Meet the HAF Admins/Moderators

[Whitney]

The Admins and Moderators of HAF will be posting introductions in here as they have time.  

If you are wanting to know who is in charge (or who to complain at) please see the following link for a complete list of the HAF Team: memberlist.php?mode=leaders

If someone is not on this list then they aren't necessarily speaking for HAF (and if they are on the list they aren't always necessarily speaking on behalf of HAF unless they've indicated that their mod hat is on through their words).

[Will]

Hello, I'm Will. I'm 27 and I live in the San Francisco Bay area. I'm just starting my own business as a private tutor, but before I was a VP of an internet company and a manager at a nonprofit.

I became an atheist my freshman year in high school after a massive debate about evolution with my biology teacher. I am not a strong atheist, one who actively denies the existence of god or gods, but rather an agnostic atheist, one who remains unconvinced of the existence of god or gods.

My moderation philosophy is fairly straightforward: hands-off, within reason. If I notice someone flagrantly violating the rules, I'll intervene. Otherwise, I like the community to set its own destiny. HAF is the sum of member activity just like a nation is the sum of its citizens.

I hope you enjoy the forum.  

[Tom62]

Hi, my name is Tom. I'm 48 years old and I live and work in Oberursel, Germany (near Frankfurt). I was born in Amsterdam (the Netherlands), but grew up in a small, but lovely village, called De Kwakel. In 1991 I left the Netherlands and went to Paris, France, because I got a wonderful IT-job offer from the European IT-Department of Beckman Instruments. After living in Paris for 2,5 years the IT-Group moved to Nyon, Switzerland. I stayed there 6,5 years and met my wife to be. In 2001 we moved to Germany and got married. However, my wife is an ethical, restless middle manager of an international organization, who has a great dislike for company politics, power-plays and bad management. That made her move from Switzerland to Germany; from Germany to Lisbon, Portugal and from Portugal to Washington DC. Since 5 years, we maintain a remote relationship. Expectations are that she'll be back in Europe next year.

I grew up in a Catholic family; went to church nearly every Sunday, till I was 12; and got my education from Catholic schools as well. With only one exception, I received a very good, progressive, open-minded education. However, I lost my faith in he Catholic church, when I learned about the atrocities of the church in history class. Since other churches didn't fare well either in history, I decided that organized religion was not something for me. So, I read the Bible to figure out what people were actually supposed to believe. None of it either  made any sense  or gave me any reason to believe that, what was written, would be helpful to lead a moral life. So, I dropped faith out off my mind and became an atheist.

I have a similar moderation philosophy as Will here on this forum. I'll only intervene when someone flagrantly violates the rules. All I can add to this is, keep this community civilized yourself and think before you post anything that might be offending for other members of this community.

Have fun   .

[McQ]

Howdy! McQ here. Since that has been my nickname most of my life, I use it here. I've just learned recently that apparently, people from other forums confuse me with another McQ. Sorry, but this is the only atheist/freethought forum I participate in, so I can't take credit (or blame) for the other McQ. Besides, I'm older, and had the name first, so I'm keeping it!    I think it's hilarious when people ascribe other intentions to it though.

I'm a product of the U.S. in the 1960s, early 1970s culture. Not the hippie part, the everyday part. Reared as a Roman Catholic, broke from the church in college, at which time I was a member of several fundamentalist baptist churches. After a short time, I realized that they were whacked. The more I actually learned about the bible, the more I realized it was a bunch of junk. Made a clean split from religion in the early 1990s.

As far as jobs, life experiences go, I've been, or am currently: waiter, magician's assistant (yes, sometimes they use boys!), salvage SCUBA diver, US Army Officer/military pilot, biologist, biotechnology consultant, amateur astronomer, biology and science tutor, hematology and oncology consultant and photographer. Also a father of four sons and husband of one wife for 26 years. Wife is a non-practicing catholic.

I would describe my lack of belief, as the definitions here go, as agnostic atheist, or more aptly, apatheist: I don't believe in gods and don't really care.

[Squid]

Moderator Dossier

Name: Squid
Alias(es): Solidsquid
Location: Texas
Status: Married w/o children

Hola folks.  My name's Cory but everyone here knows me as Squid but I also go by Solidsquid on other forums.  I've been around atheist/freethinker and other forums for around seven years or so now and even had my own short-lived website which shut down in 2006 due to lack of adequate funding and time to properly take care of it.

Anyhow, I currently work for the state of Texas Department of Health and Human Services doing Medicaid eligibility.  However, I am looking to return to college, again, to obtain my RN license and a BSN degree in January.  My previously studies have been in art/design, psychology, applied cognition and neuroscience and health psychology.  I've also previously worked as: media services technician, domestic violence client advocate, job corps advisor, youth advisor, offset printer, asset protection specialist, barista, research assistant and laboratory technician.  I also spent a few years cruising around the world courtesy of the U.S. Navy.

I also spend some time as a backyard grill-master and metal band guitarist, when I have the time.

I was raised in a semi-religious household of the generic, non-church attending variety.  I began to question my beliefs on just about everything when I started to explore other religions, cultures, philosophy and science.  I also eventually found myself in more and more debates on the creation/evolution stage.  I finally come to rest in the area of agnostic atheism and that is where I remain to this date.

My take on moderation is just as Will put it - I want people to express their ideas and let themselves be heard but I'll enforce the rules if I have to.