WillWybrow.com

I got a call this afternoon from one of my associates, telling me that word about the rumour-mill is that the Warwick Atheists are going to receive the title of Best New Society after all, but will be losing the £100 prize money as a sanction for, I guess, unprofessionalism.

I was pleased to hear that the award would be coming back. However, I had just woken up, so wasn’t at peak cognitive performance. Having had a number of minutes to assimilate this (potential) news, I have come to the following conclusion:

Not Good Enough

What else could they have done about it? There’s a big board up in our Union’s “serious” building (versus the “fun” building) with the names of societies who have won awards each year. There is a column for “best new society.” There are no blank spaces. So, they can’t very well leave a blank space up on the board. It would look ghastly, for a start. And it would provoke questions, and could even become more famous than the infamous Warwick Atheists poster itself.

Plus, how bad would the Warwick Oriental Community (amusingly abbreviable to WOC) feel if they were awarded the prize after we had been stripped of it. Second place? That’s off the scale unfair to WOC and to the Warwick Atheists; the award should go to nobody if it doesn’t go to us.

This puts the Students’ Union at a bit of a dilemma. Do they leave a blank hole on the wall and keep our award from us? That’s pretty infeasible. Do they give the award to the runner-up? That’s even more infeasible and it devalues the award itself. So how, then, can they keep a strong front (to lend credibility to their unreasonable actions banning the poster and stripping the award) while also managing to appear reasonable and considerate. Well, they already know by this point that the award can only go one way - to the Warwick Atheists, but how are they sanctioned by that? Do they get away with their crimes? Does the Union then admit to being wrong?

Of course not. With the award out of the question for the purposes of punishment, there’s only one thing left to take away: the prize money.

As a start, taking away anything over £50 is grossly unconstitutional. But what’s more is that they have impotently taken away everything they possibly could in the given situation. They have taken away 100% of what they possibly could. That doesn’t show they’ve backed down at all. It doesn’t let us know that they’ve taken into consideration the beautifully worded letter that the Wingman sent them. It shows that they’ve ignored our every protest, and just spent this time (this entire term) deciding how they can still fuck us over.

Let me know what you think, but I am certain that we’re being raped as hard as we can be.

I was traversing the internet (more specifically, the parts of it that I write) when I came across a little article I wrote in January 2007 about my previous webhost, a company called 4sitesnetwork. You can Google them if you want, I am not going to link them.

One of the article’s reader comments says that the article in question “comes high up on a Google search for 4sites,” so I decided to look into that. And, what do you know, here we have the evidence:

Lo and behold, there she is, second in the list.

So if anyone wants to look for some impartial reviews of 4sitesnetwork (instead of the incredibly biased customer testimonials), they might search the internet for them, and come across that exceedingly well-written yet uninformative rant. But I don’t want a senseless rant to be my public stance on this particular hosting company. It’s not very helpful, for one, and doesn’t reflect the genuine problems that I could detail.

Mainly, however, I figure that if a post of mine hosted on a free blog can get so far up the Google search page for keywords that apply much more to pages made by the actual company, particularly when it isn’t actually a review, I figure this post can get even higher.

Alex Robinson - a Review of 4sites

4sitesnetwork will offer what initially seems like a reasonable deal for webhosting. UK based (to save those nasty conversions come checkout time) and quite cheap, you think you’re getting everything. Until you realise that the “company” is actually just some Welsh guy running things from his mother’s house.

But you can’t say that on your 4sites hosted website. You can’t say anything critical about the company or its employees at all. You know why? Because 4sites hate freedom of speech. Even if you make a good point about the quality of the host in reference to downtime, and have evidence to back up the validity of your claim, you will still get shut down as quickly as Alex Robinson can manage.

Other than being the totalitarian dictators of budget UK webhosting, the trouble I got into with slandering Alex Robinson all kicked off (both times) with my site experiencing unpredetermined and unexpected downtime. My website was offline for a considerable amount of time when I posted my angry comments. 4sites’ own unreliability forced me to make critical comments, which then forced (sort of) Alex Robinson to ban my site and delete all my original work. About 95% of it has been salvaged from archives, but it’s messy and somewhat haunting.

