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Nomadic Threads

19:59 / 26.09.01

Has it been done before? Is it worth doing?

Essentially, the thread has a migration route through related forums. The House of Leaves is a Viral Meme" , for example, would benefit from a cycle that has it spend a week each in the Magick, Books and the Headshop.

I think it would do a lot to cross-pollinate ideas and discussion across the site. Are there any good reasons why this hasn't happened before (ie; it makes the board die, it uses up bandwidth, etc)?

21:50 / 26.09.01

There's no reason why it hasn't been done, actually. No reason at all. I wonder how useful it would actually be though? Opinions?

18:14 / 27.09.01

I actually had a smiliar idea, where I would start a thread in Conversation, linking it to threads in other areas to discuss its tangents.

There are cases when something could be discussed in a number of different ways as noted above. This way you would get people looking at the problem from different angles at the same time.

09:17 / 28.09.01

Look at it this way: I'd been involved in countless discussions in the Magick about magical music. I'm utterly convinced that a lot of people in the Music (especially musicians) would have really enjoyed chipping in, but may not even have known of the thread's existence. In order for some concepts to play out their full potential you need a variety of viewpoints.

I reckon it would do wonders for breaking down the barriers between forums.

09:31 / 28.09.01

This sounds like a great idea. Is there any way for original poster to move the thread hirself, or would it require a special request from the moderator?

I do vaguely remember, a long time ago, when people simply double-posted, beginning the post with "also posted in Magic" or something like that. This has been discouraged, lately because of the board crashes, but the fact that it used to be done is indication that expressionless' idea would be perfect for the board.

09:31 / 28.09.01

I think its a great idea. The moderators might have some ideas as to some starting topics. Maybe not but I assume they read a lot of threads as part of their moderator duties which might spawn some ideas of what ideas would work better than others.

Jack The Bodiless

16:53 / 28.09.01

I love the idea. Myself, I rarely visit The Magick, primarily because I don't have enough of an interest to get as far into into the ideas presented as appears necessary. Some forums are better linked than others - The Magick and Music/Books, for example. If the originator sets the thread up with the proviso that "this is a nomadic thread, moving to (forum x) on this date, and (forum y) on this date", and emails the moderator or Tom to ensure that this is done, then we'd a) get Barbelites who wouldn't ordinarily see the thread taking an interest, and b) encourage a new way of looking at the ideas presented by keeping posts true to the spirit of the new forum that the thread finds itself in.

08:24 / 29.09.01

My only anxiety is who will handle it. I either have to make someone moderator of all the forums or the various moderators have to pass the thread between them... Opinions?

14:46 / 30.09.01

I'd go for asking the moderators to pass the thread between them. They can just e-mail the moderator when it's time for a move.

17:19 / 30.09.01

That seems to make sense to me.

We're The Great Old Ones Now

18:46 / 30.09.01

Distributed authority better, because you don't have to worry about it. You'll just have to slap my wrist for Totalitarianism when I kick some semi-relevant yuk-fest out on its arse before anyone really gets a chance to see it in a Creative way.

'Cos I'm a fascist, me.

19:35 / 30.09.01

quote:Originally posted by Nick:

'Cos I'm a fascist, me.

But at least you're honest about it.

06:12 / 02.10.01

OK: I propose we give it a try.

I'll start a thread that migrates between the Magick and the Headshop. It will start in the Magick and be denoted by an NT at the start of the thread title. The parameters for its migration will be:

1) It will spend one week in each forum, unless;

2) The thread receives no posts for three days (in which case, premature migration is triggered).

I will include a brief explanation of this in the introductory post, along with all the usual incendiary, multi-faceted prose that accompanies my topic starters.

I will direct anyone who wants to debate the concept of nomadic threads to this thread in the Policy, to prevent the thread from derailing (hopelessly optimistic, I know).

This will give us an idea of whether the idea is transcendent and revelatory, capable of linking heart and minds in squishy net unison, or utter shite. We'll also have to try to determine whether the NT concept is flawed, or whether the thread concept is flawed.

Please get back to me with any ideas/objections. If I hear nothing, I'll commence the thread tomorrow.

We're The Great Old Ones Now

12:56 / 02.10.01

quote:Originally posted by Lothar Tuppan:

But at least you're honest about it. Right. I want that poster brought to my secret HQ and beaten with a leather pipe until we have the secret of this irony you people use so freely...

13:10 / 02.10.01

quote:Originally posted by Nick:
Right. I want that poster brought to my secret HQ and beaten with a leather pipe until we have the secret of this irony you people use so freely...

The next Nomadic Thread will be: "Sadism, Masochism, and the poster/moderator relationship."

13:11 / 02.10.01

quote:Originally posted by expressionless:

Please get back to me with any ideas/objections. If I hear nothing, I'll commence the thread tomorrow.

