In a hypothetical situation in which Barbelith ceases to exist, where would we go?

09:02 / 27.01.09

If someone makes me a moderator I can start playing around with it adding fora etc. and possibly get my partner to do something about the ugliness in the near future.

Ticker

12:42 / 27.01.09

Aw! It's like the 'Lith is reproducing! Perhaps like a slime mold the collective colony of cells senses the end of resources and so crawls up to a great height before dispersing offspring. My dad once told me about traffic being stopped because a ginormous slime mold was crawling up a telephone pole and freaking people out.

I clap for joy!

Plus, more usefully, I'd like to encourage the efforts. Having working tech and the folks from here is made of win. The community is fantastic and it is great to see it continue in some form.

19:57 / 31.01.09

I hope that it's okay, I thought I would bump this in case anyone missed grant's potential splinter site.

21:34 / 02.02.09

I'm not going back unless someone adds an SBR forum. So ner.

Spatula Clarke

22:59 / 02.02.09

Well, if nobody objects I'm going to add Anime and Videogames fora to it at some point in the next couple of days. The anime discussion is probably the best thing that remains in the wreck of Barbelith and I know that Seth and others have been talking about relocating that elsewhere. This'd seem the ideal opportunity to do that with as little hassle as possible. As long as I'm not stepping on anybody's toes. And videogames... well, I keep hoping.

Mysterious Transfer Student

00:32 / 03.02.09

Grant didn't get around to giving you moderator status yet, did he?

If I was playing any games, I'd love to talk about it; but I'm a heathen for now. I would like to find a visually rich yet resource-lenient game for my somewhat old and marginal computer, though.

My Mom Thinks I'm Cool

15:42 / 03.02.09

I love reading the in-depth games stuff here and I'd love to see it continue.

unfortunately I'm generally playing things like Bahamut Lagoon or FFTA emulated on my computer, so I can't generally contribute anything useful to Wii-type threads.

16:10 / 03.02.09

I'm happy to see Randy's planning to add Videogames and Anime fora; I'd only suggest making the latter 'Anime & Manga' since the two go hand in hand in most people's minds, and I don't see any particular need to carry on the division enforced by Barbelith's forum rules.

If Ermintrude wants an SBR forum I'll add my vote for that and even try to contribute, as long as you don't mind most of my posts being either unhelpful or plain depressing.

16:14 / 03.02.09

Just as a note, anybody who's an admin should be able to make anybody else an admin. I think.

I can make an SBR forum in less than 20 seconds, I think.

Well, the *making* is in the writing, but the setting it up is no problem.

Yay!

Incidentally when I look at the site it tells me only grant is an admin and there are no moderators.

17:20 / 03.02.09

Yeah, there are some weird things about the way it handles power over there.

I've just now added all the people who already had admin permissions to a group named "Administrators" but haven't given them the (displayed) rank of "Site Administrator."

Groups, as well as users, have their own sets of permissions - and users and groups can be given forum permissions (so that, say, one could make one group moderators in one forum, or prevent one group from posting in a particular forum, or other things). I think ranks can have unique permissions, too, but I'm not positive.

There are actually enough layers of permissions that it gets complicated to tell who can do what, so thus far, I've been focusing on user permissions, which (I think) trump the other categories.

17:26 / 03.02.09

Ah. Ranks are just fancy names. I'm altering the existing ones to make that clear.

Quantum

07:38 / 04.02.09

Ooh I want a fancy title, Archduke Quantum!

Spaniel

12:42 / 04.02.09

I have done signed-up

Closed for Business Time

13:34 / 04.02.09

Ironic that conversations about Arborlith is currently taking place here. Innit.

Spatula Clarke

16:34 / 04.02.09

That's more to do with not wanting to bog the new place down with this kind of discussion before it's even had a chance, I think.

none

Certainly one of the many things we have learned here could be that discussions about any kind of technicality or policy would best be done a very very very long way away. On a different board. On the sun.

17:19 / 04.02.09

Well, for better and/or worse, there is a function on phpbb that allows certain fora to be visible only to certain users, if desired.

09:19 / 07.02.09

I wouldn't be hesitant to use it if we were discussing whether to ban someone. I don't think that kind of open discussion did this place any good at all.

trouble at bill

15:04 / 11.02.09

Always went okay in the secret fora, though.

Seriously, that could get a bit Orwellian, couldn't it? I think overt power would be fairer than occult power, so people knew where they stood.

21:02 / 11.02.09

People use banning threads to overtly criticise each other and continue arguments started elsewhere that have become fuelled with anger. The focus is generally on personal taste rather than being an analysis of the facts. It's rarely possible for the decision to be fair and objective. Moreover a banning decision is never a democratic decision when only a select few have the power to physically ban so why keep up the pretence? Having a space for moderation discussion means those with the physical power can talk about it openly with each other, develop a shared system to deal with it and not involve everyone who can't take that action. It also means that trolls or people who have had an unfortunate experience and can't cope in a space don't have to fight with people who have more power than them. It's a better system.

w1rebaby

22:18 / 11.02.09

Out of interest, how many people are still here considering this topic?

23:56 / 11.02.09

What, in this thread?

Spatula Clarke

19:33 / 12.02.09

Well, we've already got a (more than) functional alternative in the form of the board that grant's started. It's just that nobody much is using it yet, for reasons that I genuinely can't fathom.

ONLY NICE THINGS

20:13 / 12.02.09

Well, it could be a number of reasons. Ultimately, though, it's that if people wanted a message board they could have one pretty easily. What they want, specifically, is Barbelith.

20:32 / 12.02.09

Some of them probably do just want barbelith and for others it will take a little time to engage with a different space visually. I'm enjoying the process of making a new place, the numbers are creeping up gradually and there are a couple of people who weren't posting here that it's ace to engage with regularly again. I just need to tweak the way it looks with a little help- I'm going to try to do that on Saturday I think- play with the colours and maybe change the edges a little bit.

13:44 / 13.02.09

Yeah, whatever I've started over there is definitely not yet formed. I'd give it a couple of months at least before it even started to look alive.

trouble at bill

12:04 / 15.02.09

It's a better system.

Well, so long as within it there's warnings given, clear comunication as to where offenders stand, sort of like yellow asnd red cards, maybe.

aye aye cap'n

Hmm, it's still not quite as lively as we thought it might be by now, is it? I'm not sure what to suggest but am a bit concerned...

werwolf

12:09 / 20.05.09

well, i've joined arboretum now. will lurk around a bit, before i get actively involved - i show i've always handled new boards.

thing is - and i'm guessing i'm not alone there - that when barbelith startet to, shall we say 'decline' and nobody seemed able or eager to embrace ways to liven it up a bit, i started looking for other places. and that was quite a bit before i noticed arboretum. so by now there are several boards i lurk at and as of now 2 (arboretum and whitechapel) that hold most of my attention. which means that my overall activity on any one particular board has decreased. hm...