It seemed that during the 2-3 year runup to the oil spike of 2008 that peakoil.com membership rolls exploded. But by the time I decided to leave the site, the inmates were running the prison. Coming back here, it feels very much like it's starting all over again. The posting volume appears to have dropped off quite a bit, and some of the posters who I used to enjoy reading have started posting again. My arch enemies are largely gone (or lurking).

So I'm wondering how much of this is by design and how much may be due to peak oil hitting some kind of bottom level in public consciousness by virtue of the economy taking center stage and oil staying under $100?

I just find the vibe here is vastly different from when I left.

Kinda slow over at 'taht' other place, huh?

There were some really intelligent, considerate posters on this site back in '04 - '06. I think a significant reason why a lot of low-price regulars use the site is because it has something of a Cheers-like value.

BTW, you can't call me an "inmate" anymore unless you consider the Senior Counsel Of The 911 Commission, John Farmer, to be one too. Good luck with self-certainty you seem to always show. Trouble with that character trait is you have to be right more than wrong, usually. (tsk, tsk).

Well the snobbery around here hasn't changed much.

I'm glad you're back Mos.

Welcome back, Mos.

i have noticed this as well. the bush administration fostered a healthy atmosphere of paranoia and hurricane katrina kept us riveted. the financial crisis changed the focus a bit, and now that obama is honeymooning, the price of oil is low, and the realization that the world has not ended seeps in, all the manic energy has evaporated from this place.

i keep dropping in to see if anything interesting is going on, and nope, nothing is. oil and gas prices will surely spike again before long, but i became more skeptical of peak oil when i saw several sources predict the collapse back to $50 a barrel - all from a tinfoil, market manipulation perspective.

crisis upon crisis will pour on, no doubt, and doomerism in general still seems to make sense, but i'm not convinced that natural oil depletion (or global warming, for that matter) will topple modern civilization in the way many of us have imagined.

Welcome back.

I expect as soon as the next oil crisis arrives, this place will be buzzing again.

I have little interest in fighting over tinfoil topics anymore. If you want to go there, be my guest. I will limit myself to threads of interest.

So your brain is having a hard time repairing itself after all of that drinking, eh mos? Anxiety is a classic symptom of a dry drunk. You can get piracetam on Ebay. The FDA considers it to be a food supplement and is legal to buy and use. Try a pinch in a cup of coffee now and then. If you get too hyper and/or have insomnia, stop using it for a couple days. You can put it in beer, too, but make sure its only half a glass, because it foams and you have to wait until the foam goes down to drink it.

http://www.piracetam.com

moron

You mean....like... peak oil more than a year ago WASN'T BAD ENOUGH!!!!!

Sorry, I just couldn't help myself.

Go back to 2005, and peak oil was THE crisis, now that we've been through yet the most recent, we have to dream up something else to get stirred up over. Its the irony...is all....

I think it s great-the crazies have gone but the reality remains the same- oil production declines will have a dramatic and enduring effect on life as we know it. How much, how quick and how intense is what we all will continue to argue about...

Do you think it takes some of the pizazz out of the conversations, without the guns/ammo/gold club? Or the financial, market watching specialists ( which sort of stopped when the market reversed as well ) ? For awhile there, as the markets cratered last fall, like people would post 3 times a day, "the market! its going down! which gun should I use on my neighbors first!", and that all sort of went away by March of this year.

I think the enthusiasm for which Monte defended his "kill off everyone I don't like" angles was pretty interesting (until he got defensive anyway) in an academic exercise kind of way. I mean, they might not be participating ( and I'll bet dollars to donuts they actually aren't living with the Amish in Pennsylvania putting their money where their posts were ) but that might be because there were quite a few fast crashers out there, and when they didn't get it...well....they moved on?

The thread topic, for those having a wee issue with neurons firing correctly this evening, is, "Has peakoil.com been rightsized" which can be construed to mean, is there now a better balance among the dieoff crowd, cornies, natural skeptics, tentative believers, gold bugs and full blown zealots at this website.

I offered my opinion on the topic. You have been a regular for a long time...take a deep breath...reread the thread topic, venture an opinion on it. Certainly your normal rhetorical attack is unnecessary.

Off topic and ad hom attack posts have been deleted. Behave yourselves.