I am bringing back a discussion about What We Do, despite the danger of excessive mussitation, because I think there is a cause for concern.

In another fred, Bingley wrote with a wistful note that
“An hour or so a day just about keeps me up to date with the postings but I have a horrible suspicion I might have to give up soon.”
http://wordsmith.org/board/showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=miscellany&Number=7062&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5

I suggest this should sound a warning note to us all – so as one of the class clowns I feel suitably empowered to make the following comments and suggestions.

My concern is that I would greatly regret the loss of the voice of someone like Mr B in this forum, particularly if he felt bound to withdraw by being overwhelmed with sheer quantity of posts. Despite my relative newcomer status, and my obvious love of sharing fun and serious games with all of the rest of you, I must admit to having considered this possible outcome myself over the course of the last week or so.

Yet the obvious key attraction for many, as evidenced by the responses to the fred started by Jo, is the very nature of the free-ranging and discursive interchange that takes place here. And this anarchical ‘conversation’, weaving from fred to fred with a stream of in-jokes and punning, is the antithesis of concise!

May I therefore suggest the following self-guidance ideals, in order to try to reconcile these poles? It may make the board more manageable for those who don’t want to get eventually excluded by sheer weight of chaff, whilst allowing the chattering classes to continue what they do best.


1. Protect the Q&A arena
Keep this area of the board strictly focussed, with minimal backchat and fooling – by all means posts could be chatty, but remain subject-orientated – and any jokey continuations could be posted to a more relevant section, with a pointer in the original fred if worthwhile.

2. Augment the Q&A’s value
Conversely, remove questions that crop up in other discussions as questions for posting to this section of the forum. This would allow participation by all, even if they don’t want to trawl thro’ all of the verbiage and badinage in all freds.

3. Keep the magic in Wordplay
This section seems ideally suited to our current brand of mayhem. Knowing this, it could be skipped if it’s too voluminous for someone’s tastes, or otherwise from time to time when RealLife intrudes.

4. Reconsider the value of Miscellaneous
Perhaps this section could be more differentiated from the other two? For example, I am considering trying a thread briefed to write a composite story, to which some/all could contribute, based on simple ground rules… Other ideas will doubtless abound. Is it going to make the arena better value for the time and effort if we manage to differentiate in this kind of way?

5. Respect the balance of other voices
If any of us went into a room full of people, our social inhibitions would probably prevent (most of) us from dancing on the table and singing a song at the top of our voices (or at least until the party warmed up!). Since echat is the closest thing yet encountered to an apparently cost-free environment, we may be more prone to hog the airwaves; I would simply suggest that we all need to help ensure our individual voice does not become so loud or so prevalent that it risks overwhelming the balance and variety that makes this forum such great fun.



Perhaps some of you may initially feel this is over-reaction to one comment, or attempted over-management of a successful forum. It does seem entirely possible to me, however, that the invigorating life of this board could wilt from a surfeit of plenty, and its obvious success paradoxically cause problems.
I therefore believe it’s worth thinking about and discussing, before participants have to take all-or-nothing choices.


PS
I’ve mulled this over for a day or two after initially drafting, taking account of the obvious pleasure many of us are still getting from an ever-expanding volume of postings. It now seems a bit like over-kill, but still feels worth voicing to test everyone’s feelings.

All comments welcomed of course.