I am I, Eric Pepke, the man of Kissimmee

[epepke]

I was recommended this forum by a gentleman named CJ from rationalskepticism.org.

Here is my backstory, which may safely be ignored by many but which may be of interest to some.

I've been involved in online atheist fora for quite a long time, going back to the PLATO system in the middle 1970s.  On the USENET group alt.atheism I met Clark Adams and moved over to alt.atheism.moderated, which he moderated rather heroically for several years.  Clark introduced me to a great group of people with an annual convention at Lake Hypatia, Talladega, Alabama, in the heart of religious country.  It attracted people from all over the world.  Ed Buckner, who later became president of American Atheists for a while, was a regular.  A truly loving community.

Eventually, the spam became intolerable, and so he abandoned it and became one of the founders of the Internet Infidels, which had a discussion board.  This continued for a few years.  Then Clark killed himself.  I changed my topic that year at the Lake Hypatia gathering from Nietzsche to happiness.  As this is always on July 4, I took a line from the Declaration of Independence declaring as inalienable rights life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, stating the many ways in which Americans had waived that last right.

IIDB basically unpersoned him, which caused tensions.  Eventually, the banning of Janice Rael was the straw led to a series of events that caused the forum to go supernova, leading to a large diaspora.  I've explored most of the resulting fora, and now I think that they have all dissolved into irrelevance or backbiting.  I also joined the Richard Dawkins forum, which also cracked and then self-destructed, leading to a (smaller) diaspora of its own.  I am noticing cracks in one forum, rationalskepticism.org, and as a result of speaking about those, CJ recommended this forum to me.

I have also been going to in-person atheist groups, and as I have moved around a lot in the past few years, I have had a reasonable sampling.  While I have always found people willing to engage in intellectual discussions, I have not found anything as warm as Lake Hypatia.  There is an element of coldness, almost sociopathy, that I find troublesome.  So I have become interested in supportive atheist communities.  This is one thing that I think religious groups do well.  When I bring up the issue, some atheists agree, but many think that it would be unnecessary or even bad, stating that there are plenty of other opportunities, such as friends and family or interest clubs.  This is all fine and good, when it works.  But what if you don't have a supportive family?  What if your family is religious and spend most of their time with you trying to convince you return to the fold?  What if you have just undergone a divorce, as Clark did?  Pretty much anybody can walk into a church and get emotional and even financial support, only with belief in a deity as a viral payload.  Church groups at universities manage to get fairly massive conversion, sometimes to highly pathological and destructive forms of religion, by offering some friendliness to highly stressed people who are, for the first time in their lives, bereft of a close family.

I have seen some other straws in the wind.  It seems to me that every time the concept of suicide is brought up, there are a great number of paeans to its nobility and rationality, and few who will declare suicide as generally bad or even rather stupid, as I do.

In any event, I hope here to find people who not only value happiness but who have some good ideas on how to do it.

Experimenting with editing.

[notself]

Welcome to this gentle forum where respect is valued and happiness is a priority.

[philosoraptor]

Welcome Eric.  I hope you find what you are looking for here.

[epepke]

Thanks for the welcomes, and how did I manage to get a Jesus ad on the end of my post?

[i_am_i]

Thanks for the welcomes, and how did I manage to get a Jesus ad on the end of my post?

Oh, didn't you read the fine print? Jesus is one of this forum's sponsors. It's the only way we could get Christians to join.

[Will]

Thanks for the welcomes, and how did I manage to get a Jesus ad on the end of my post?

ads ensure the forum remains free to operate. The unfortunate side effect is, on occasion, we'll get some less than appropriate ads.

Welcome to the forum. I don't think HAF will be collapsing any time soon.

[pinkocommie]

Welcome!

[The Magic Pudding]

Hello epepke
I think you will be happy here.
The people are polite and supportive.
We're even nice to trolls, unless they belittle i_am_i's manhood.

[Recusant]

Hello, and welcome to HAF, epepke.  Quite an impressive backstory you have there. Thank you for the wee glimpse of atheist internet history!  I lurked for a couple of months at FRDB a few years ago, and found the many interminable "...No it isn't" "Yes it is" "NO it isn't!" "Yes it IS! And you still haven't shown me why it isn't!" threads just a bit tedious. I took them as a lesson in what to try to avoid, and moved on.  I hope you enjoy reading and posting here.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Hello epepke
I think you will be happy here.
The people are polite and supportive.
We're even nice to trolls, unless they belittle i_am_i's manhood.

They've certainly been nice to me and I'm a jackass.

I have to admit your mention of suicide at the end threw me for a loop, because even when my life runs crappy I'm still pretty cool with breathing, because the act, in itself, is an act of hope.

At any rate, hiyas, and I look forward to yapping.

[panflutejedi]

Hello epepke,

Welcome to HAF! I have only been here a few days myself, and I also noted (and was the target of) the callousness on other forums, but so far so good here.

[Cecilie]

Hello Eric. Welcome.

[Tank]

Welcome aboard.

I hope you like it here. The reason I suggested you come here was the evident relative longevity of this forum. It's already stable and has an ethos that I hope will keep it so. I too have been through schisms and so far all have been rooted in personal relationship issues between the staff and/or owners. Whitney and the rest all seem to be singing off the same song sheet and have obviously been associated long enough to understand each other. So I hope this place will remain and prosper as I'm getting fed up in wasting time and emotional effort in places that are unstable.

Regards
Chris aka Tank aka CJ

Useful links for new members
Mission Statement Why this place is here.
Forum Rules More of a set of guidelines really, upset Whitney (She who must be obeyed) and you'll find the exit door very quickly!
How to discuss efficiently and effectively Before entering  into a serious discussion I implore you to read the first post of this thread.
How do I use the quote feature? If you are new to forums this is an important feature to understand. The maximum number of nested quotes is 3.
Help desk. Any problems this is where to ask them.
What's on your mind today? The general chit chat thread.
Somewhere to discuss the fear of dying. Many ex-theists have to come to terms with death, this is a place to discuss this issue.
How to tell your family you are an atheist. Some suggestions about how to deal with this thorny issue.
Parenting Beyond Belief. The forum for discussing how to raise your children 'Faith Free'.
Just a little advice for new Atheists Some thoughts for those new to reality.
.

[karadan]

They've certainly been nice to me and I'm a jackass.

No you aren't.


Welcome to the board Eric. I hope you enjoy your stay.

[hackenslash]

Hi, Eric. Good to see you here.

Tony