What would have to change at the Countryside forum?

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Freedom! self reliance : One Thread

Look, I don't mind admittimg that I'm experiencing some serious withdrawal from the Countryside forum. I'm not sure if this is what Dave wanted, but when I check in at the C-side forum it does not look very lively and what there is,is strictly homesteading. Kind of dull now. So my question is, What would it take, what would have to change for you to go back to the Countryside forum?

-- Rebekah (daniel@itss.net), April 16, 2001

Answers

By the way, I mean no offense to Doreen or this forum! It is really nice to have something like this. :)Guess I just miss 'what used to be'.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), April 16, 2001.

Rebekah, I've been going through serious withdrawl, too. I read what interests me on the CS forum, but I'll not participate, and you know how much I used to contribute. I don't recognize very many names, anymore. Ir does seem dull to me, too.

What would it take to get me back there? An apology-both publically and privately- from Dave and Ken. Not just to me but to everyone on the forum. Censorship has hurt everyone whether directly or indirectly. We were betrayed. We were told that there would not be censorship. There was censorship and attitude along with it.

I haven't cancelled my subscription-yet, which is paid for more than two more years, because I don't want to cheat myself out of information, but I have no respect for Dave or Ken any longer.

But it's my experience that what goes around comes around or; it all comes home to roost. It never fails. You can't cheat people and get away with it forever.(it only seems that way)

I think this new forum is off to a good start.

-- Cindy (SE In) (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), April 16, 2001.


R -

I can't speak for anyone else here... I have never had a post deleted, nor have I given up on the forum. But, it seems that there was a lot of personal political stuff going on that shouldn't have been.

Also - aside from Ken and Dave issue... I just put in an answer to a post there which would make most of the folks here very angry. It gave me pause to think about quitting the forum as well. That is really hard to do as I am not easily driven away by other people's personal agendas.

Some folks on that forum will never be tolerant of others' views, religion or politics. Them's just the facts of life.

-- Sue Diederich (willow666@rocketmail.com), April 16, 2001.


I'm not as faithful a reader of the countryside message board, as some of you are, but when I go there I want to see homesteading info and that's it. There are other places to talk about other things. The way I see it, is that I would go to that board to post a homesteading question and get an answer, and that's it. Who is this Ken guy anyway? All I know is one day I come on the site and this guy who used to post alot of stuff, now moderates the board. Does he officially work for Countryside? Or just sit in front of a monitor all day?

-- JC (survivors00@hotmail.com), April 16, 2001.

What would have to change? Perhaps time travel and memory erasure. I won't go back with or without public apologies and admissions of wrong doing. Seems to me that the censorship, delete button got much too easy to use once it was allowed. I think it's like hitting your wife, once you allow yourself to do it, it only gets easier to do it again.

If you guys want to participate over there, I'm sure they'd be thrilled to see you post. I do intend to go back and print out some parts of threads that were things I want to keep handy for my critters and stuff, but I can't contribute to them anymore. That's just my take on it. I do understand the withdrawals you are talking about, yet it seems that the place was changed drastically and it's no longer the same place. I'm sorry about that for everyone, it was fun while it lasted, no?

-- Doreen (bisquit@here.com), April 16, 2001.



Yeah, that's the thing. It's no longer what it used to be. I don't have any pangs for missing what's there now, after all I can always go back there. But I wish it could be turned around to what to used to be. Ken had always seemed like a decent sort of guy until he got control of it. Then suddenly it had to be controlled, simply because it could be. Seems like it works that way in other areas,too.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), April 17, 2001.

I'm not sure I want to go back. I do not have the "withdrawals" from it, and really do not miss it. I made several good friends on there, most of whom are not posting there any longer and have not been for months and months. Ken is a self-proclaimed former bureacrat that owns cattle, has his pasture work done, and I think the actual feeding the cattle done. He has said that he has never actually even attempted to do anything else "homestead" related. He has however been a steady contributor of articles to Countryside for years. He reads about something, then writes a story about it giving the impression that it is from actual experience. His main mission in life seems to be to run the forum now, and he is allegedly not on the Countryside payroll. That is all I know about him. I do know the forum was a much more peaceful place before he got there, whether he is responsible for the trouble or not. We used to be able to agree to disagree. That has ended, and now there seems to be a general attitude of my way or the highway. Frankly, I have a broken car, a broken truck, horses that need working, chickens that I'm brooding off, butchering to be done and now I'll have to can the meat since the freezer died, and I need to do major house repairs and make a garden, as well as figure out how to pay the bills. I have not got time for the BS that is happening over there. I mean no disrespect to anyone here. I am just swamped with things that have got to be done, and done soon.

