| |
|
Well, I'm just a lurker, but I'm going to chime in with my two American cents anyhow. First of all, I really enjoy reading the Temple forum. As a university student working in religious studies and depth psychology, I learn a lot from listening in on these discussions. In terms of my personal practice, I'm still very much a beginner and often feel that I don't have too much to add to the conversations that happen here.
I also understand why a lot of you want to move to a new space separate from Barbelith. The Temple is the only Barbelith forum that I read. The Temple also seems to have moved pretty far from its nineties Invisibles chaos magicky roots, and there seems to be a general feeling of malaise and stagnation hanging around here. In other words, the Temple discourse has evolved way beyond Barbelith and needs a new home with better feng shui. I support that.
I would love to be involved in the new forum eventually, if the folks in charge don't mind having a student-lurker type around. As someone with both academic and personal interests in magic, I really appreciate the depth and quality of the discussion that happens here. But it's my nature to read a hell of a lot more than I write.
All that said, I would like to weigh in on a few small matters related to the new forum:
1. Ficsuit renaming
Bonus Feature or Confusing?
Really confusing. Especially when I'm looking through old threads, and everyone is calling each other by names that are completely different from their current ones.
2. Delete/Edit Posts
Should mods delete or edit and should this be enforced by the controls or at mods' discretion?
Personally, I favor allowing the mods to do whatever the hell they want to, as long as there is some kind of accountability built in. Then again, the mods would need some guidelines as to how to handle things. In other words, as long as there are clear policies about what sort of content will be edited and deleted, and both mods and regular posters know the rules and etiquette and whatnot... give mods the tools they need to do their jobs. But also, there should be some way to argue with a mod's decision if posters feel it was inappropriate.
3. WYSIWYG or hand inputting html goodness?
Doesn't really matter to me, but I suspect most users would be happier with a WYSIWYG interface. You shouldn't have to learn HTML (not even a little bit, IMO) to format your posts correctly.
This is also a great place to discuss the social engineering of how people join and begin participating in the new community. El Directo has some great fascinating ideas posted up thread if folks want to explore how they envision this Brave New World functioning in real time.
I basically agree that you'd be best served by keeping the new forum invitation-only for a certain period of time, but I also hope that you eventually set up some kind of application process so that new blood can come in. You might want something a little more substantive than the current Barbelith process, which basically allows anyone with an e-mail address to get in. Maybe have people write a paragraph about their interest in and experience with magic? |
|
|
