Philosophy Now Forum

Somebody asked me why the new URL for the forum is Canzookia.com

One of the technical problems with the forum last year arose from it being based on the same server as the Philosophy Now magazine website. Consequently when the forum started attracting vast waves of bots, they not only crashed the forum, but brought down the magazine website too. Therefore Bora and I decided that the revived forum should be hosted on a completely different server, and have a completely different domain name. By why Canzookia.com?

There has been a certain amount of discussion here in the UK about how nearly all of the websites from which people get news or opinion are based in the United States. A few months ago Press Gazette magazine did a study and concluded:

Total time spent with the top 25 UK website publishers in May 2025 was 313 billion minutes: Just 5% of that was spent with UK-owned sites, 9% with Chinese-owned ones (mainly Tiktok which is absolutely massive by the way) and 85% with US-owned entities.

None of which would matter in itself, but people are getting twitchy about how many of the social media sites are owned by a handful of multi-billionaires, often with political agendas, or at least with commercial interests strongly affected by politics, and deliver content selected by algorithms that are opaque.

By contrast, the Philosophy Now Forum uses no secret algorithms - you actively choose what you want to read. It is based on a server in Canada, and is managed (if that is not too strong a word) from the UK. Therefore in choosing a domain name we've picked Canzookia in order to riff on CANZUK, the acronym for the occasionally popular idea that Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK should work more closely together. It goes without saying that not only Canadians, Australians, Kiwis and Brits, but also Americans and thinkers of all other nationalities too are very warmly welcome here.

bubblegum aside, you could have just said Bazookia sounds too destructive...

-Imp

"Bazookia, where the party goes with a bang."

Or maybe Bouzoukia, where all discussions are accompanied by the sound of Greek folk music?

RickLewis wrote: ↑Tue Feb 17, 2026 9:02 pm By contrast, the Philosophy Now Forum uses no secret algorithms - you actively choose what you want to read. It is based on a server in Canada, and is managed (if that is not too strong a word) from the UK.

Does that mean you can enable image tags again?

What, because of the server being in Canada? I did wonder about that. When we turned off the image function before, it not only saved us paperwork with the regulator but my fellow mods (as far as I recall) thought it was an improvement anyway. Are you in favour of restoring the ability to post images, if it turns out that can be done easily?

Is a text only system that awful?

I don't think so.

RickLewis wrote: ↑Wed Feb 18, 2026 12:14 pm Are you in favour of restoring the ability to post images, if it turns out that can be done easily?

Absolutely.

Hey, we're back up!!!!! Hurray!!!!!

RickLewis wrote: ↑Wed Feb 18, 2026 12:14 pm What, because of the server being in Canada? I did wonder about that. When we turned off the image function before, it not only saved us paperwork with the regulator but my fellow mods (as far as I recall) thought it was an improvement anyway. Are you in favour of restoring the ability to post images, if it turns out that can be done easily?

Yes please. I have a sudden need - discovered only today - to link to a 2013 tweet in which a prominent political wannabe of the time accused then President Obama of harbouring plans to attack a foreign nation solely because he lacked the ability to negotiate. You will be completely shocked when you find out which political newbie posted that tweet, and in referrence to which country.

But if shitposting doesn't tempt you, then on the off chance that I decide to launch my new Grand Unified Theory of Moral Metaphysics, henceforth to be known as Moral Rock-Paperism, that's going to need at least two diagrams. Presented as mere links: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rock ... issors.svg they don't really convey their information at a glance as intended.

What a tempting offer! Yes, I can guess who the gentleman was.

In general. I just briefly skimmed the rules set by the UK's Online Safety Act, and it says that it applies to any website with a substantial UK audience, so unfortunately the fact that our server is in Canada probably makes no difference. It looks like leaving the image posting off and the age restriction switched on probably goes a long way towards satisfying the rules, though probably not all the way. I'm going have to understand those rules a bit better, once I have a bit more time, and then report back.

The rules are mainly aimed at websites where random visitors can post their own content. I think if you have a specific picture you want to post, you could tell me by PM, I could turn on the image posting function for (say) a day and then turn it off again. Your picture would remain visible even after the function was again switched off.

RickLewis wrote: ↑Sun Mar 01, 2026 1:59 pm I think if you have a specific picture you want to post, you could tell me by PM, I could turn on the image posting function for (say) a day and then turn it off again. Your picture would remain visible even after the function was again switched off.

Hi Rick,...

...if it's okay with you,...

(and assuming that we can still edit old posts)

...how about I PM you sometime soon (not now) when we can pick a time when you can turn the image posting function back on for a day so that I can replace a few of my images that disappeared from several of my old posts because something went haywire with the links I used?
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seeds wrote: ↑Sun Mar 01, 2026 9:02 pm

RickLewis wrote: ↑Sun Mar 01, 2026 1:59 pm I think if you have a specific picture you want to post, you could tell me by PM, I could turn on the image posting function for (say) a day and then turn it off again. Your picture would remain visible even after the function was again switched off.

Hi Rick,...

...if it's okay with you,...

(and assuming that we can still edit old posts)

...how about I PM you sometime soon (not now) when we can pick a time when you can turn the image posting function back on for a day so that I can replace a few of my images that disappeared from several of my old posts because something went haywire with the links I used?
_______

Yes, no problemo.