-- Green (ratdogs10@yahoo.com), April 17, 2001.

I agree, C-side is not as interesting as it used to be. I read very few of the post there any more. I have to admit I thought Joel was over-reacting to the censorship thing, but it turns out he was right on. He was one of the contributers over there that made the board lively and interesting. Many of the other old names are gone too. I agree with Cindy that we were duped by Ken's rhetoric. I wonder how many posts have been deleted that we don't know about? I have not cancelled by subscription, but I do worry about the magazine's future. I am willing to give Dave a chance as new editor, but he does not seem to have the same level of commitment or passion that jd did for it. I think this board has much promise to be what C-side used to be, let's give it a chance!!

-- Patti (trigger@mcn.net), April 17, 2001.

Green, Are you squatting somewhere on my farm? sounds just like my place but you forgot to add that the well is drying up and the septic system has backed up as well;>I got into part of the blow up that sent folks else where and frankley have stopped posting or reading countryside's forum.I have just too much work now that spring is here and get tired of casting pearls before swine.I just stopped posting.One odd offshoot of this is I'm getting personal e-mails from people I don't know asking me questions about animal husbandry.Not that I mind.I just never saw myself as that much of a guru is all.I think CS has lost a number of "productive people".Folks that actually KNOW what they are talking about rather than "FEEL".An observation I made is that the folks that were stirring the most shit also contributed nothing of a practical nature to the board.They were there looking for a fight or a chance to push socialist agenda.I'm sorry I rose to the bait for some of them.If CS forum is sticking to strictly homesteading type posts it is a step in the right direction.The problem still arise when someone asks the question "HOW DO I FIX MY TRACTOR ?" and the replies will be "How dare you harm the planet by burning fossil fuels? I'm glad your tractor died!" Then some moderate soul will suggest horse farming as a compramise and one of the militant vegetarians will launch into a polemic against "animal slavery".The person with the broken tractor will never get his answer because the debate will have shifted.

-- greg (gsmith@tricountyi.net), April 19, 2001.

Tee-Hee Greg!! Very funny!! Also probably true ((sigh...

I agree with much of what has already been said. I also have no interest in posting at CS. I am, by nature, a law-an-order type person (even though I believe it is time for a "tea-party"...). I want to know the "RULES" up-front. Then I can CHOOSE...will I agree and abide by the rules? Choose to ignore the rules and face the consequences? Go away? Or work to change them? This is reasonable. This willy-nilly, unknowable, maybe your post will be deleted, maybe it won't, would drive me crazy!!!

Can you imagine going to a store with this type of return policy?

Customer - "I would like to return this item."

Manager - " Sorry, you can not return that item."

Customer - " Why can I not return this item? What exactly is your return policy?"

Manager - "You can't return it because I said so. Also, our policy is dependant on who is managing on the day of the return..maybe we will, maybe we won't. And if ya' don't like it, toooo bad!! Have a nice day." Oh and by the way, be NICE!!! We don't like dissention here.

Yea right!!

It was good while it lasted....

I think most Americans have become WIMPY, and that is what we were seeing at CS. Please, no controversy, no disagreements, no heated discussions....can't we all just get along???? Yuck! What is a little debate? It can't kill, maim or bruise you...the worse it could do is hurt your feelings or make you be VERY, VERY sure of your position...course' that would require actually thinking and that may be asking just a bit much. TRUTH?? No way. Who needs that? I know what I FEEL...that is my truth. Now go away with your facts and come back when you are FEELING nicer!

You know I find it interesting that all of us "mean, nasty, conservative types" were perfectly willing to take the hits (and btw, the sweet liberal types were always there first, slinging the names and judging the individual. While the more conservative types, pretty much stuck to the facts or their position on the issue. Not feeling compelled to point out the oppostions individual character faults. Or make judgements in regard to their personality, sorry, a little ranting going on here...) Anyway, we didn't go whining and crying when someone challenged our position.

I am a homesteader. I am as interested in the WTO, public policy, social issues, my Savior and a slew of other topics, as I am in chickens, gardening, ect... I would be as happy to recieve helpful information from a flamming liberal (and did actually) as I would a conservative....I would also be delighted to offer what little (very little,he-he) information I have, to ANYONE...But, I am not interested in being a part of UTOPIA.....I like life, REAL life. And I care about lots of things and am not interested in being limited to chickens. UNLESS it is a CHICKEN only forum.

