I’m At a Loss

I’ve been finding it difficult to come up with ideas for blog posts, which is why this blog hasn’t been very active lately. As such, I’d like to leave it up to the readers: what would you like us to write about? Would you like to know something specific about our atheism? Do you have an argument that you’d like us to address? Would you like us to discuss a particular book? Do you have any questions about Philosophy, Biology, or History? Would you like to know our stance on a particular feminist issue? Is there something else you’d like us to write on? Let us know in the comment section.

Increasing my posting output: An Idea.

Withteeth

So I have a hard time posting, the majority of context is produce by Hessian, and while this was always the plan/expectation I still want to contribute. My problem is I’m bad at sitting down and writing a post on the fly. What I am good at is sitting down and writing a long winded comments that are sometimes pages long… as I’m sure some of you have witnessed firsthand.

So I had the idea that whenever I get the sudden burning urge to write a comment, I will write that comment. At the same time I’ll also open a word document and start writing a post on the same or similar topic. this a lead to a couple ideas so far, and will soon turn into so posts. Though tonight I’ll just share the idea.

If you like the idea take it and try it out for yourself, and tell us how it works out in the comments!

Just Thought I Should Remind You All About My Surveys

I haven’t done an update on my surveys in a while, so here it is. For those of you who don’t know about my surveys, I am trying to do a couple of independent studies for some future blog posts. The first study will be on Religious discrimination, and I will be focusing on how people view discrimination aimed at atheists vs. how they view it aimed at Christians. The second study will be on feminism’s reputation. Namely on how people perceive it’s reputation. Please help me out by doing and sharing my survey. It will be greatly appreciated. And for those of you who have already done my survey, please share it wherever you can. I would like to write those blog posts this summer.

Here is how I’m doing so far:
Religion Surveys:
This survey deals with various situations that may be considered discrimination towards Atheists:
http://kwiksurveys.com/s.asp?sid=vvaqodd0equ2y21474850 – 4% complete
This survey deals with various situations that may be considered discrimination towards Christians:
http://kwiksurveys.com/s.asp?sid=pi387nzvmo8dklc474867 – 2% complete
This survey looks at whether or not the respondent feels they have been discriminated against for their religion:
http://kwiksurveys.com/s.asp?sid=3zolzpi3k1lwc7s470898 – 8% complete
This survey looks at whether or not people feel that Atheists are discriminated against:
http://kwiksurveys.com/s.asp?sid=t2k9uo23mlnmklk470896 – 7% complete
This survey looks at whether or not people feel that Christians are discriminated against:
http://kwiksurveys.com/s.asp?sid=85koff95iqwpme3470893 – 7% complete
Feminism Surveys:
Situations that may or may not be considered Feminist issues:
http://kwiksurveys.com/s.asp?sid=xxiz033c05yo72v472614 – 3% complete
Are various Feminist causes helpful or hurtful for the Feminist movement?
http://kwiksurveys.com/s.asp?sid=i8d3kq6z73ems49471695 – 7% complete
How do you perceive Feminism?
http://kwiksurveys.com/s.asp?sid=4p48z0rwjwooxpf471689 – 7% complete
Does Feminist have a bad reputation?
http://kwiksurveys.com/s.asp?sid=r4t8nurh0tyxvqt470762 – 11% complete
Please help me out by doing my surveys, if you haven’t already, so that I can write my posts on the responses. And please share my surveys as well.

Short warning on a new problem with word press

Word press with the more resent site changes has started sending messages to our spam folder for no apparent reason.

If a comment disappears it’s probably because of that and not because we’ve purposely hidden it. If you do notice that your comment has disappeared feel free to comment telling us. Otherwise we’ll probably figure it out with in a day and re-approve your comment should this bug continue happening.

This has been happening to both Hessian and I, and has been happening on both our phones and our desktops, so heads up it may be happening to other blogs as well.

Withteeth

A Helpful Hint in Encouraging Dialogue

I can’t believe I actually have to say this, but apparently this is a hard one, so here it goes. If you want to encourage dialogue and keep a conversation going, my tip for you is…don’t be an ass. Seriously, people don’t like to be insulted and talked down to. Try to pretend you’re actually talking to a human being, because you are. Talk to said human in a way that you’d appreciate. Basically, don’t assume they’re stupid. Don’t define simple words, or call them uneducated, or refer to yourself in intellectually superior tones because you clearly know more about the subject, because…well, you think you do, just because you don’t agree with their argument. And don’t straight up insult them. Here’s a thought for you: the people of the internet aren’t here for your entertainment anymore than your friends and family are.

Just today, one person refused to refer to atheists as atheists and instead used the word “fools.” Yet they seemed to assume their post would be met with honest dialogue instead of hostility. If you offer hostility, you’ll receive it back. And another person thought that defining “hyperbole” would make me go away because they didn’t like my argument. I hate to break it to you, but I did graduate highschool. Almost a decade ago. I don’t need the grade 10 english lesson. If you don’t like my argument, then offer a counter-argument, otherwise you just make yourself look bad.

I’ve also had someone call me uneducated because I…shocker…asked a question when an unclear claim was made. Apparently one must master ever subject and come to the exact same conclusions on everything or they must be uneducated. And another blogger decided to try and insult my intelligence because he didn’t like being told that “tranny” is discriminatory. Apparently it must be PC because it’s just a short form of “transgender.” Um…no. Not okay.

I’m tired of this disrespect, so new policy: if you come to my blog and decide to insult me and my partner, don’t bother, your comment will just be deleted. Your comment will be for naught. Feel free to let us know if you think your comment was unfairly deleted, but we do actually read them, so we know what you’ve said. If you just want to insult us, you have your own blogs, or you can make one, and you can insult us there. We want to encourage honest discussion here, and we want an environment open to anyone. The disrespectful behavior directed towards us offers neither, and makes it difficult for others to have open conversations. So, in the future, let’s keep things civil.