Babble To Be Shutting Down

Nice epitaph.

I am truly sorry to hear this. Thank you, oldgoat, for sticking with it until the end. 

I haven't signed in for a long time. I happened to peek in because I had made a batch of hot cross buns from the lovely and amazing skdadl's family recipe and was thinking about her, and Boom Boom and Magoo and so many others who were here in the early days. We were a unique community. I still miss that sometimes. 

But I guess all things must come to an end, and it's probably time. I signed up for babble over 22 years ago, and so much has changed, both on the internet and in real life. My best to all, and I'm not hard to find on other platforms, so please do look me up. 

Cheers, my dears. 

And you, too, epaulo! Take care.

epaulo13 wrote:

..txs for dropping by timebandit! nice to hear from you!

 

I am a rather nerdy guy who only follows 6 particular forums that interest me the most. I also keep direct bookmarks to each of them, so I never see the main interface, or the other forums. Thus, I only found out about the coming end of babble on Sunday, when a passing reference by 6079_Smith_W in one of the Israel/Palestine threads tipped me off. If he hadn't mentioned it, I would have carried on unaware until babble disappeared on April 15.

But, knowing that the end is near for this forum, I would like to say goodbye to everyone here. I will miss babble, despite its many faults. I agree with Pogo and others that the discussion has been getting worse for a long time. And yes the number of posters, at least in the forums I follow, has gone way down to a small core (including myself). It probably isn't sufficient for a sustainable and useful service, so I understand why it is being shut down.

Still, I have learned a huge amount by reading babble posts and following the links to articles, books, and videos that I would otherwise never have known about. Thank you to everyone who has helped me continue learning new things and thinking new thoughts, even at my advanced age. As Mr. Spock used to say, "Live long and prosper".

Same to you.

I like it as well, but I guess not enough people did.

..that's an interesting idea paladin. i would support something like that. not sure about the platform though. can it create threads for instance.

..txs

Well damn, I lost a lovely ode to Babble post in under 15 minutes. Wrong window, no saving.

I am so sorry to find out that this wonderful community is being shut down. I know it is not what it was in it's glory day which I missed by being only a lurker and mirating to the protest sites of EnMasse and BreadnRoses once I was ready to join a community (I appreciated the worker solidarity and my favourite posters migrated off this site).

Eventually and sadly those two forums died and I finally joined Babble. I miss the voices of those who were here when I first stated up like writer, remind, Makwa, Catchfire, Cueball, Unionist, Mistfit, lagatta, Timebandit and even Aristoteled who we kind of fell out with over the pandemic.

I continue to follow the posts made by epaulo, CMOT Dibbler, Josh, NDPP, Meloveproles, Michael Moriarity, Jerry M., and Mobo.

Old Goat, I think you were my favoutrite moderator of all times. Your sense of fairness and humour was always appreciated. (And I love your God posts.)

epaulo, you are always someone I love to hear from!

Paladin's Reddit idea is not a bad one but I find that platform a bit unruly to folllow.

I have abandoned Facebook and other social media accounts so if anyone wants to keep in touch we can message through this site and exchange email addresses before it shuts down. 

Hard to overstate what place babble had in the education of so many Canadian lefties--at least speaking for myself. 

..me for 2. nice to hear from you. 

Sad to hear this.   I've been reading rabble for over 20 years, been a monthly supporter for 10, and posting in babble for the last 7.   I was first moved to join and post to defend ikosmos, a left anti-imperialist voice on babble that I had followed and admired.   Other babblers have similarly inspired and/or educated me on a variety of progressive topics, especially colonialism, great power politics, anti-war/anti-empire activism.   

I miss many older babbler voices and hope they are well:   Audra, Unionist, ikosmos, pondering, infosaturated, Fidel, Cueball, Slumberjack, michelle and others I'm surely forgetting right now.

