Capitol Hill Blue Forums Hot Topics & Breaking News The RoundTable Hope was not enough for ReaderRant

This is a sad day that I knew would come, but one that I never wanted to face. ReaderRant will shut down on Saturday, Feb. 26. I had to come to the decision after realizing that I could not keep it running with the cutbacks in web operations that are a discouraging fact of life in today's profit is all that matters environment. The service where I relocated Capitol Hill Blue says it cannot handle a discussion forum program, and I cannot afford to use another service or server just for it.

RR has been part of CHB since shortly after the site started in 1994. It has hosted thousands of members and had a lot of good discussion over much of the past two decades. I think those of you have kept it running in these later years when I have been too much of an absent landlord. You deserve the thanks of all of us. I have been away too long, and my time left of this earth is now too short.

I will back up all the data and files from RR with the hope that someone might one day want to revive it or archive online somewhere. My daughter may keep CHB going after I am gone. A couple of universities in Virginia are talking with us about archiving my collection of writings, photographs and video work and RR could be part of it.

My thanks, so much, to all of you for what you have done to keep this going for so long. I wish it could have continued.

Doug

I haven't been here long. But I certainly enjoyed it here. The Buddha had an adage that all things are impermanent. So it is with RR as in life. I do thank one and all for being a member here, short as it was.

One more for all the politically minded - “Some do not understand that we must die, but those who do realize this settle their quarrels.” ~ The Buddha

I think we all knew this day would come.

Thanks, Doug, for providing a platform for all our grievances both political and personal for all these years.

It's a shame this sort of content can't find a profitable audience in this day and age of horrible and profitable content creation. But it is what is and we will all move forward with fond memories.

Anyone who wishes to contact me can email me at mkylemobile@gmail(dot)com.

I would look forward to hearing from any of you and if there is any interest we could start a private Facebook group to continue our discussions.

Welp, we still have a few more days of RR.

A private Facebook group seems like a reasonable alternative. I'm already a Facebook member though I very seldom post anything there. It wouldn't cost anybody anything, and it would not expose our email addresses to much spam. The only problem I can see is that it would not be visible to anybody but us members. New blood would be by invitation-only.

I am anti-social media and belong to none of the social media outfits - and never have.

This is heartbreaking news. Capitol Hill Blue's Reader Rant was my first foray into online political forums.
I'd seen a couple of email listservs before that but nothing like the Rant.
I never expected (at that time) to become so attached to everyone here and this feels like losing family all over again.

I used to be "Checkerboard Strangler" here until real names became the option to pick, but I am still Checkers elsewhere on other
forums. I hope I can find all you good people.

But most of all, I want to extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to Doug for the most enlightening journey of my political life.
I think I would have been an uninformed lost soul had it not been for Doug's hard work here at CHB-RR.
Now I'm going to feel lost, and rootless.

But I will be around and easy to find.
I hope the rest of you, including Honcho Doug, will be too.

I'm out of words to express my feelings, all too common with me these days...my mushy COVID brain isn't able to
make my grief flow to the keyboard the way I want it to.
I want to stay with all of you somehow, this is not the kind of thing where I see it as "Oh well, nice chatting with ya" and then
it all disappears.

You will find other forums to haunt and perhaps will find Checkers in some of them.

I don't have the stomach for all the hatred I've seen there.

My Facebook page is a happy and peaceful place. I have family all over the United States and friends all over the world. Some don't hold the same beliefs I do and I'm okay with that.

But it's an easy way to keep in touch with folks you never see and seldom talk to.

There are also still some free hosting sites for small forums like this, but my experience with that is that folks don't come around often enough to keep a conversation going.

Life gets in the way.

Calling-out Rightwingers and not wanting to live by their rules, or with them, is so hateful.

Heaven help us all if they ever score the trifecta again: The White House, The House, The Senate. America was simply very lucky the last time, because a narcissistic incompetent was in charge.

America will not be so lucky next time.


...and just keep in mind, America can't have nice things because Rightwingers won't pay for them.

Remember that bridge that recently collapsed in Pennsylvania? It wasn't on the recently passed infastrctre bill. Why not? Because the good ol' consevatives/GOP cut the infrastructure spending that was requested by the Administration

Conservatives/GOP only want to fund government so that it works half-assed as seen with this recent infrastructure bill. They then point to government as not working. Because conservativs/GOP won't fund government so that it does work. It's not in their interest or their big-money donor's interest to do so.

I'm sick of it Greger. Sick...of...it.