End of Line

A controversy recently happened over on Richard Dawkins’s website.  He made an executive decision to close the very active forum and reopen in it a more structured and moderated fashion.  This is all within his right as the owner of the site, and in normal circumstances, this could have happened without a hitch.  Unfortunately, it didn’t.  In fact, the whole situation blew up into a mess of conflicting stories and finger pointing.  The best guess I can make from the outside is somehow everyone on both sides of the issue was hurt by what happened, and no one really got what they wanted.

Apparently there was a distinct lack of good communication.  For those that aren’t aware, Dawkins does not run his website.  He does not even take a very active role in the day to day operations.  He pays his friend Josh Timonen to run it for him.  Thus all information of the situation was filtered through at least one person, and sometimes several, before reaching the public.  This leaves plenty of room for misunderstanding.  And for a long time, there was nothing from Dawkins.  Just silence and filtered statements.  Even when Richard Dawkins wrote a post on the forum, it was soon subject to doubts of its authenticity, that it was simply fabricated message from the webmasters to put an end to the controversy.

All of this could have been prevented if Richard Dawkins had a real online presence.  No, a website run by someone else is not an online presence.  I am talking Richard Dawkins the person.  I understand that he is a famous writer, a world traveler, and a popular speaker.  I understand he might not have a lot of free time.  So he needs to re-arrange his schedule to MAKE time for this.  If you are going to exist in the current world culture, the internet is important.  And if you are going to be online, a strong public voice is key.

Recently Giantbomb.com had problems with its video player.  As soon as it was notice, information went up on the forums.  The site founders and its engineers were quickly posting notices both on the website and through social media like twitter.  As a user who encountered this problem first hand, it was instantly apparent that someone understood my concerns, and were working to fix the problem.  This high level of communication is key to being successful.  And this is from a website that according to Alexa has three times the traffic that RichardDawkins.net does.

There is no excuse for leaving your fans in the dark.  Detached communication from on high is old thinking.  It is the mode of operation that evokes thoughts of giant unfeeling corporations, not loving affection for a favored writer.  I hope that Dawkins learns from this and works to better his communication.  I even know the place for him to start.  Good luck Richard.

-That is all