Howdy.
I have not downloaded any posts for over a week, trying to catch up on posts
from the previous three, God help me.
Some observations first, and then some suggestions if I may, please:
1.) Not everyone on the planet has flat-rate ISP access. Emailing for us
barbarians is done in batches, not in real time. The chatty nature of MD and
it's tendency for email inflation, is thus a serious problem for the
intellectual digestion and interaction of us poor plebs.
2.) Not everyone, believe it or not, necessarily even knows what the hell
you old farts are always talking about, even if we have read ZatAMM and Lila
<Thpthhht!>
3.) Even if we were hermits, we would still not have enough time to
research the archives properly. Most of us are not hermits ("we have jobs,
you hippies!"), and barely have enough time to READ the current emails, let
alone past ones.
4.) Even if we had the time to read the archives - and this is not to
disparage the impressive archives - the dynamic, unmoderated nature of MD
means that the Subject titles are not always an accurate reflection of what
the emails/threads actually contain.
5.) The challenge with an unmoderated forum, is that everyone brings their
own expectations,
a.) of MoQ,
b.) of what the forum is there to achieve
c.) of how the forum should proceed/operate
With no clear way of how to resolve these issues
6.) Related to the above: in an unmoderated forum, there seems to be a
slight tendency to "survival of the fittest", not on an intellectual, but on
a social level (and bordering on the Biological). I am referring to "macho
flashing", insult inflation, bitchiness, hissy fits, cliquishness, currying
favour etc. In other words, an Intellectual forum is in danger of
degenerating into a Social forum.
7.) Related to the above: Where are the women? Perhaps they are all off
ironing instead of using computers, but methinks they are mostly put off by
repeated macho posturing and verbal scrums... Men-Only Quality? Maybe I have
not discerned them hidden in cryptic email-names, I don't need to know
aliases, just a thought.
Some suggestions/thoughts:
A. The idea of lesser quantitites of higher-quality posts is favourable (to
moi). In this vein:
i) One Big Forum. Moderated, or with some sort of "Rules of Order", or
both
ii) 2 forums (as now), one is completely open (as MD is now), but the
second is actively, as opposed to passively, chaired/moderated. Some
examples:
1) A chairperson (can be rotating) receives suggestions, but s/he picks
the topic. Democracy is fine when it is not simply majoritarianism. Perhaps
the current system of voting is alienating to those whose topics 'don't get
in' that month. Perhaps the feeling is that it is not simply a topic for
discussion that is being voted _on_, but rather the value of the topics
themselves that are being decided socially. Once a topic 'wins', it seems
the discussion stops... did someone say this already? Forgive me for any
unwitting plagiarism. The sincerest form of flattery you know.
2) A chairperson drives the topic by making statements/posing questions.
3) More than one chairperson, and more than one topic. Chairs can be
rotated by order, picked at random (lottery style), voted in.
iii) 2 forums (as above), but one or more adopt a 'constitution' or rules
of procedure for the forum. A preexisting set of rules (eg Roberts rules of
order) or another compiled/suggested by members, could be adopted.
iv) Even a participatory chairperson should be bound to encourage equal
participation and provide equal opportunity to all members that conform
properly to the forum rules.
B. A FAQ or "For Dummies" fact sheet should be provided for Newbies, to
familiarise us with wrinklies'/oldies' ideas/metaphysics etc.
i) This could be done in conjuction with Members Bios, or seperately (and
allowing for anonymity) under philosophical headings
ii) A format could be decided on how members present their info, this
would include questions about their Metaphysical outlooks, attitudes toward
ethics etc.
iii) Perhaps a web form-mail could be set up to aid the above?
iv) Perhaps people could submit their metaphysics/ideas/essays this way
for "peer review", so to speak?
v) perhaps we can display in our member info, or on a links page, URLs for
philosophy/articles/info that we each think is important to our own
arguments/worldviews. Or we can display a URL for our own webpages that
display the above?
C.) Regardless of how many lists there are, may I make a suggestion
concerning Subject titles of posts, please?
Could we institute some sort of system for this, that will allow variation
on a theme/thread, in an orderly and accurate fashion? What comes to mind is
the structure for URLs: "Domain/secondaryDirectory/WebPage".
Could this be adapted to: "MainSubject/SecondaryTopic/MyIdea" etc. in the
Subject of emails? Even if everything else remained the same, it could
enhance the Quality experience of the discussion if we were able to zoom in
on those threads that were of particular interest to us personally, rather
than having to wade through all of them all the time in the dynamic deluge.
For example, I personally would not need to read an email titled
"Subject: Does MoQ suck?/No U suck/No YOU suck/No You BOTH suck/etc.".
This systematic titling would allow for individual moderation.
Perhaps the Focus list could use that kind of system. The MD list could
still be Quality hovering over the waters of chaos, but the Focus list would
require people to follow such protocols... that would allow for the dynamic
of the MD, but with more order...
D.) May I make the request please, that an official rule of protocol be
adopted, where ad-hominem attacks are permitted only if they are
sufficiently witty enough.
A procedure could be instigated whereby if a majority votes that an insult
falls below acceptible levels of wit, the offending person shall
thenceforward referred be to as "JACKASS" for a period of one month, as a
requisite for remaining a member of the list. If there is more than one
offender, there shall be a list of alternative names, such as SHMUCK,
GOBSHITE, WEENY and broad selection of other, ethnically-diverse insults.
Or maybe not. Never mind, doesn't matter.
Thanks for your time, and Good night.
Take care y'all.
- Oisín
MOQ.org - http://www.moq.org
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Sat Aug 17 2002 - 16:03:33 BST