No, this isn't a post about online dating. I am referring to the sort of "finding each other" that happens when an atheist living in an oppressively religious environment discovers that there are others who understand what he or she is going through. This is happening now all over Atheist Nexus, a relatively new social networking site similar to Facebook in many ways. If you are an atheist, especially if you happen to reside in the American bible belt, you owe it to yourself to check out Atheist Nexus. You just might discover that there are more like-minded people around than you previously realized.
When I first registered on Atheist Nexus, there were fewer than 100 members. Now there are over 2,000, and new members are joining daily. Thanks to posts by many high-profile bloggers, atheists from all over the world are discovering Atheist Nexus and joining to participate in the forums, groups, chat, and all sorts of social interaction.
Some initial concerns over the possibility that the site could be a tool for Christians to collect information on atheists have been addressed to my satisfaction. The original administrator was replaced, and I have no hesitation in recommending the site.
The neatest thing about my experience so far on Atheist Nexus has been meeting atheists from all over the Southern U.S., including some right here in Mississippi. There are more atheists around than I had realized. They know what it is like to live around here. They have dealt - and continue to deal - with many of the same challenges I experience. Consider yourself invited.
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I was chatting with Brother Richard the other day and he seems to think the site will remain relatively small. I think he's in for a surprise which means we'll need to help him fundraise if we want to keep the site up. I wrote an endorsement for the site on his request but surely there are other things we can do. At least I can post a blog in support of the site.
Yes, I expect the best thing we can do right now is continue to publicize the site and help it grow. If the users end up finding it useful, I wouldn't be surprised if Richard could raise some money through PayPal donations or some other system. For those who have been using it, I would bet that most would be willing to kick in a couple bucks.
Of course, that also means that those of us who are on the site need to do what we can to offer worthwhile content. The biggest question most new members are going to have is, "Okay, I'm here. Now what do I do?"
Well, my experience with the assorted versions of Atheist Nexus has been vastly different.
First, it was a stated non-profit social site for atheists set up on the free Ning platform by an intentionally anonymous person only known as Thor and two mysterious assistant atheists with all sorts of ambiguous claims regarding the intent and potential for the site.
After some discussion about the lack of transparency and addressing many of the claims made in the original "About Us" column, it was finally disclosed that Thor was a very recent deconvert from Christianity named Kym Membe, who suddenly didn’t want the attention fostered upon one who initiated a social website for atheists on the World Wide Web.
In the ensuing threads (now all gone) there were the standard emotional pleas, shooting of the messenger, attacking and demeaning the inquiry and then ultimately the claim of victim hood resulting in the martyrdom of Kym as he gave up full control of Atheist Nexus to “Brother Richard”.
Vjack has linked to his own participation in the inquiry which did address many of the issues that were diligently and reasonably raised given the situation. In the interim, I personally contacted the IRS to check on the non-profit status and found that claim to be false.
In the end, I lauded the effort undertaken by vjack, pzmyers and others enlisted to give their assessments of the situation. I’ve personally exchanged emails with Brother Richard on several occasions offering him advice and, quite frankly, exchanging open and honest criticism of how the entire incident was being handled.
Since that time, and it has only been a week or so, there has been an evolution of Atheist Nexus under this new command with some additional vague claims of potential and of very exciting things to come for atheists.
These sales pitches, both under Kym and now Richard are very grandiose and well founded in hyperbole.
The only difference between the two approaches that I can see is the explicit final admission that this originally free non-profit social site for atheists, the unique one of a kind organization to help the cause of open minded atheists everywhere, etc., etc. is actually to supplement the retirement income of Richard, an entrepreneur and, that’s right – two other anonymous partners.
There is now a banner link for donations which Richard is unapologetic about promoting and flatly stating as the new business model for his atheist brand.
Furthermore, we have learned that the forum is not a democracy and that it is supported on the Ning platform which has no archiving feature so that once a member is banned,or by their own hand takes steps through Ning to remove themselves as members, every thread they started and every sub-comment posted…is deleted permanently.
All discussion and exchanges and expression of friendship, concepts and ideas are dumped into the memory hole.
Knowing this, I did not take any steps to remove my registration at Atheist Nexus and was actively banned from the site by the operator who knew the results of such an action.
This potential exists for every single member and every single thread carefully crafted and fueled by their time and effort.
In my view, that is an abhorrent standard to promote anywhere.
So, in conclusion, let the buyer beware and please consider all of your options.
There are plenty of options for atheists on the internet both free, non-profit, donation based and fee based. There are no pastors, priests or deacons of atheism and we all make our own music wherever we go.
Y’all take care, keep your reason and rational approach to life and I’ll see you here or at IIDB.org, TalkRational.org…or, well, anywhere one can go to offer one perspective in the open marketplace of ideas.
Steve
Thanks for your input, Steve. I think it is far better for everyone to have all the information than to gloss over the controversy. We will each need to decide for ourselves whether Atheist Nexus is something we want to stick with.
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