Why is it so quiet here?

[Britmax]

I mean, it's not as though there's anything important happening....(!)

[bknight]

We would need a rabid CT to step un and start r as Sting about the fakery of Apollo.  Baring that we wait.

[apollo16uvc]

Because most people are using YouTube or Discord or social media to debate, not this forum.

Forums like this are rather out of fashion.

[gillianren]

When the film site I used to comment on closed down and the commentariat on it was desperately searching for a new home for the group, someone started a message board.  Which still exists, if for no other reason than to maintain a catalog of our Movie of the Week articles.  But apparently the preferred thing to do is to be on Facebook and complain about how there's no better alternative than Facebook.

[JayUtah]

Yeah, it seems like the standalone topic forums are disappearing.  But also it seems like we've simply moved on to more pressing conspiracy theories.  Faux astronauts may have been in vogue when we had less of a dire social and political situation to worry about.  Now, perhaps, it's just quaint.

And along the other dimension, each individual forum -- as a community of humans -- will have a natural arc that waxes and wanes.  As you can probably see, quite a number of posts we entertain are just the social banter of the long-time regulars.  If nobody is going to come here and talk about hoaxed Apollo missions, then we'll debate American government, or children exploited by their parents in the entertainment industry, or non-controversial aspects of the missions and the preservation and curation of their artifacts.  I guess it is what it is.

[Obviousman]

We should talk about the important things, like toilet rolls: should the paper feed from in front of the roll, or from the rear? I'm influenced by hotels and say it should go over the top and then hang down the front.

[JayUtah]

Over the top to the front.  It's illustrated that way in the patent.

[Jeff Raven]

The answer depends on whether there is a cat in the house. If there is, the roll should hang down the back. Absent a cat, over the top toward the front.

[JayUtah]

I had two cats.  In my experience, it didn't matter.

[Obviousman]

We also don't have two cats*. Likewise, they don't seem interested in the toilet roll on the holder. The cardboard tube once finished, though, is another matter....

* They are the neighbour's cats but live with us full time. Serious - they sleep on the bed at night with us! But they are not our cats.....

[smartcooky]

Because most people are using YouTube or Discord or social media to debate, not this forum.

Forums like this are rather out of fashion.

...and that is the big shame of it.

Moderation on Discord, YouTube, Twitter etc is all but non-existent. It means CTs can spout their evidence-free shtick without  limit, and without being held to any kind of standard. This is why I don't have Twitter or Instagram accounts (and I never will) and I only have a Facebook account to keep up with close friends and family. I have a Reddit account purely to follow r/spacex because of the high number of very knowledgeable people who post in the threads and because it is well moderated (space deniers and "rockets don't work in a vacuum" types are given the short shift at warp speed). 

[gillianren]

I had two cats.  In my experience, it didn't matter.

Likewise.  Cats interested in the toilet paper can play with it no matter which way it hangs.  Ditto small children.

[Jeff Raven]

...and that is the big shame of it.

Moderation on Discord, YouTube, Twitter etc is all but non-existent. It means CTs can spout their evidence-free shtick without  limit, and without being held to any kind of standard. This is why I don't have Twitter or Instagram accounts (and I never will) and I only have a Facebook account to keep up with close friends and family. I have a Reddit account purely to follow r/spacex because of the high number of very knowledgeable people who post in the threads and because it is well moderated (space deniers and "rockets don't work in a vacuum" types are given the short shift at warp speed).

Not just moderation, but also the enforcement, such as it is, of copyright claims and other "take down" complaints. I just saw a little while ago that a debunking channel has had one of their videos pulled down twice within hours of posting, yet the misinformation-laden video that they were exposing is still up, despite being reported numerous times. I don't know what algorithms they use, or what their review process is, but it definitely seems to be skewed, and not in a good way.

[Jeff Raven]

I had two cats.  In my experience, it didn't matter.

Interesting.  My neighbors, who I have pet-sat for, used to always make a point of putting it toward the back, and rarely had an issue with coming home to find piles of paper. Of course, if the cats wanted to express their displeasure, all bets were off, but that was true for anything in the house they wanted to use to make a point. Might just be a difference in temperament of the felines in question, or small sample size.

Then again, it's cats, so trying to predict or control their behavior is probably almost as bad as trying to reason with die-hard conspiracy believers.

[Jeff Raven]

I had two cats.  In my experience, it didn't matter.

Likewise.  Cats interested in the toilet paper can play with it no matter which way it hangs.  Ditto small children.

Now I'm thinking I'll have to survey all my friends that have cats to find out what their experiences have been. If nothing else, it's a fun topic to collect data on.