So it's finally happened. No, Conservapedia hasn't closed shop, but probably the next best thing to it.
Now it's been noticed that for the past few weeks "account creation" has been switched off for almost the entire day, and when it is on, it's usually during the times that Conservapedia is in "night mode" - those late night US hours, when only those with editing rights can contribute.
At this moment, I can't think of any other words with which to describe the new lows to which the Brothers Schlafly have sunk. Then again, given the fact that they were squeezed from between the thighs of Mad Cow Phyllis Schlafly and maybe it's possible they were doomed to being misogynistic morons from the word go.
Now, Roger does occasionally come across as the voice of reason, especially when arguing with Andy about the merits of Relativity. However, be under no delusion that Roger isn't as deranged as his whack-job brother. You need only take a stroll through his blogs, Dark Buzz and Singular Values, to see that this man's worldview is as twisted - if not more so - than Andrew's. He seems to save his special crazy for the latter blog, where he proclaims "Mohammedans" were responsible for the Crusades, the Church promoted science during the Dark Ages, and women are more gullible when it comes to climate change.
I guess it goes without saying that the Powers that Be at the ultra right-wing blog Conservapedia (I think we can finally dispense with the illusion that it is, in any shape or form, an encyclopaedia) have some very strange ideas about everyday events. One of these would be "chivalry" - which in Andrew Schlafly's world involves setting different tests for girls and boys, because it's not fair for the fairer sex to have to compete equally with boys.
Another is charity.
Now, CP's entry for "Charity" defines it, amongst other things, as "a Christian virtue" before going on to say that "the United States is “a land of charity." It also has some strange "see also" links - Altruism, Greed and Capitalism.
As I mentioned in my post below, Conservapedia is already dead in the water, if not floundering at the gunwales. However, it wasn't always so. At the beginning of 2009, it was a vibrant and happening, albeit it odd, little community. There were regularly over 100 different active editors a week, there were conversations and friendly chats going between talk-pages and the sysops were even inclined to enter into a debate - until they started losing said debate, of course.
Roll forward almost two years, and the little community is looking very run down. The long-time residents have effectively put barricades across the roads, allowing none in, except those who sneak past the defences, and are speedily shot, before they can smash any more windows. The vibrant little community has shrunk to a few old-timers (barely more than 40 editors as week - and 90% of those are blocked with in 1 edit), who no longer talk, but peer out at the world from behind their curtains, shotgun close at hand.
My apologies for not having anything new to add lately, but to put it frankly, Conservapedia is about as interesting as watching paint dry at the moment. The editor base has basically shrunk to the remaining sysops, night editing and new user registration are rarely activated - even less so now that it would appear Andrew Schlafly has handed over joint control of those functions to Terry Koeckritz. An act which is probably the wiki equivalent of shooting yourself in both feet, prior to running a marathon.
No new content is being created and even Andy's usual special brand of crazy has been toned down lately. All he seems to be doing these days is masturabating over how well the Tea Party candidates are splitting the GOP vote. Even Terry Koeckritz, left without any editors to block, has taken to actually writing... well, drivel actually, such as the little-known fact that the Democratic Party "is now often referred to as "The Liberal Party.''' A startling fact, that would even have appeared to have escaped even Google's all-seeing eye. Still, what else would we expect from Terry?
Still, have no fear. I'll be keeping an eye on the death-throes of CP and as you all know, Conservapedia is only dead when Andy and his hand picked goons - Terry Koeckritz, Brian Macdonald, Ed Poor, John Patti and Terry Hurbut finally realise that nobody is listening to their ranting and switch off the lights. What on earth will Ken Demyer do then?
