, I've probably wasted my time. Oh well

I dunno either, he was on MSN one night, and the night after he just seemed to dissapear off the face of the earth.

Although he was really busy because his ex's house (where his children live most of the time) had been burned down by a dodgy tumble dryer. :/

Anyway bish: Kthxbai.

And there was I in London on Saturday, walking through Trafalgar Square past a lot of Iranian protesting about the treatment of women back home. Now, we do have to exercise a separation of state from religion, but in the case of some of the more contentious Islamic countries, this is harder to do as they are essentially theocracies, and the word of the religion informs, educates and steers both domestic and foreign policies. At times, I am sure this gets distorted in such a way as to create the current raft of legislation in Afghanistan. That‘s for another thread, I suspect.

If you feel that what is reported on the TV, papers, websites, etc. are wrong, then please let us know your experiences. I am convinces that there are distorted images of Islamic life here - we hear a lot about the veil, the treatment of women, the crack downs on protesting, and so forth. Your experiences can surely serve to help prove these wrong. However, I am also convinced that we also get a lot of bad reports that are true. The trick is to be able to spot the difference - a tricky game at the best of times.

I have found people are a lot more tolerant here, there seems to be fewer debates, and those that there are don't seem to last long like the OS flame wars of old...
One other thing I've found is that the community seems to have migrated from being the computer enthusiasts and those who need computing help that brought us together to a community who would rather talk about polotics, religion, photography and multimedia. It may just be me of course...

We talk about mints with holes in them

We talk about mints with holes in them [/quote]

And how they relate to others in a social context. Someone once dared to suggest that some mints do not have holes in them.

I think this is a shame, but that's probably just me. I think perhaps in an effort to be "nice" or whatever, this place seems to shy away from arguments, where the old place was perhaps a little too far the other way.

I think there's less of a "them and us" attitude here. In the old place before the split, arguments could easily kick off in a kind of territorial fashion.

I guess most of us have been through that, and don't particularly care any more. This place has settled down to a general forum, with a bit less emphasis on the IT side of life, which I find refreshing I have to say.

An excellent post Paul, and I agree entirely.

Bish, if you don't like what people like, and think they have a distorted view then engage them and discuss it. Simply stropping about it isn't constructive.

You don't like what a couple of people have said, so you've gone "omg youre all ignorant and have a warped view. i hate it and i hate you all. im off". Helpful? No. Does it make you feel better? I doubt it tbh, but perhaps it does.