The Atheist Blogger

I previously wrote about why I left Atheist Nexus, for reasons that I believed saw the site turning into a more commercial business than a friendly social networking site. I have left the controversial article up, but let me make one thing very clear:

I was wrong.

The article was written as a response / inquiry to the donations listed on the Atheist Nexus website. People have accused me of being impolite by posting “private” donation targets in the public domain. I stand by my actions of posting the amounts, not because I wanted to be impolite, but because the same donation amounts are easily accessible by any member of the public. All you have to do is register (for free) on Atheist Nexus and click the donations link. Is this private? I don’t believe it is. Just because you have to type in a few letters and give your email address doesn’t mean that somehow you have crossed from the public world to a private one, especially when the action requires no payment and little trouble for the end user.

I have also been accused of writing an accusatory article without first consulting Brother Richard on the matter, or anyone at Atheist Nexus. I admit I should have contacted someone official before writing the article, but my previous attempts at contacting anyone at Atheist Nexus have not resulted in any emails other than those explaining that they have received so many emails and are currently going through them all. I could have posted the article in the forums, but how would this have been any different? The forums are public (I can read them when logged out), so what is the difference between posting the article on my website (which I know is read by some Atheist Nexus members) than on the forums. In the end, a subscriber (vjack) linked my article in a thread on Atheist Nexus specifically about the donations.

On the subject of the tone of the article itself, I did not intend it to be accusing in any way as people have claimed it is. In each of my points I conclude with a variety of admissions that I might not have the full story. Some examples include “Of course, I could very well be wrong”, “Of course, I could very well be wrong”, “Again, apologies if I am wrong about this”, “I hope I am wrong about all of this”, etc.

In fact, the only point where I actively accuse Brother Richard of anything is at the start.

So now we see the corporate nature of Brother Richards ideas. Instead of simply relying on volunteers he decides to earn some money for doing what most people would call a “hobby”.

However, this accusation was in direct response to a quote by Brother Richard, found on the donations page.

Of course, it is our hope that the site will continue to grow and provide a comfortable income for our family and the staff that has been working with us, but only time will tell.

Yes it was an accusation, but it was certainly not unfounded, and was not exempt from investigation.

Brother Richard has since responded to each point I raised, and has cast any doubt I had about his integrity and plans for Atheist Nexus aside. Brother Richard is a very understanding and forgiving man, and our numerous email correspondences over the past couple of days have given me a clear understanding for the need of the donations, and especially for the large amounts allotted to salaries. Although I disagree with some of his expediture (internet fees and software), I accept that I was wrong about the others.

Both myself and Brother Richard have agreed to clarify our positions (as I have done here) in order to stem the damage that could be done to Atheist Nexus’ reputation as a result. The last thing I want to do, especially considering the chaotic conception of Nexus, is to damage it even further.

One final note on my apparent tone that I had in previous actions on Atheist Nexus. Brother Richard said that my attitude appeared to be rude and threatening because I said that if I didn’t get to work with the developers of Atheist Nexus, I would create my own social networking site. My attitude had been completely misread. I had intended (for several months before Atheist Nexus even turned up) to make some sort of social networking site for atheists. The plans were not yet in motion, but the general idea was there waiting to leap into action. When Atheist Nexus was released, I was surprised, but thought that this might save me the trouble of making one myself. I contacted Thor saying I would love to help out. However, with the various “scandals” that plagued the site at its conception, including the closed source nature of Atheist Nexus, and the whole thing about Thor being a recent ex-Christian, I had second thoughts about whether Atheist Nexus was something I wanted to invest time into, especially since at the time it wasn’t known if it would be around the next day.

It was then that I decided to at least “test the waters” and suggest possibly creating a platform on more open standards, which we could modify to our needs and be free of any restrictions Ning.com put on. This is now my current plan, and although the site will be very different the Atheist Nexus, it will still have mutual associations, and there is no reason why people won’t be able to have an account at both.

To show that I bear no grudges or think wrong of Atheist Nexus, I registered again yesterday with intent on making a small donation this morning. However, it seems that one of the staff was a bit “trigger happy” and banned me. Brother Richard is working on getting me unbanned, but if that fails I can always make a new account and make my donation that way. I still think Atheist Nexus has great potential, and it is a great way for me to get in contact with fellow atheist bloggers who I would otherwise be incapable of talking to.

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