Atheist and Agnostic Group
Encyclopedia
The Atheist and Agnostic Group, founded on June 13, 2004, is an internet forum with approximately 35,000 members on the social networking site MySpace
targeted toward atheists
and agnostics
. Due to its growing size and prominence as the largest group on MySpace dedicated to the subject of non-theism, the creator of the group was invited as a representative to The New Humanism conference at Harvard University
on April 20 to April 22, 2007. The growth rate of the group was about 10 000 per year.
in 2007, with the result that the group was renamed, various users were banned, and discussions, the founder's account, and ultimately the entire group were deleted. The founder claims that this last action was made by Myspace itself responding to pressure from a coalition of Christians. The group was subsequently undeleted, however in 2008 while the founder of the group was emailing Myspace customer services to have users unbanned, the group was (apparently inadvertently) scheduled for deletion and subsequently removed. Once again, the founder believes this is a deliberate action by Myspace in response to pressure from Christians, and furthermore, he claims that Myspace now refuses to undelete it.
The group has experienced several attacks on its infrastructure. On November 23, 2007, the group leader's password was phish
ed, his profile destroyed, and the group taken over and renamed "Jesus is Love". More than half of the regular group members were banned outright, and many of the threads were deleted, including all threads that referred to the hack. This attack ended with the moderator deleting his Myspace profile. Many regulars of the group were banned from membership. On January 1, 2008, the moderator received a message from Myspace stating that the group was scheduled to be removed. Several minutes later, the group was deleted.
Without any official comment on the part of MySpace, the group was restored on February 02, 2008. Many of its members, however, remain banned.
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
targeted toward atheists
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
and agnostics
Agnosticism
Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable....
. Due to its growing size and prominence as the largest group on MySpace dedicated to the subject of non-theism, the creator of the group was invited as a representative to The New Humanism conference at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
on April 20 to April 22, 2007. The growth rate of the group was about 10 000 per year.
Attacks
The founder's Myspace account was accessed by phishingPhishing
Phishing is a way of attempting to acquire information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Communications purporting to be from popular social web sites, auction sites, online payment processors or IT...
in 2007, with the result that the group was renamed, various users were banned, and discussions, the founder's account, and ultimately the entire group were deleted. The founder claims that this last action was made by Myspace itself responding to pressure from a coalition of Christians. The group was subsequently undeleted, however in 2008 while the founder of the group was emailing Myspace customer services to have users unbanned, the group was (apparently inadvertently) scheduled for deletion and subsequently removed. Once again, the founder believes this is a deliberate action by Myspace in response to pressure from Christians, and furthermore, he claims that Myspace now refuses to undelete it.
The group has experienced several attacks on its infrastructure. On November 23, 2007, the group leader's password was phish
Phishing
Phishing is a way of attempting to acquire information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Communications purporting to be from popular social web sites, auction sites, online payment processors or IT...
ed, his profile destroyed, and the group taken over and renamed "Jesus is Love". More than half of the regular group members were banned outright, and many of the threads were deleted, including all threads that referred to the hack. This attack ended with the moderator deleting his Myspace profile. Many regulars of the group were banned from membership. On January 1, 2008, the moderator received a message from Myspace stating that the group was scheduled to be removed. Several minutes later, the group was deleted.
Without any official comment on the part of MySpace, the group was restored on February 02, 2008. Many of its members, however, remain banned.
Death
For a number of months at the end of 2010, all Myspace groups sections displayed the message "Myspace groups is getting an upgrade. It will be back better than ever". As of the beginning of January 2011, Myspace permanently retired Groups for good.External links
- Atheist and Agnostic Group page on MySpaceMySpaceMyspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....