New Forum Format. Comments of Structure / Use

[Chris Wright]

Hello all,
Congratulations Geoff and Karene - this is an excellent new format, and I think it will solve all the problems encountered at the Yahoo group. The question is, what will emerge from it in terms of ideas? I hope clarity and consensus, and I wish you the best of luck with that.

[haselhurst]

Hi Chris,
What a pleasant surprise to see your message and best wishes as the first post in our new forum.
I hope for clarity and consensus too. I have learnt from the Yahoo forum, it is difficult getting people to agree, I plan on imposing Ockham's razor of simplicity and underlying unity of reality to limit people's imaginations. I believe this is the best path to proceed with any chance of success (as I am certain that it is also the correct path).
What will emerge? I'm not sure, but i keep trying to do things that i hope will work out OK. The forum is another experiment, but with better knowledge and software / structure.
I also hope that you will enjoy being part of it. We still have things to discuss, (and at some stage i must defend myself against such skeptical pessimistic accusations of my motives, and the naive futility of my goals (to improve the world, by improving the foundations of its knowledge)).

You are one of the most intelligent interesting people I have met on the internet (Glenn agrees with me). I really do hope that you keep in touch with our little group and forum (which will stay pretty small for a while i suspect).

Cheers,
Geoff

[Chris Wright]

Hi Geoff and everyone,
I will keep in touch of course, and am absolutely fascinated as to how this will evolve, what sort of topics will be discussed, how you will moderate, etc.
As I have said, this seems to be a very good format and structure, however there is already a practical problem emerging: with just ten members and a few cheery posts the public forum is already looking cluttered. It is getting difficult to remember what you have read and what you haven't (and the yellow piece of paper does not go back to normal unless you read posts when logged on, which makes it harder to keep track).
I forsee another potential problem - it is difficult to know what should be a new topic and what should be a reply to an existing topic. People will worry about their replies not being read by everyone if they are not new topics.
Of course, I am just sewing dragons' teeth, but I think these things may need dealt with sooner or later - better sooner.
Chris

[haselhurst]

Hi Chris,
I think as you use forum more you get better at finding things. So this reply is probably more for others who stumble on this thread.

I find that if i always Log In first then use option near top right of page;

"View Posts Since Last Visit"

that each morning I can quickly see whats new, who has replied to posts, etc.

I also use the back button on browser which works well on my computer.

The 'yellow flags' are also useful as they show that there is a new post that has not been read by you yet. And you can scroll down main Index page and see for each Forum Section who (and when) posted the last message.
You can also use member list at top of page, go to someones profile page and there you have an option to view all their posts which helps at times.

In terms of New Topics it is probably best to try and keep posts less than about 5 screen pages. On the internet it is much better (both for Google and people) to make more unique pages with proper headings that reflect contents of page.

It is not perfect, but it is pretty good. Though as forum grows we will need to start building Wiki and putting best knowledge in there in an encyclopedia format.

Karene and i both believe this Forum has great potential. We are prepared to spend considerable time on it, and I will also be quite ruthless (as a philosopher) to ensure that people abide by posting guidelines and stay within the subjects of WSM and dynamic unity of reality.
I am not going to run this forum like the WSM Yahoo group (which was largely left as a democracy) as I believe that results in endless arguments about things that people imagine to be true (without proper understanding of philosophy physics and metaphysics).

Hope this doesn't sound too arrogant / abrupt. I will try to be nice and polite and kind too!

It is difficult at times moderating a group of people. I do not really want the responsibility, but believe that it is necessary. I hope that you will help in this area in time.

Regards,
Geoff

PS - I think layout (changed on April 1st) is now simpler than it first was, so that may help a bit. But I am always open to suggestions!