One thing needed to address is the fact that people debunking the stuff here also sometimes gets tired of hearing the same claim over and over again. Most of the time it is one single person that basically floods the forums with the same variations of claims over and over again. We are only human, it does get under your skin at moments.

In addition scared people asking for help come in rushing and post asking for help. They are in panic and never had a chance to read the other posts before their very first post. In panic people do not behave logically.

I think having a new website on this server is useful as well, as we are certainly moving on. Perhaps keep the current site as is, static, and even shut down the current forum and tell people to visit the new ongoing mission at the linked site (I like cosmophobia of some sort as a title).

On the new site I would like it to be modeled after this one in terms of structure, meaning both articles and a forum. Different people need different pieces of info.

I am for a relatively gentle tone in terms of articles (although humor and even sarcasm are good). I asked a Buddhist monk I know if using sarcasm on someone accumulates bad karma because it could qualify as harsh speech. He told me that if it is used to get ignorant people to realize their ignorance, then sarcasm is actually positive. Go figure.

On the forum, I think a more conversational, and even sometimes adversarial, tone is appropriate, depending on the situation.

I can't give a lot of time to this but I do want to stay involved and help as I can (contributing pieces as time permits).

Bill knows where to find me (I think my email is even listed on the bio page).

KL

Well, now we have aggressive people and those with a gentler approach on the same site and answering the same people. So they do get both approaches usually.

I actually think this is a good way.
We do not know the scared person.
By having a multitude of different types of responses the chances increases that at least one resonates with them. (bad cop, good cop, crazy cop, …)

Also the different types of responses did help. Some of them were very scientific. Some of them are more comforting like a mother would do. Some of them were using emotional tricks to guide them out of the doom scare and see the world a better place. Some of them were very authority based. At least one of these types of responses would resonant with the scared person we have no information off.

Me too, but it seems like sometimes they get jumped on and I don't see why. Some of the guys say they are trolls when they keep asking, but to me, that's what kids do.

What is the effect when someone appears to be trolling and someone tells them they are trolling, even incorrectly? Could this have a good or bad effect? It does snap them out of the scared state and let them start thinking.

The problem is a double edged sword.
A scared one that repeating every single doomsday claim and gives tons of links that other scared people might follow causes other scared people to be more scared. It is undoing the hard work we created here.
However when someone is giving a lot of links and scary claims, we have proven to whack them within a few minutes. By the time I posted a response 2-3 other posted also a response that whacked the claims showing that we really know our stuff.

When dealing with the kids we get here, it just saddens me that the education system, at least in the US, sucks so bad at teaching critical thinking and science that these kids are turning to strangers on the net to ask questions about the stuff that scares them. :-/

A second site with a gentle approach would also mean that that is a honey pot for the trolls and doomtards because that is where the easiest victims are. They would ignore the aggressive one.

I think that is an extremely important point.

2) Direction of the new site. Specifically how 'in your face' are we going to get with various doom-mongers heading down the road. This is related to #1 above, in that we can have a 'kinder & gentler' education site under the 'Cosmophobia' banner and a more aggressive site under a different domain name.

Now that's a good question. I like the idea of having a more aggressive site as well as the general site. It does open up the venue for some logistical problems, but that's what the discussion group is for.

The only critical thing to have is a super admin to be able to block the accounts of a admin that goes haywire/hacked and cannot damage the site.

That might be the Master Administrator (a.K.a Bill Hudson). :-)

Setting specific roles might help over the long run.

2) If you read the stories, then something that always came back why people believed Patric Geryl. Because they acted so sure. The people that came in needed stability and reassurances. A second site with a gentle approach would also mean that that is a honey pot for the trolls and doomtards because that is where the easiest victims are. They would ignore the aggressive one.

3) The current form has proven the security, the bandwidth at peak moments, and the effectiveness. I was one scared that a DoS would bring down that site at the wrong moments. But Astrogeek I trust your judgement.

4) Astrogeek I trust your judgement.

5) I don't think you need a real organized system. The admins here had different cultures, different time zones, different ages, different background, some had experience with children some didn't. At critical moments, admins have to move in fast and block the troll. The only critical thing to have is a super admin to be able to block the accounts of a admin that goes haywire/hacked and cannot damage the site.

how we handle future doomsday hoaxes

Are we still going to specialize in hoaxes, or are we leaning more towards education and dealing with hoaxes as questions arise?

4) Migration: Related to #3 above, if we stay on the current platform, the migration will be a lot easier.

I like the current platform. It's simple, effective and it seems to be easy to use for people of all ages.

I'm currently iPhone based as of now, but I'm getting a laptop on the 4th so I'd be glad to help edit, move, set up the new site..whatever needs doing.

a more aggressive site under a different domain name.

"The Universe Thinks You're A Flipping Planck"
"Here's To The Apillockolypse"
"Armageddolts"

It's a good job I'm not tasked with naming anything, at all, ever, really…

I'll await the Google Groupage or wherever these questions will be discussed.

I would prefer to work out a way to leave the existing site untouched, and copy the relevant articles to another site or sites.

Good idea. Copying the May 21st, 2011 article to the new site may be an important step, as new religious crackpottery may come up while we are on the new website. That may remind Bible thumpers of Harold Camping and his doom prediction last year. :-)

Edit: anyway, questions are to be answered on Google Groups.

1st of all, I would like anyone interested in being an admin on the new site to drop me a note at gro.xaoh2102|nimda#gro.xaoh2102|nimda (or gro.aibohpomsoc|nimda#gro.aibohpomsoc|nimda) with your wikidot id and email address. Anyone currently an admin or mod of this site is invited automatically, but I don't have all of your email addresses. Anyone interested in joining the site as a member and steering the future direction of the site is also invited. What I would like to do is start a semi-private conversation with you on a google group to discuss the future of the website (or websites).

In my mind there are several questions that need to be answered:

1) One new site, or multiple sites? I'm considering some advice I was given by a few people active in the science education community (specifically Ian O'Neill and Tony Darnell) regarding the future of the 2012hoax.org site and how we handle future doomsday hoaxes.
2) Direction of the new site. Specifically how 'in your face' are we going to get with various doom-mongers heading down the road. This is related to #1 above, in that we can have a 'kinder & gentler' education site under the 'Cosmophobia' banner and a more aggressive site under a different domain name.
3) Platform: I like the current platform for the main site (but I'm not married to it). I am not it so much as a forum platform. I would like to discuss everybody's feelings about this, and gather suggestions as to what we should do in this area.
4) Migration: Related to #3 above, if we stay on the current platform, the migration will be a lot easier. I would prefer to work out a way to leave the existing site untouched, and copy the relevant articles to another site or sites.
5) Roles: we have not had an organized system so far. This has served us well enough in the past, but we should talk about whether that will serve us well enough moving forward, and what kinds of roles people are interested in pursuing).

I would like to have the skeleton of the new site in place by the first of the year, so I'm looking forward to hearing from you soon.