I wasn't aware of it either until a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday I signed up on DarwinCentral to find out why a prominent evolutionist here was banned, Below is the relevant portion if his response followed by his last post.
” Things had been increasingly hostile for science threads, so my "this is not an opus" post was the first I had made there for a few weeks. It was also my last post. It got deleted about an hour before the whole thread was deleted, but then it all got restored the next day. None of that was ever explained; but it seemed as if either JR or a mod regarded my post to be offensive, or maybe embarrassing.Here is PartickHenry’s last post #1031:”After that post I remained registered at FR for a few more months, doing nothing (except answering some freepmail inquiring about my inactivity), and one day it was discovered (by someone searching on my name) that I had been banned. There was no warning, and no activity whatsoever, online or off, that indicated what might be involved. That one "no opus" post was my only interaction with JR in my seven years at that website. My guess is that the banning was solely due to my registration here at DC -- where I never criticized FR or JR”
”Jim: “I haven't been posting since the 11th of this month, after a science news thread got transferred to the Religion forum, and I kinda gave up on science news around here -- at least for a while.I see lots of other former Freeper evolution proponents on Darwin Central. I don’t know their stories but a lot of griping about JimRob’s “purges” on two threads.“When I registered back in '99 it was because this site had been recommended to me by a good friend -- brace yourself! -- Jack Thompson. I looked, I read your mission statement, I liked what I saw. When I discovered that you also had active science threads I was doubly delighted.
“As my homepage said, I've long been concerned by the left's propaganda that conservatives are idiots, while intellectuals belong to them, and I thought that myth should be exploded. I've had a great time helping to keep this website interesting for dozens of scientists, engineers, and university professors. You've had loads of PhDs here, with degrees in physics, chemistry, math, biology, astronomy, etc. Several have said to me that on their liberal campuses they've had no one to talk with, but here they can chat with like-minded conservatives. We loved this place! My science ping lists had just short of 400 names. And -- wouldja believe it? -- most of them are religious people. That's no contradiction.
“Most Christian denominations aren't anti-science, and most scientists aren't anti-religion. We (the people on my ping list) have always tried to walk that line, and to make it clear that our interest in science isn't because of any antagonism to religion. For the most part we've done that rather well -- but you can't please everyone. I don't bash religion, and I've always avoided atheism threads -- I don't start them, don't ping to them.
“However, some folks are hyper-sensitive. If someone says -- correctly -- that Noah's Ark isn't supported by scientific evidence, in my mind that's not Christian-bashing, or Marxism, or devil worship, or an endorsement of homosexuality. But if someone starts complaining that such a scientific view amounts to bashing his religion, well ... he's wrong, and he shouldn't be on the science threads, just as a belligerent atheist doesn't belong in the religion threads. But if he mashes the abuse button and complains to the mods, it requires a mod who understands what's going on.
“Since Dales left, we haven't had a mod who cared enough to follow our threads so that he'd know who was making trouble. It's been a rough year without Dales. Once I even asked the admin mod if there were another mod with whom I could work to smooth out problems, but I got a brush-off. Fair enough. We slogged along, and a lot of science threads ended up in the Backroom that didn't need to go there. Some judicious moderation would have calmed things down, but it just wasn't there. We endured. But then ... my homepage vanished. That was March 6 of this year (or the 5th, I no longer remember).
“The unexplained disappearance of my homepage is literally the reason for the creation of Darwin Central. On March 7 -- the day after the homepage takedown -- we started an emergency site at Yahoo, just like FR has. It was a place where we could find each other in case something crazy happened. I thought I was being zotted. When seemingly senseless things happen (like the homepage takedown) for no apparent reason, people will assume that something's gone wrong, and they will expect more of the same. DC was created as a fall-back site where we could find one another in case a bunch of us got banned -- a fate that was reasonable to expect under the circumstances.
“The non-response to my inquiries to the mods and to John R was troublesome; it was attributed to your distance from day-to-day affairs. It was assumed that you had delegated too much authority to assistants with an anti-science agenda, and that some rogue mod was on a private rampage.
“Seriously, Jim, I had no clue what was happening. I "knew" it wasn't you, because I've had years of happy experience here at FR. I naturally assumed the problem was a rogue mod or maybe computer hacking, and I asked John R to look into it for me. I really wish you had said something to me. But we've never talked. Perhaps it's too late now, but I wanted to lay out my side of all this.
“Anyway, the motive for Darwin Central's creation wasn't anti-FR. It was self-defense. You're the godfather, Jim.
“We're not socialists, nor homos, nor ACLU freaks, nor anti-FR. We'd like nothing more than to have things the way they were, back when Dales was a concerned moderator who understood what was happening in our threads. If that's not to be, okay. It's your website, and we're not your enemies.
“I've always wished you well, and I continue to do so. I'm going to vote straight "R" as I always do. I'll pray for the troops, and you, and for our great country.
“And no, this isn't an opus.”