Go Speed Poster! Go Speed Poster GOOOOOOO!

(sorry, too much coffee this morning.)

14:28 / 02.10.01

seeing as .this thread seems to feed into both the art and the music forums, as well as discussing theory, i nominate it for one of expressionless' nomadic threads....

19:30 / 02.10.01

Kooky: Don't know what's the best way to proceed with that one. Technically it's someone else's thread.

You might want to e-mail the topic starter and ask him/her to amend the title and introductory post, in order to explain why the topic is going wandering. It'll then just be a case of setting parameters (see above) and e-mailing the moderators to kick it between the forums when the time is right.

You're right, though: it's definitely a candidate for taking a wander (as is that brilliant thread on film soundtracking in the Film/TV forum).

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

01:08 / 03.10.01

Great idea, if it works. Was gonna suggest the film soundtracks thread myself, but Kooky beat me to it. I know I've only been on here a month, but I have noticed a certain isolationsim between forums (fora?). This "Nomadic Threads" thing sounds like a plan.

17:04 / 03.10.01

I'd like to nominate a thread I started in the Conversation just now about codes of conduct.

Partially for fun's sake, but also because I remember Nick starting a similar one in the Headshop many moons ago. I didn't want the idea of codes analyzed until I'd maybe collected a few other ones, so I stuck it there. Might could pick up speed in the Head Shop or Film/TV forums before heading to Creation (make your own code).

I dunno. Might be wishful thinking on my part that it'd work like that.

20:36 / 03.10.01

quote:Originally posted by grant:
I dunno. Might be wishful thinking on my part that it'd work like that.

That’s the interesting thing, isn’t it? I honestly don’t know if anyone’s going to latch on to “Psychology of Magic,” but I’m up for seeing what happens.

The more people who try forum straddling threads, the more we’ll be able to see if the idea is successful. On reflection, my first attempt may be too ambitious as an introduction to this kind of thing. But we’ll see...

01:13 / 04.10.01

I think both topics are great and I'll participate once I've thought about them. They're both fairly introspective topics.

11:03 / 04.10.01

quote:Originally posted by expressionless:
Kooky: Don't know what's the best way to proceed with that one. Technically it's someone else's thread.

You might want to e-mail the topic starter and ask him/her to amend the title and introductory post, in order to explain why the topic is going wandering. It'll then just be a case of setting parameters (see above) and e-mailing the moderators to kick it between the forums when the time is right.

see, as moderator of that forum, i have the powers to both move the thread and edit the title.... and margin walker hasn't objected to my mention of it in that thread in question...

as for heading the subject with "NT" to indicate a nomadic topic, that might be a leetle confusing for people, as on some boards "NT" signifies "no text" in the main message.

just thought i'd mention it.

21:36 / 04.10.01

Thanks Kooky. Barbelith is the first message board I've been involved with, and so I'm a bit of a terminology spaz (I even had to ask what IMHO means

). Do people think that the threads need signposting (they certainly need something in the way of explanation in the first post)? If so, what should we use if not NT?

When I posted my response I didn't realise that you'd duplicated your post in the Stockhausen thread. I say go ahead and screw with the topic any way you like, if no objection has been raised.

[ 05-10-2001: Message edited by: expressionless ]

19:48 / 14.10.01

I think they need signposting. What about RT = Roaming Thread, or Nm = Nomadic?

I suspect that the psychology of magic thread hasn't been successful as a nomadic thread because it deals so much with experiences as a result of magic. People that have a lot of them probably post in Magic anyway.

09:12 / 16.10.01

I reckon you're right, LoveSMat. Still, it's a brilliant thread regardless (and through no contribution of my own). Revealing, honest and moving contributions from cusm, Lothar, Ierne and yourself (in fact, every response was fantastic. Read it, everyone, even if you don't post!

I'm going to try the idea another couple of times before I make up my mind on whether it's working. I guess it's good to bear in mind that the success of a thread is who reads as well as who posts (which is utterly unquantifiable, and so can't be debated, sadly enough).

09:14 / 16.10.01

RT sounds good to me, by the way.

15:29 / 16.10.01

Just put one in the Laboratory about bioterrorism....

04:25 / 17.10.01

I have one in Comic Books nobody seems to care for. Maybe it will have better success in the magic forum...

18:45 / 15.11.01

How do I get a roaming thread that I posted moved?

19:30 / 15.11.01

e-mail the moderator of the forum, and they'll kick it out to wherever you want it.

20:40 / 15.11.01

Okay, I did try that--is Mr. Coates out of town? Are private messages via the board preferable to an @barbelith.com email?

09:26 / 16.11.01

Um, I'm an idiot. The thread WAS moved but as it kept the same date of posting, naturally it was a couple pages down. I'll bump it and shut the hell up.