Anyway, to sum up, find a different web host. Honestly. The unreliability and arbitrary censorship isn’t worth the discount they offer in comparison with alternative companies.

Update

[Continue reading...]

Right, let’s go.

The posts that previously detailed the recent events that happened between the Warwick Atheists and the Warwick Students’ Union weren’t accurate anymore, so I’ve removed them, possibly pending an update to better reflect the truth of the matter, if I can be bothered.

Factually speaking, Callow did nothing more than respond to complaints with the Union investigation, which is nothing more or less than should be expected. How the Societies Federation was roped in is, I guess, a consequence of Callow having multiple roles, but the revocation of the Warwick Atheists’ award cannot be blamed on Ed.

He sent me a very polite e-mail about the inaccuracies on the site, reasonably requesting they were updated or taken away. I’ve never done one of these before, but nobody ever asked me to (and a certain Welsh web host might want to remember that one), so here it is; the first official ToolChronicles retraction.

Keep it real, Ed… sorry for the cock-ups.

TC

Ed Callow has finally spoken to us, and he had some important things to say.

Firstly, we’re not in trouble with the Union yet. They haven’t decided on that matter; they will take it into consideration, as we would expect them to.

Secondly, it is the independent action of the Societies Federation to revoke our award in light of the poster. They have complete jurisdiction over the matter, since they are unrestricted by Union policy over the awards they hand out and rescind. This is utter madness, but it’s how things are at the moment.

These two important things mean two other, equally important, things.

One, Ed Callow is off the hook… for now. If the Union vindicates us, he’s free to walk the Earth once more a free man.

Two (and this one is slightly less redeeming): our battle is now with the Societies Federation Committee, the lawless degenerates who changed their minds on us in a matter of seconds, after deliberating long and hard over whether or not we deserved the award. They have the power to take away what they have given. They can do this separately from the Union, and it doesn’t count as an official sanction. That’s why they’ve been able to act like this without informing us or consulting with us. They’ve been notified of the uproar, however.

They’re letting us appeal against their decision.

Good for everyone, this way we’ll be able to fight them and win, and we will win because we get what we want (and deserve) and SocsFed will win because they’ll know the truth at last.

And then we’ll hit them where it hurts. We have a right to complain that they were unconstitutional in their actions. And then we can take a motion to the Union council to hopefully force the Federation into getting some concrete rules.

We’re coming down hard.

In a personal confrontation, our White Knight asked Ed Callow for a meeting. He has denied us this, and is reconvening with his cohorts to discuss the flood of e-mails he has received in protest of his biased and hasty punitive measures exacted upon the undeserving Warwick Atheists. We’ve got no indication of what he’s likely to decide for the society this afternoon, but he projects that his deliberations will not take him long, for he has promised that he will be finished by later today. After this point, we can choose to contest the point again. We do not know whether this further contestation will result in a formal meeting or not.

It is my personal prediction that the Union will take the cowardly stance of reissuing our award, but rescinding the prize money. This will compromise the moral stance of our position. While we will have still been wronged, to begin arguments over just money will not receive as much favourable support from the student body. The right course of action on the Union’s part, of course, is a complete reversal of their decision accompanied by a public apology. I doubt that the case that has been presented to them thus far, comprising of a short discussion with Cai and the numerous, unrequested e-mails to Callow, is as strong as one we could put forward ourselves in a formal (possibly hearing-style, Callow as prosecutor) would be.

This is yet another example of the Union’s blind unreasonableness.

RaW News has incorrectly referred to this website as the “unofficial blog” of the Warwick Atheists. I’d like to remind all readers right now that this is not the case.

This is not the case! While I support the Warwick Atheists, it is a one-way affiliation, and they are not responsible for anything that’s found here. What I write here is my own personal viewpoint, and it is unfair (and irresponsible) to consider this site to be the public face of the society. I’d hate for them to get into trouble over anything I had posted here (and I’d also hate for the public to get the wrong idea about the society).

