Diversifying the forum.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Angie Jackson on May 14, 2009 at 9:27am

Fine by me. Of course, cinema, etc. are all the things I *can* talk to people IRL with, and atheism isn't, hence my intense interest in discussing it online with ya'll. But adding more to the site won't make it less "pure" or anything - people still self-select which groups they want to belong to.

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Permalink Reply by Dr. Ned Kelly on May 14, 2009 at 12:02pm

There's the Watercooler section. What's wrong with that existing place for these diverse other discussion topics?

Also, atheists who really wanna discuss sports should be parachuted into the tundra of northern Canada with only a pair of snowshoes, a pocket knife and a metal cup, and if they can make it back to civilization alive only then should they be allowed to discuss sports.

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Permalink Reply by JayBarti on May 14, 2009 at 12:49pm

What if we (or I) already live in Canada, is that an automatic pass for sports discussion.

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Permalink Reply by Dr. Ned Kelly on May 14, 2009 at 1:19pm

(Mumbles something nasty-sounding about socialized medicine)

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Permalink Reply by Justin Pearson Smith on May 14, 2009 at 2:54pm

As someone who enjoys sports about as much as the paint drying channel. I second the motion. I have never in all my life understood the obsession people have with sports. I've just never been able to get into any of them, especially cricket. What I find even more bizzare though, is when people prefer watching sport over participating.

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Permalink Reply by Dr. Ned Kelly on May 15, 2009 at 1:32am

Watching sports is a spectator thing, nothing wrong with it. Setting up a modern internet forum in order to discuss them---especially on an atheist site---lol, well that's psycho.

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Permalink Reply by Фелч Гроган on May 14, 2009 at 10:08pm

Yes diversification would be cool. This is a recurring topic. There are lots of models on which it could be based, but the tried and tested Usenet model (30 years old !) is probably the best. It is a typical container based heirarchical model not all that different in theory to DNS, LDAP, Lotus Notes, Netware, Active directory etc., though much simpler. In essence, it flows top down and as a loose example can be described as -

Organisation (A|N) => Organisation Unit => Office => Department.* => User

Translated to A|N to would look something like this -

AtheistNexus.org => Groups => Science=> Pharyngula => you

This model has the great advantage of being infinitely scaleable, yet very simple for locating what you want logically. The other great advantage would be to allow single objects to be accessible from multiple containers, thus allowing a single comment thread for all (Yes I know cross-posting generally sucks, but often it can be approriate), single point of file access etc.

BUT, and at the risk of upsetting Brother Richard again, the greatest limitation we have is the Ning (our hosting provider) codebase. For want of a better analogy, Ning is a MySpace+ wannabe. It aims to please everyone, and as a result doesn't please very many. There is no capability in Ning to nest forum topics or groups without a serious code re-write.
This is only one of a shopping list of features that look like only half done betas as far as functionality goes.

Like I said, Ning is a type of free, lowest common denominator social platform ideal for single interest groups that are undemanding of function. The problem is, we are a herd of cats scattering in all directions at 100 mph. Ning simply is not capable of catering to all our needs. But its a low cost service and its a case of take it or leave it.

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Permalink Reply by Brother Richard on May 14, 2009 at 11:15pm

Hey, I'm all for changing. Anyone who is capable, PLEASE HELP! The difficulty is making everything backwards compatible and the money to do it all. What we have now cost a few hundred bucks a month, and we are getting half that in donations and ads. With our traffic, we should be able to do MUCH better. I am more than willing.

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Permalink Reply by Фелч Гроган on May 15, 2009 at 12:13am

backwards compatible

Those words put a shudder of nausea and terror through anyone that works with this kind of stuff.

This is the problem with proprietary (as opposed to open atandard) services - it means they're incompatible with anything else and are a nightmare to relocate. Unless anyone knows any better, I would expect that the only way to relocate would be to start from scratch altogether. Not a pleasant thought.

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Permalink Reply by Фелч Гроган on May 15, 2009 at 12:19am

Here's a thought - what about starting a separate Ning group for propellor heads and admins to discuss options ? I don't want to underestimate the enormity of the technical issues that would arise from re-tooling or relocating without user impact. Something with a proper directory services backbone.

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Permalink Reply by Andrew on May 14, 2009 at 10:23pm

Agreed! I would like to hear less talk of theism or scripture quotes. They haven't been part of my life and sometimes it feels like I'm walking into an a-church here.

Although I would fail trying to present, we could also have something like an open mic night live. If Ning can't support this type of scheduled event a site like http://www.blogtv.com/ could be linked. Something that connects real people in real time.

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Permalink Reply by RtPt on May 18, 2009 at 9:26pm

It seems like other non-atheist issues come up regardless...I doubt anyone would have a problem if someone just started a new thread with something else...

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