Philosophical Vegan Forum

The old attachments are on the old server. I'm waiting for FTP data from TVA to get them. It may be a while.

Forum email should be working again now. So, password recovery and alerts to things should be fine. Also, I re-enabled email activation for registration.

Avatars are back! Although you probably already noticed.

Attachments are more tricky, it seems they're part of the database or something. I downloaded the old ones, but have no way to easily put them back. That might take a while, or we might just need to leave them missing.

I would like to change my username if possible. brimstoneSalad, I've sent you a private message about this to you, detailing my reasons, if that matters to you.

^Is there a reason we can't change our usernames whenever we want to? You shouldn't have to explain your reasons to change your own username.

Here's my reasons, if it's interesting to anyone:
I've become adverse to identifying myself as an "abolitionist vegan", both in principle (1) and in practice (2).

1. I don't fully agree with the implications of this term. It generally refers to a person who is morally opposed to all forms of animal use, though I don't agree with this. I think that some forms of animal use are morally justifiable, and some (quite likely) are even important to continue (at least in the absence of superior alternatives). Usage of guide/bomb-sniffing/drug-sniffing dogs comes to mind, as well as pet-ownership (under the right circumstances, such as not supporting overpopulation/inbreeding/abusive-breeding). At best I'd qualify as an "abolitionist" with regards to animal agriculture, most forms of animal-testing, and confinement/torment/killing of animals for the sake of entertainment/tradition/religion/etc. Basically I don't want to use a label which lacks nuance, at least until I've given those I'm speaking to a thorough understanding of my stance on animal ethics.

2. As you are likely well-aware, the term "abolitionist", within the vegan movement, is one which Gary Francione is commonly associated with. I don't want to be associated with Francione, Franciobots, or deontological advocates of veganism. There are some matters on which I agree with Francione, but many that I disagree with. I think that many of the views he expresses are incorrect and/or pragmatically-foolish (regardless of philosophic-validity). Did you know that this dogmatic deontologist has a list of "6 principles" on his website, describing what an "abolitionist vegan" is and isn't? It's important to me to be a pragmatic advocate of consequentialist ethics (particularly regarding veganism), and so I'd like to avoid making references to Franciology.

I'd like to participate on the forum (frequently) again, but I really don't like my username. Please change it for me if you can. Thank you.

ArmouredAbolitionist wrote:I would like to change my username if possible. brimstoneSalad, I've sent you a private message about this to you, detailing my reasons, if that matters to you.

I didn't get a PM, what do you want it changed to?

brimstoneSalad wrote:

ArmouredAbolitionist wrote:I would like to change my username if possible. brimstoneSalad, I've sent you a private message about this to you, detailing my reasons, if that matters to you.

I didn't get a PM, what do you want it changed to?

I think that I made the message as a reply to you in a preexisting private discussion thread between us.

I'll go with Lightningman_42, which is already my Playstation username.

ArmouredAbolitionist wrote: I'll go with Lightningman_42, which is already my Playstation username.

Are you sure you want to link this account to your Playstation account?
Generally speaking, it's a good idea (for security and privacy) to use different usernames on difference services. Particularly if you use the same email or a similar password.

brimstoneSalad wrote:

ArmouredAbolitionist wrote: I'll go with Lightningman_42, which is already my Playstation username.

Are you sure you want to link this account to your Playstation account?
Generally speaking, it's a good idea (for security and privacy) to use different usernames on difference services. Particularly if you use the same email or a similar password.

I use 2 different emails and 2 different passwords, so I hope it's not a problem. Thanks for changing it.

How do I change my status, i.e., religion, vegan or vegetarian, etc.? I can't figure it out.