I’ve sent the following e-mail to the RaW studio, this having been the most accessible contact detail, after the web form for e-mailing the author of the article didn’t work.

RaW,
I would like it to be noted by RaW news staff, and reflected in the recent news article on the Warwick Atheists: “Warwick Atheists lose Best New Society Award”, that the ToolChronicles blog is neither officially nor unofficially representative of the Warwick Atheists. It is a completely separate entity comprising of an *individual* viewpoint on the matter, and should not be represented as otherwise. Please correct this in your news article, so certain controversial statements have no effect on the impending appeal.
Regards.

With any luck, they’ll correct the article quickly.

In other news, the meeting is still roughly scheduled for Monday at some point. With so much on our side, it’s going to be tough for the Societies Federation to maintain a fair case against us.

I’ll keep news coming as it keeps happening.

Love,

Chronicler*

*The guy who got a mention on RaW news! Score!

If you know me, you’ll know I don’t have a great deal of faith in the masses, finding them to be uneducated, unwashed and unhelpful. But the masses of a nicely atheist society like RichardDawkins.net ought to be able to shed some decent opinions on our current plight.

Warwick Atheists Controversy

Following this immediate impromptu decision, we’re unfairly revoking everything you’ve worked so hard to achieve…

I sit here with a letter clutched tightly in my angrily-clenched fist. It begins: “Dear Warwick Atheists Society,” and it gets worse.

The person who signed this letter, and (undoubtedly) the driving force behind its content, is the now infamous Ed Callow, alleged Welfare and Equal Opportunities Officer of our so-called Union of Students. What this despicable piece of literature outlines is the disgusting allegation that the Warwick Atheists’ posters (see previous post, below) were offensive and in contravention of the Equal Opportunities Appendix of the Union’s constitution.

FUCK YOU, ED

They’ve produced nothing as or more offensive than has been seen in the past, and it was merely a free expression of a valid viewpoint held by a great many people. Religion is mocked in every form of entertainment we have nowadays. The society wasn’t even doing that. This poster is not offensive to average people. A minority, an incorrectly outspoken minority at that, expressed that it offended their sensitive theistic values.

I don’t mean to sound cynical here, but everything is going to offend somebody at some level. To even be neutral on a topic that some people find offensive at just a mention is going to be nigh impossible. And, it’s only since the Warwick Atheists have made a name for themselves with outstanding community work and spirit that this has become a problem.

Fuck Godwin’s Law, the Union is acting like a dictator. They gave no warning whatsoever, and took this weak chance to discredit a controversial society. I’ve heard conspiracy theories already, and while I don’t think any of them are true, I still believe some of them to be possible (and that speaks worlds for our fascist governing body).

It is being taken to appeal, and the society is going to fight it every step of the way. Bring it on, Callow.

Announced without warning or reason, the Warwick Students Union wants to revoke the Warwick Atheists’ award for Best New Society.

Controversy surrounded the display of this poster:

The society is now being persecuted for a perfectly legitimate poster after a few over-sensitive people complained about it. And, what’s more, a member of the news team is lying about the situation in order to argue against us, dictating that he was disgusted and offended by it (and everyone who knows him will know that it’s a lie).

Updates as I get them, but with things moving so quickly and with so little coherence, it might take time before we can get any positive developments.

Much atheist love,

TC

Welcome, friends and enemies alike. What you’re seeing is the first ToolChronicles post after what we shall refer to as the “Alex Robinson Incident,” which I will write up in an objective way some time in the future, for all of you to enjoy. At any rate, most of you probably heard that the problem was with my host. Well, now I have a shiny new host to put up my website from now on. They’re more suited to my needs, so let’s see how this pans out.

For now, let me promise that there will be no stopping the updates. This close shave with obliteration has given me lots to think about. But the future is secure, believe me, and you won’t be deprived for long.

Welcome back. It seems I’m always saying this… but hopefully this time we can delay it indefinitely.

Peace out. Love, Chronicler.