This is a reply that I have just made to a post in The Hideaway on the Spiritlove Forum.
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I repeat what I have said in my PS - attributing the same to this place, and also Light After Life. LAL has been deserted for quite some time now where posting is concerned - but it is still widely read by members and non members alike. The search engines still pick up on much of its content and people will still come across items which they may find of interest which are new to them and in some cases may even be of help. The recommended links there are still kept up to date and may be useful to someone coming across the place by accident.
With the Freeforums, if a forum goes for a certain length of time without any posts being made to it, the Forum will expire - without notice! Disappear altogether - with all its contents! - just like the Psychic Barber did. I am not prepared to let that happen.
I can see both sides of this argument. I can feel the frustration of some of the skeptics and the reason for posting as they do (I honestly can).
[someone] mentioned the Psychic Barber forum ... yes, a lot of us here have very sentimental feelings and memories for that place; it's where a lot of us first met and shared and learned about various experiences. A huge bond was made with many who began there - and still remains. But
(and there's always a but) lovely as that was, there was something missing there. I discovered what that was - one or two instances where someone (possibly a skeptic) questioned something and everyone instantly attacked that person and bayed for them to be banned. I questioned that and suggested could we not address that person's question (a fairly legitimate question to my mind) and look into it and find out why they thought the way they did ... People then turned against me for doing so. That's not how it should be to my mind. It's not looking at situations (or experiences) from all angles.
Here - on this forum there is, as you rightly point out [poster], the Hideaway, where people don't have to expect that sort of questioning and can post away freely about their experiences without having to go too deeply into counter-arguments etc. That place has been here for a long time. Okay,
only certain people in there - but there is now the Garden offering the same thing - for anyone on this forum who wishes and requests to do the same thing. Those people who choose NOT to use the Garden and post openly on the forum are well aware that things are going to be analyzed in debate and will attract differing opinions and views. It is their choice to do so, so in that sense I have no understanding as to why people then complain about that situation happening. The alternative choice is always there. If they don't use it they should know what to expect. That's never going to change.
As far as I can see, there is the best of both worlds on this Forum. If people can't see that and
make use of it, then really there's not much else that can be done.
There are countless other places where people can read about and share their paranormal experiences without hindrance from, say, skeptics/critical thinkers and the like - but in my experience people actually prefer to come somewhere where the alternative views are expressed also.
People on both sides can - and do - give as good as they get - and whether or not they realise it, they are both learning from each other. So are the readers of those exchanges - whether they realise it or not.
PS:
Another thing about the Psychic Barber forum - which really annoyed and saddened me ... is that when they closed down the Forum - they took EVERYTHING away. Nothing left. All the effort lovingly placed in there by so many people - gone!
I am to this day disgusted by that - and Rainbows and I can confidently reassure people here that that situation will never ever happen here.
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I repeat what I have said in my PS - attributing the same to this place, and also Light After Life. LAL has been deserted for quite some time now where posting is concerned - but it is still widely read by members and non members alike. The search engines still pick up on much of its content and people will still come across items which they may find of interest which are new to them and in some cases may even be of help. The recommended links there are still kept up to date and may be useful to someone coming across the place by accident.
With the Freeforums, if a forum goes for a certain length of time without any posts being made to it, the Forum will expire - without notice! Disappear altogether - with all its contents! - just like the Psychic Barber did. I am not prepared to let that happen.