Hi Joel - Thanks for the information - I am not familiar with a BBS or how
it functions, which leads to my confusion; I assume there are others on the
MF with the same concerns who aren't speaking. I looked at
http://wikipedia.com, and from that I gather that your proposed solution
allows for multiple editing and posting of articles/opinions on defined
subjects - is that correct? Is the basic idea that the issues that arise on
the MD/MF would be organized in the same manner? If so, it appears that a
great deal of organizing, editing and summarizing would be necessary - how
would this happen? Or am I missing something?
Marty J
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-moq_focus@venus.co.uk [mailto:owner-moq_focus@venus.co.uk]On
Behalf Of Joel Kotarski
Sent: Sunday, January 06, 2002 10:20 PM
To: moq_focus@moq.org
Cc: shaouljdk@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: MF MoQ BBS/Community
Hi Magnus,
Thanks for testing out the interface and the feedback is good to hear.
>From the start, I want to just throw the general question to the group in
general:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Do we currently have a mounting problem (need for evolution) in the lists or
is
all perfectly fine? That is, if we assume that we _could_ have a
dynamic-in-the-moment
component of these wonderful conversations that are going on (some not so
wonderful, like life itself) along with a static (more-permanent) record,
should the static part remain as MD and MF in their current form?
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
I would point out from the perspective of an observer (and _rare_
participant) that
* MF is suffering from apathy..
I picture a once great forum where great minds forged trails in
the past
temporarily silent.. sort of uncomfortable, like a museum of the minds.
* MD is suffering from chaos..
I picture a room full of sharp people with a stack of Post It
notes and
pens. There are notes hanging everywhere that pop up in random
locations. You have to walk up to the note and see its title, but then
you realize it wasn't what you thought. An arrow points to a
new
note that comes from it, and it is a new topic. In the
beginning, this
might have worked, but now the Post It note system is
unmanageable.
(As a note, the Post It notes do have high Quality writing on
them)
As someone who might have something to contribute, I see people throw their
hands
up and leave these two metaphorical rooms in frustration. Those that stay
find
coping methods to sort through the NOTE HELL painted in MD.. Or else they
retreat
to the clean, yet silent, MF forum.
I was about to walk out, myself, but figured I would open my mouth and offer
some
suggestions.
What is most important is the PROBLEM, not the myriad SOLUTIONS. I was
putting
the Ox in front of a not yet formed Ox-Cart. So, did I summarize the
PROBLEM
that is ailing MD/MF and the participants? If there is no PROBLEM and I am
wrong,
then I will gladly bid you all farewell, this environment might just not be
meant
for me... and there is no need for an Ox (SOLUTION) to draw a non-existent
Cart.
If there is a PROBLEM, we have a Cart to move to a new location (the IDEAL
FINAL
RESULT).
What would everyone like to see in this new hypothetical location? We might
be
able to implement it.. it might take some time of course.. And new mini
problems
will pop up.. which Magnus addresses:
> I do have some concerns about the technical nature of the interface. It
wouldn't
> bother me, I assure you, but the main part of the Lila Squad is not very
> technically oriented and would probably have difficulties using something
like
> fix.no.
If this direction were taken.. It can be made very painless. There can also
be
a tutorial.. The learning involved (the "technical" part) might be
_slightly_
inconvenient, because it is new.. but the BENEFITS will greatly outweigh the
HARM of learning. For the record, fix.no tries to weed out non-technical
types.
The MoQ BBS, if it were built, could be built around ease of use.. it is a
very simple matter.
> I also think that the mail format still has many advantages to having
static
> channels on a BBS. Mail can be read off-line which is a serious advantage,
> not to mention economically for those with dial-up connections. I also
like
> the possibility to read mail on my Palm via my phone when I'm in the bush.
Definitely.. The BBBS program has added support for Offline mail readers..
Meaning a user could login to the (hypothetical) BBS and with one command,
download/grab a batch of messages for offline reading (and of course, the
more slow process of writing messages). This can take all of four minutes,
plus the grab command is infinitely flexible -- you can grab messages only
to you, and if you were interested in only one area (like
moq.md.technology),
you could have it pre-setup to only grab from this area. Since rubbish is
relative to the person, they aren't forced to download everything and the
Value ratio of the download goes up. (pertinent/inpertient)
> So I would vote to have the "static" lists as they are but try out some
> dynamic alternatives, not necessarily on a BBS though. This would make it
> possible to chat in real-time with a bunch interested in a certain topic.
> And it shouldn't be harder to find that discussion room than clicking a
> link on the MoQ site. There should be some Java chat applets around
somewhere.
> Have you seen any?
There are plenty of Java chat applets, yes.. And if the BBS idea isn't high
Q,
then this would be a good alternative.
On a side-note, and to get people's minds turning toward the infinite
solutions
to the PROBLEM (once it is properly labelled), please see
http://wikipedia.com
--s
MOQ.org - http://www.moq.org
MOQ.org - http://www.moq.org
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