Hello and welcome all to our wonderful new home! The network formerly known as “Skeptic Blogs” is now Skeptic Ink aka the Skeptic Ink Network (SIN). We simultaneously upgraded to far superior software (in my opinion) and art. We hope you like it.
Everything else, our core values, mission, and people are the same (except that we’re adding several excellent new people this week). You might wonder, why the change after just a month-ish of existence? The catalyst was criticism from members of the skeptic and secular community that our previous name, which was designed to be as descriptive and clear as possible, could lead to confusion because there are other websites with similar or similar-sounding names and goals.
At the outset, we were not interested in changing the network’s name, and felt that there was no good cause to do so. However, we also felt it would have been hypocritical for a network which prizes critical thinking and reasoned discourse to reject criticism out of hand merely because we don’t like the sound of it. Overreacting to criticism and becoming defensive and combative is the sort behavior commonly seen around the atheosphere that we wish to reduce. Therefore, John and I and all of the authors who write here had some highly engaged discussions about the merits of the case for renaming. At length, and after much consideration, we decided a change would be beneficial to all parties in the long term. We understand it’s a bit inconvenient but hope that you agree it is best in the long run. By the way, I want to mention that it was Rebecca Bradley of The Lateral Truth who came up with “Skeptic Ink”; this is just one more reason we’re very fortunate to have her.
After it was resolved to rebrand, we decided it would make sense to accelerate existing plans to upgrade the software and platform. When we first produced the network, John and I had very few resources to work with. In the month following launch, we received generous support from you, the fans, and great deals from Ryan Grant Long and the most excellent folks at Radful. All of the writers here and John and I are touched by the wonderful reception our website got at launch, and by the kind words of support and encouragement from so many of you. That’s one reason we’re working very hard to make this network the best damn Skeptic salon around.
We’re not slowing down any from here; we’ve got some great things on the horizon. Come on in, talk your shoes off and conversate with us. No SINners shall be turned away.
Cheers,
Ed
PS. Please note that the official Facebook and twitter pages haven changed (neither permits changes to account links). Please make a note of it. Also, while we are loving this new site, it has a few rough patches and we will be smoothing things over in the coming days and weeks. Please let us know if anything is outright not working, though.
