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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
He isn't me, but he's still my relative Thanks, Anna--got to keep young whippersnappers in their place, when they get too big for their britches, said the feckless curmudgeonette. 
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065 |
But how many legs go into the britches? I remember Squiddly-Diddly's hat but I can't remember if he wore britches or any other form of nether garments. Perhaps Jazzoctopus or Cursquid could enlighten us on this point of multi-legged sea creature fashion?
Bingley
Bingley
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
Hey! this board is obviously good for us all - the concentration span continued for quite a long time before diving into the oceanic depths. This may be because both Jackie and I have been away for a while (not together, I hasten to add  ) Marty says, " the success of the board carries with it the seeds of its own destruction ." Whilst I agree with the general idea expressed here, I think "destruction" overstates the case. It is more of a Hegelian thing, surely? - the thesis of this board carries its own antithesis from which, Hegel would argue, something further will be synthesised. Whether this synthesis will be good or bad, what we want or something else, may not be within our own control. But, insofar as we can control the "progress" of the board, I think the "rules of engagement" that Jo kindly disinterred for us provide a suitable array of knobs and levers. I have been contributing for only a few weeks, and have no experience of contributing to other boards, but I have found on this board, like so many others who have responded to this thread, great stimulation, much information and endless laughter as well as some rewarding private correspondence. I am amazed that anyone can find this ambience threatening - it is quite the reverse I would have thought. Certainly there is a core of contributers who form a "backbone," but they are welcoming and tend to be kind to newcomers until they find their feet, reserving the slings and arrows for tried and trusted friends whom they know can take it (and give it back with interest ) It is much like an Irish country pub, where the regulars all chat to each other, but welcome a stranger, talk and listen to him (and even her, these days!) and draw them into the conversation. Long may it continue - adapting as it must to new members, new ideas and mores and changes in culture.
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346 |
Well, time for me to make a contribution here now, I think. Having checked through all the current postings, if I had to pick one that summarized my current feelings it would be belM's. The apple is well and truly shiny as far as I'm concerned! All the other positive comments about the membership and "constitution" of the Board also resonate strongly. I'd probably be inclined to take them further, though... My current enthusiasm feels pretty boundless - something of which you've probably all become well aware  ! I'm eternally grateful to Anna for reeling me in here; But what's got me well and truly hooked is the overall warmth, sense of humour, tolerance and intelligence of the entire community. This means you ! Having implied that everything's right in this little coral reef just as it is, I think basic structure is always a good thing. And indeed, the "best practice" suggestions passed on by Jo, enhanced by Bridget's guidelines, provide just that. And just the right amount, too. Yes, getting the balance right is crucial - although given shanks' very pertinent point about our limited means of control, we have to trust in the balance being achieved by nature as much as (individual) nurture. If there isn't a natural tendency for tsuwm's clowns and disciplinarians to balance up, there ain't a lot we can do about it. The kind of tolerance expressed by shanks and mav remains fundamental, being open to refreshing new influences and keeping the see sawing. Exit Stage Left Field.
Goes off and makes a cup of coffee...On to volume. Well obviously volume per se isn't a problem; being unable to find relevant threads/posts may be. Again, our control is limited - we don't have any means of transferring sub-threads to the top level or in any way physically partitioning threads. wsieber's idea of deleting posts of a certain age appealed to me at first, but then, I thought, there may be particularly useful/entertaining threads that we are all loath to lose. In which case, we need some sort of controlled thread "directory" management. But any form of directory management is off the cards unless we get Anu to do a major rewrite, and also appoint administrator posts etc. A no-no really. What we're left with is more best practice, really. It certainly helps re-titling postings once a sub-thread has clearly established itself. Yes, I know this happens more or less instantaneously in some cases, or you only realise a few postings down the line - but so what? The change of title alerts others to a sub-thread, and if they want to follow it back to source, they can do so regardless of title. We can set up links within postings; has anyone tried saving the URL (Address at the top of your browser) for a particular thread or posting, then sticking that in as a link in another posting? If that works we can provide easy links to other relevant threads, which would be good. The only other suggestion I can make is that fish like myself who haven't yet explored the depths of AWAD's back pages should do so, and add appropriate comments. This would effectively recycle (  ) interesting old threads, putting them towards the top of the summary lists. If they're in descending date order, that is. Would this be a good thing?? That's an essay more than a posting! Sorry for the eye-strain. But hope it helps. In the words of a Scot:
Here's to us
W'o's like us?
Damn few
And they're all deed!
Cheers.
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
one (discouraging?) technical aside: links to other threads tend to be quite lengthy, causing the "wide-screen syndrome" to kick in....
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
Wouldn't it make great sense to communicate the proposed "rules of engagement" to newcomers, say in an e-mail from our Fearless Leader?
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346 |
Ah yes. I suppose the url has to be included in full, and has no line breaks.
Maybe if links to other threads are included they just have to be inserted at the top level of the thread? They can still be referenced from any level of the thread. I know it puts another step in along the way, but it's a sort of solution..
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,094
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,094 |
Wouldn't it make great sense to communicate the proposed "rules of engagement" to newcomers, say in an e-mail from our Fearless Leader?
What do you mean by "Fearless Leader"? We've been left by Anu to graze freely in this lovely field of philisophical etymology. Anu himself has made possibly two posts other than the weekly themes, both of which were very early on. I would say that if anyone were to alert new users of the "Constitution" it would have to be Jackie because she already greets everyone.
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 197
member
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member
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 197 |
Wouldn't it make great sense to communicate the proposed "rules of engagement" to newcomers, say in an e-mail from our Fearless Leader?
Perhaps this email could be spontaneously generated by the system when someone creates an account. We get a "welcome" message, why not include more in this message. I know that when I first signed on, I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out what the rules were before I felt comfortable posting anything. And I wondered for a long time how to put those nifty smileys into the text.  Of course, this would require action on the part of our 'Fearless Leader' but seemingly all that would be needed would be to change the text of the welcome message to include more useful information.
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
Xara's point is my own, only better and more clearly stated. If the "welcome aboard" e-mail that is machine generated when one first joins the discussion could contain the rules proposed at the head of this thread, it would be a good thing and go a long way (I think) toward meeting some of the cocerns raised in this thread. Anu, are you listening?
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