I remember this thread. I gave up on it much too soon apparently, -- not, however, before your tirade or CFB's "explanation." I didn't recognize the seriousness of the situation even though Dex's similiar behavior around the same time had concerned me greatly. (In fact, when Dex started this thread my great fear was we were heading down the same path.)
In any event, you now know my position on this subject. It would be a great loss if you were to pick up your toys and stomp off. Your recent brilliantly insightful
"Fog of Work" post is but a small sample of what you bring to the table.
The board's getting too big. I used to read every post and welcome every new poster, but now there are too many of both to keep track of.
Yeah, its like Yogi Berra said; "Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded." I don't know how that can be solved. Certainly, it is too late for any birth control methods. Mr. Berra also said, "We have all passed a lot of water since then." The only thing one can do now is make personal adjustments to the situation.
I do understand how [-]complicated [/-]complex life has become. My first "personal" computer was a Timex-Sinclair with those Chicklet keys and IIRC 4bits of memory in the early 80's. I was one of the first members of Compuserve (had a very low user number) and spent many an hour on numerous BBs. Life was so simple then. Today, I get up around 4:00am and start my day by reading 20 newspapers (including, BTW, the Star-Bulletin and the Advertiser). I next read the posts on 138 RSS feeds (including, BTW, the HawaiiThreads one -- along with similar ones in other major cities). In addition, I get around 150 personal e-mails a day from various pursuits. I also bake a loaf of bread every morning (granted it is a Bread Machine but it does take about an hour of "hands on" time. I am, also, the cook around here so from 4-6:00 PM is spent in the kitchen or at the table -- this is also the time that I get my television news fix. My day abruptly ends at 10:00 PM every night without fail. On top of all that I use several news aggregators (
Google news,
Topix, and the
NYTimes etc.) on all the time. Ah, for life to be simple again.
My routine with this particular forum (well, there is a problem currently but in an ideal world) is to check the RSS feed for new threads and subscribe to those (few) that interest me or I feel I can contribute to. I then read only those posts that are identified (by e-mail notification) as new in the subscribed threads. Thus spending relatively little, but very productive time. (yeah, because I graze, it is easy to miss things -- as the above referenced thread proved.) BTW, I periodically visit Raddr's website -- twice last year -- but I have problems with the technical side. I just checked and there were 170 unread messages on 7 pages for me to read. Yeah, like that's going to happen. There is no way to use the routine as described above.
It helps that I have three computers going all the time, each with its own set of tasks.
The board is too slow. It used to run on an older version of discussion-board software that was fast and straightforward. It didn't have some of the bells & whistles that are available with vBulletin, but then with a smaller number of members most of those features weren't necessary. Now that vBulletin seems to be working better, the board is still too slow. Before the URL loads, the E-R.org server seems to waste a few seconds talking to Google Adsense's server to try to download ads that my browser is going to block anyway. The result is a lot of time wasted waiting for a page to start loading, and then waiting for it to finish loading. Repeat for every post.
I haven't noticed that. This board is responsive to my commands... faster than some others. I don't know if the number of ads are the problem -- although, I am sure, any drag on the bandwidth is important. How modern is your equipment?
E-R.org used to be harder to find, and that was a good thing. The people who found the board tended to be people who wanted to be here and wanted to learn something about ER. Today's search-engine optimization is driving huge herds of others to the board. That includes a host of trolls & spammers who know that they can depend on someone in this huge user population to rise to their bate/bait. SEO also attracts herds of people who don't care about ER. Every week or two we get a post from a veteran who's facing "military early retirement". Google that phrase (including the quotes) and see why they end up here. Even with that FAQ they still post their quandary seeking help.
Yeah, that's the same thing that the Native Americans say (or in your case the real Hawaiians). And now, the Europeans have the same complaint about those pesky Mexicans sneaking across the border in the middle of the night. Maybe, you should write down the exact qualifications necessary to enter these hollowed grounds and that will keep us interlopers out -- who knows, it might work this time.
The board's purpose isn't aligned with its members. This URL was founded years ago because TMF started charging for access to its ER discussion board-- they cared more about money than their membership. Dory started this board for free, although contributions were gratefully accepted. Note that all the problems mentioned in the last four paragraphs have a common issue: the pursuit of revenue. Everything that we members might prefer (a smaller community, faster response, less unfavorable attention) is in direct conflict with the higher priority of driving huge herds of eyeballs to the pages in the hope of getting a few clicks.
And yet this is one of the most active on the Web. Who's purpose are you referring to? It seems (to me) to serve most of the participants quite well. If you are referring to Andy R's purpose, I hope you are correct. That he would have a profit motive is (IMHO) an honorable trait -- certainly a socially acceptable one. That it would take money to insure the longevity and (eh...) growth of this form doesn't surprise me. I don't, however, see how his purpose conflicts with my use of this board. In fact, had you not pointed it out, I would not have thought about it.
Note that the longer one is a member here, the less valuable one becomes. We remember the way things were instead of accepting the way things are. Our attempts to preserve the status quo become reactionary obstructions to progress.
Well, yes and no. No, you don't become less valuable with age -- quite the contrary. Yes, without adapting to a current situation, one becomes an obstruction. It is good (I suppose) to have a clear view of the future and a definite idea of how things are "supposed" to be but... what is the military saying, "the best of plans never survive first contact with the enemy"? (or something like that.)
I am going to have to stop here because I have run out of time to proceed.
I do hope you mellow out because, as I said earlier, you are a precious resource that would be a shame to waste.
?? 
. As for me - I have also ER'd from deep thought in any form. 
