Freethought and Rationalism Discussion Board

The Freethought and Rationalism Discussion Board is a privately owned website historically known for openly hosting discussions of alternative sexuality, including the adult-minor themes now covered on sites such as Newgon.com and Anontalk.com. In recent times, the website has been taken over by an administrative hierarchy who are hostile towards any discussion of sexuality, particularly its "alternative" forms.

Beginnings

In 1990, the original alt.atheism usenet newsgroup was created, followed by alt.atheism.moderated. As with other newsgroups, discussion was fuelled by th Eternal_September. Then, in 1995, the Internet Infidels (Secular Web) was founded to expand on the static resources available on the newsgroup alt.atheism, shortly followed in 1996 by its very own BBS, known as the Internet Infidels Discussion Board (IIDB) right up to 2008, when it was discontinued as a Secular Web resource under "crisis" conditions.

As IIDB

As IIDB, the discussion board hosted a number of topics on alternative sexuality. We have listed some examples at Links (Fora). Within a year or so, this inspired a spin-off debate: should the Secular Web be seen to encourage or tolerate discussion of topics that would be regarded beyond acceptable in wider society. It should be noted that the founding principles of secularism and their promotion were high priorities. Discussion of what were regarded as fringe sexual topics continued unabated for a number of months.

Crisis and takeover

A combination of controversial, high-profile user bans and a general tightening of rules lead to a mass exodus and the enrichment of further spin-off forums. The Secular Web secretly agree to offload the large on-line community, waiting a year until their fund-raiser monies are spent. During this time the two future owners, including Jo Apauni, a New Zealanders child-protection officer contribute further to the transformation of what was a free-flowing discussion board into a top-down bureaucracy.

Sexuality discussions

Against the backdrop of this general bureaucratisation:

At first, discussion of adult-minor sexuality is hushed up after the passing of a guideline on "advocacy", whereby fringe opinions are silenced due to the presumed motivations of their proponents. A number of users were banned because of this, although the ban on discussion is far from comprehensive. General discussion of sexuality was also relegated to an inferior forum per directive.

During this interval, Apauni and Veronique Grant, a self-important IIDB moderator, approached a pedophile member, offering to "cure" him of his "illness". Eventually, after growing tired of attempting to discredit her opponents Apauni passed an "addendum" into the Moral Foundations sub-forum rules:

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Despite this, and the following completion of Apauni's takever, established members of the community can still be seen quietly protesting the official line on these discussions whenever they are brought up. However, as a place for new members to discuss alternative sexuality topics, the current forum is of very little use.

Takeover

Under the ownership of Apauni, IIDB became the Freethought and Rationalism Discussion Board at freeratio.org. Despite its independence from the Secular Web, FRDB continues to enforce strict rules against the discussion of explicitly sexuality-related topics.

See also

• Debate Guide - and its derivatives (this site) were directly inspired by discussions on IIDB.

External links

• FRDB
• IIDB debacle - Broader attention to the problems of IIDB.