Jeff Wells

[Grizzly]

Has this board been abandoned by it's owner? Who owns it's data dump? Why have my repeated questions to have a personal archive gone unanswered? Even after offering money ... Will Jeff ever write again? Will he ever participate again? Am I asking the wrong questions?

I feel like I'm burning up needless server space at someone else's cost. What's the future of RI, and Jeff's blog? Sorry to be so blunt, but I've grown tired of waiting, wondering and wishing...

[Belligerent Savant]

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Sorry to be the pedantic douche here, but:
its owner/data dump, not "it's owner", or "it's data dump".

"It is owner" or "it is data dump" -- neither make much sense, no?

That aside:

Somehow, we've managed to maintain a semblance of what may be deemed a "community" with nary a blip from our erudite uber admin/moderator/prime mover.

While I (and many others here) will surely agree that his contributions are sorely missed, this periodic beckoning for his return seems a bit... hmmm... almost like the preliminary stages of a cult-like following/future religion in its infancy. Perhaps in 50 years the very few of us that may remain will speak of his glorious passages and blinding wisdom... murals will be erected in his honor!

[/blasphemy]

...‎there goes my attempt to avoid continued assholery.

(edited several times due to writer-related OCD)

[Grizzly]

Sorry to be the pedantic douche here, but:

What the fuck, ever... *roll's eyes* pendant all you want, I don't care. Nor have I seen, ANY 'cries for our lord's return'.

[Belligerent Savant]

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Envision our convo at a bar, sharing a couple rounds while chatting in lively fashion.. it is a far better presentation than these dull words on a screen.

One of the numerous lame aspects of the interwebs: lack of context available via visual cues.

(in other words, it was a bit o' tongue-in-cheek in my prior reply, intermingled with honest sentiment)

[Novem5er]

There is a community here, one that some people have invested years in building and attending. I've lurked for years off and on and posted irregularly. The RI forum is something special and is treasured by those who participate.

That said, the forum doesn't belong to the community. It belongs to Jeff (I assume). What that means is that Jeff could one day pull the plug, so to speak, and everything would be gone. Do you RI-ers know how to contact each other outside of this forum? Is there an agreed-upon fall back forum? Is there a mailing list?

Or if this site suddenly went dark would all those years of ideas, communication, and relationships simply vanish? Were that to happen, I have a feeling that several on this board would suddenly be filled with a deep emptiness. That's not a criticism, but rather a commendation at how great a community people have built here.

Asking about Jeff isn't wishing for a messiah, it's asking the weatherman about the forecast.

[backtoiam]

I have also attempted to put funds into this. Nobody will take it. I feel ya grizzly...

[brainpanhandler]

There was one unprecedented event which coincided with Jeff's brief return.

[justdrew]

it's not so simple to make a "data dump" dude. plus at least all PMs would have to be removed, IPs erased, at least. At some point we'll make a static archive. The site is not going to just vanish one day.

fallback forum? I thought that's what Rhode Island was

[IanEye]

at the top of the RI page I can click on "my blog", but my blog doesn't show up anymore.

I like to think my blog is hanging out with Jeff.



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[backtoiam]

There was one unprecedented event which coincided with Jeff's brief return.

what was that?

[backtoiam]

we should all just send the wombat or whoever two hundred dollars. seemslikeadream is also a good candidate. justdrew is also a saint. just sayinnn

I'm willing

[82_28]

I contributed back when he asked us. He hasn't asked since. We could easily migrate somewhere else but it would have to be declared here first. Drew would be the one to move the database/archives though.

[backtoiam]

justdrew is our man

[Novem5er]

I want to clarify that my original post didn't mean to be alarmist. The RI forum feels well monitored and maintained, and has healthy activity. It's in good shape as far as I see!

It's just that people HAVE invested a lot of time and emotion into this community (I'm not one of them with my meager post count), and I could understand people being fearful that it all might vanish one day. I'm reminded of friends who have put years into certain MMO video games who one day get the news bulletin that servers are shutting down within the week.

[temp-monitor]

RI is a spook listening post, Jeff Wells was the "Good Cop" during the Bush Era, Combaticus is the "Bad Cop" herding the goats until the upcoming "International 9/11" on 11/9, then the bottleneck will be the Internet ID requirement which is expected to shakeout a lot of RI loiterers. Finally, anyone left who's dangerous/irritating is gonna get nailed by "Operation Condor: Global Edition" after 4/4/17.

I know someone who tried to donate money to RI back in the early days. Couldn't get Jeff to put up a "Donate" button for years. Always wondered where the money came from & why a shoestring operation wouldn't be interested.