To the babblers still active, thanks for spending your time here and all the best in your future.  I really enjoyed the discussions here, and while I agree things have gone south in the last while, a part of me is amazed it lasted this long.   

If anyone would like to keep in touch, please message me and we can exchange emails.

If there are babblers who post on twitter or are regularly active on other forums please let me know.   I am not much for online forums, this is the only one I've regularly participated in, but am now looking for a new discussion home.

Lastly special shout out to NDPP - I've used you as a sort of hard left news feed for many many years, and I appreciate your contributions here very much.   Picked up many great orgs and people to follow from the links you've posted over the years.   If you switch to a new place or twitter or whatever, please message me.   

dp

I'm sorry to see Babble shutting down.  I didn't post often, but I have followed closely for over twenty years.

I wish everyone here the best.

I am going to miss this site, I have been watching/reading it for many years! I have learned a lot that I would not have known from other news sources. 

Hopefully, a new landing site will be found over the next week

I am saddened by this news- just heard it yesterday.  

This board has been one of the most fascinating, invigorating and at times maddening/challenging places I've ever been part of.  

I didn't agree with everyone or everything, and I'm sure there are some people who will always see me as a closet reactionary.  So it goes.

But as people of the Left, we are called to be optimists- it is optimistic to believe that anything is possible, that anything can ever be made fundamentally different and fundamentally better.  May a new forum be created somewhere that provides some way to keep us together in in contact.

(I almost closed with "with all its shams, drudgeries and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world", but I'm told that's been used by somebody else).

Carry on, all- in every sense of the term.

Isn't there something that can be done to save this forum from closing?

laine lowe wrote:

Wow, had to pop in to say hello to Bacchus and Ken Burch. And it was good to see Magoo pop in for a nano-second to say hello. I probably had more interactions with you back on the now defunct EnMasse board where I was Sparqui.

So many great contributors at both these places have passed on and I miss them (RIP Skdadl, Fern Hill, Boom Boom, Hesphastian, POGGE and Croghan).

Hi, Laine.

Jaydub wrote:

Isn't there something that can be done to save this forum from closing?

Charging NDPP per post would generate more than enough money.

Jaydub wrote:

Paladin1 wrote:

Charging NDPP per post would generate more than enough money.

I'm going to miss those posts when Babble shuts down.

Me too. I can't think of another more pure example of a left-wing activist. He is truly a Rabble Legend.

https://youtu.be/15YgdrhrCM8

Some final thoughts:

The primary enemy remains the American hegemon and our domestic proxy settler-state vassal regime, with 'nazi-clapping' politicians that do its bidding and promote its interests.

Canadians should beware and resist these proxy enemies within and their propensity to distract, divert and promote instead supposed enemies without such as Russia and China which oppose US global domination. Multipolarity must be our collective future.

Educate, organize and prepare to defend yourselves against the descending fascism and the drive to wars without and within. Support de-colonization and Indigenous sovereignty. Note and share links of resistance voices to stay informed. Beware apathy and ignorance.

Prepare to fight back. Resist don't collaborate. Silence is complicity.

Good luck and take care of each other.

Goodbye all.   Solidarity, peace and love.

Just popped on here today to hear the news that babble is ending. Haven't been on here much in the last while. Over time I posted less, and eventually stopped entirely, because there were fewer people to read my posts. I also chose to prioritize other venues for online news and discussion from a left-wing perspective (email lists and discord forums for left-wing organizations to which I belong, YouTube, Instagram, and left-wing news sites with better and more curated content than Rabble or Babble).

When it comes to the decline of Babble, an often overlooked reason is the rise of more addictive social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. I don't deny the impact of the bannings and splits that happened over the years, but the more addictive corporate social media platforms are a big reason for the decline of the older style of message boards, particularly among younger people.

I'm not convinced that Rabble needs a paid moderator to keep Babble going; but I also acknowledge that this is probably a moot point at this late stage, as the decision to cut the paid moderator position and not continue Babble without it has already been made.