Sorry for the length, it has been so busy around here, I have not had much time to post. I hope this forum goes well and I am thrilled to see everyone here. I would welcome anyone, liberals, socialists, little green men or women from Mars.....if you've got information or opinions or questions....jump on in! But, this ain't Utopia, Toto....there is a battle going on for the hearts and minds of the people in this country. And I am in the battle, as we all are, and would like to see the socialist, leftists side defeated... So to that end...the debate goes on! And most importantly, the prayers are lifted up to the Savior, Jesus Christ! God Bless!

-- Wendy@GraceAcres (wjl7@hotmail.com), April 19, 2001.



Amen Wendy!! And yes, most Americans are very very wimpy. To be honest, I think this is where "they" want us. Makes it easier to take over if no one fights back. I bet our forefathers are all turning over in their graves. Probably not much rest for them now! (Just kidding, of course!) Will make it easy for the "one world order" and antichrist to take over without even a fight. I'm like Hoot, I see the signs of the end times very near. Maranatha, come quickly Lord Jesus!

-- Barb (barbaraj@mis.net), April 19, 2001.

Hey, Greg! The well here goes almost dry each summer, so that we have to hand draw water 'cause the pump cannot pick it up any more. And the sewer system? Hey, ours has been screwed up for five years now. It just is a fact of life, and we just trudge on. When it quits completely, we just revert back to the good ole days of the great outdoors. We'd try to fix it, but the real fix is a new septic tank, I think. More money I don't have. Bah-humbug! Anyway, it is comforting to know we are not alone on this leaking boat! LOL

And I am being emailed quite a bit too, by people I don't remember ever seeing post on C-side. They are asking me poultry questions mostly. They all said they went to the archives and couldn't find the answer, so hoped it would be OK to write me. It is, but still, I think it indicates that most of the people that knew anything much on the forum have gone elsewhere.

-- Green (ratdogs10@yahoo.com), April 20, 2001.


As an infrequent visitor and contributor to the CS forum, I was unaware that this place existed before today. I do remember some of the controversy that apparently led you folks to split away. What I find extremely interesting is that another, like-minded (in spirit, not in fact) forum, Yourdon's Timebomb list over on EZ Board, went through the same sort of split at almost exactly the same time. The old board spun off two new forums, neither of which are as active as the old board, which itself is only a shadow of its former self. Again, censorship and religious/philosophical disputes were major factors. Sorta makes you wonder. Was there something in the water?

-- Cash (cash@andcarry.com), April 20, 2001.

I think it's more likely a sign of the times.

This place hasn't been in existence for too long and I think it's going along okay, but of course it isn't as fast moving as the old forum, I sure didn't send out a million invites, and I don't intend to. If God decides that this site should grow, it will grow.

Thanks for stopping in here, Cash! Come on back anytime!

-- Doreen (bisquit@here.com), April 20, 2001.


To me the only thing that remains the same is the fact that things change and you can't stop it. It seems that forums tend to reach a critical mass and then split to give rise again to ther forums, something like a chemical reaction in a bottle. Sooth your feathers, folks. Bad feelings will pass in time and who knows, maybe this site will truely become great only to undergo a similar metamorphosis in the future. That's life. Just found you. Enjoy the exchange here. I will be back when I find time between homesteading chores. God bless.

-- Sandra Nelson (Magin@starband.net), August 04, 2001.


This is the first time I've been here--know its not always nice to barge in- sounds like sincere folks sharing whats going on in their minds while they're feeding chickens and turning the compost, I'll tell you what I stopped for --would hope this is what it ends up--a place to learn and teach--to share about homesteading. No matter how long you talk to a goat it won't talk back--I'd like to talk without the judgement that appears to have been taking place from the top.Meet folks who find this life anything but " simple ". Ps.37:11

-- Virginia Davis (vdavgrannie@juno.com), August 13, 2001.

Hey Sandra and Virgnia, Welcome! You may or may not know that this forum was started because Cside forum changed rules and took things out without talking to anyone about it and it became rampant. Don't be too quick to judge on this thread, please. I contributed to CS forum extensively for over a year and am very political by nature, that is now disallowed at that forum, ergo, we have this one. This thread is people who knew eachother over a fair amount of time from sharing a little kniche in cyberspace and they are healing up from a split. It isn't fair to pass judgement without understanding the full issue.....please stick around, things have gotten better!

-- Doreen (bisquit@here.com), August 13, 2001.

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