Aaron: Proposal: New Branch

[kcarring]

Dear Aaron,

First off, thanks for your hard work and contributions to an amazing place online. And that goes to Peter, and John Bedini and all the great contributors that give a thousand times back to the public than I could ever hope to.

I have a proposal.

Perhaps considering a distinct section, not an individual thread, but section - dedicated to technical debate. In this I mean, the major ideas and technologies put forth, could become threads of this stand alone section; wherein all of the heated debates could be put there, instead of cluttering the individual "working forums". I suggest this, because as the forum grows, so does the clutter. And the heated arguments, challenges to credibility, allegations, naysaying.

At the end of the day, we all tend to want the same thing, and the arguments of scalability, feasibility, cost, potential COP - they are important factors, but they do cloud a thread when presented right in and amongst the experimenters' findings.

If it became policy to place such arguments where they belonged, perhaps a more concise collection of experimental data (in the mainstay section of RE) would remain. And maybe a better overall feel toward the individual contributers, less stabbing, etc.

Just a thought.

Thanks again.
Kyle

[eternalightwithin]

I've had the same thought for awhile now. Very frustrating when your trying to follow the inventor and get a replication going and you got 10 times irrelevant postings and other such OU?, no OU, Loop it Loop it, check out X,Y,Z thread crap.

[realmikel]

Now there is a great idea if someone will move thier posts and they are not adding information to the cause or asking questions about the information allready posted

[kcarring]

My hopes are simply that if it becomes a forum policy, users entering comments of a non-contributing manner can be reminded: there is place for such comments: go there and say it. Perhaps a sticky with a bold title, something to the effect of: POLICY: Arguments, Debates, Naysaying, Credibility Issues? And a message going on to say that if a thread is titled around a technology, keep non experimental information in the Technical Debates section. It's not perfect, but, when such style comments pop up, users will have the argument:

"This site has a policy, please read it, delete your comment and move it to the appropriate section"

That way the challenge is in accordance, and not just making an unreasonable request, or telling the commenter to "shut up" - "go away"...

Some negative comments have their value, in their own right... but, perhaps we could distinguish them.

Other "huge" forums, names unmentioned, have become really "tough reads" for all the slashing, flaming, naysaying, arguing,...

It's my hopes this forum can set a new bar in it's very structure to make provision for every comment, yet keep a clean ship running.

[shawnnweed]

I agree with a provision

My hopes are simply that if it becomes a forum policy, users entering comments of a non-contributing manner can be reminded: there is place for such comments: go there and say it. Perhaps a sticky with a bold title, something to the effect of: POLICY: Arguments, Debates, Naysaying, Credibility Issues? And a message going on to say that if a thread is titled around a technology, keep non experimental information in the Technical Debates section. It's not perfect, but, when such style comments pop up, users will have the argument:

"This site has a policy, please read it, delete your comment and move it to the appropriate section"

That way the challenge is in accordance, and not just making an unreasonable request, or telling the commenter to "shut up" - "go away"...

Some negative comments have their value, in their own right... but, perhaps we could distinguish them.

Other "huge" forums, names unmentioned, have become really "tough reads" for all the slashing, flaming, naysaying, arguing,...

It's my hopes this forum can set a new bar in it's very structure to make provision for every comment, yet keep a clean ship running.

I like the idea but I would like to see a 4 section interface; one for active experiments with appropriate "How to" questions allowed, a debates section...where anything goes except for cursing, a theoretical section just for collaboration of/on ideas or concept builds, which could become future projects and lastly a section for design builds that have already been completed for those who are interested in replicating or verifying builds. And maybe a link for the 'active experimenters' section to have funding by those willing to finance active experiments. However I like where you are going with this. Yet on a technical aspect we might be asking for him to build the Dubai tower with Popsicle sticks. I am no programmer so I do not understand how difficult or simple of a thing I am asking for. Therefore I make this humble suggestion, with hat in hand.
,Shawn

[mnsman]

My thoughts

I've given this a bit of thought lately. I envision a projects area separated by group types. Pulse motors, Joule ringer etc. You can have your own project with subcats. Mine would be P-Motor with subcats of micro controller, driver circuit, acoustic energy harvesting etc. Projects or subcats of projects can have teams. Projects can have replicators. Replicators may or may not be on the same team with originator. Teams are closely tied. You can accept or deny team membership if it is your project. You can be invited to become a team member.

You have a customizable home page from which you work. The different types of projects have efficiency calculators with customizable parameters for tracking experimental data. If your project reaches a certain efficiency it sets off a red flag to monitor who investigates and alerts the whole forum if it appears accurate. You have customized links to your favorite research sites and vendors for parts searches (this site may get click credits from vendors). You can input your experimental data. There is a video and text chat feature. Schematics are tracked as confirmed working or not and when confirmed working are posted to another area with parts list. You have space to save your pics. Youtube vids can be embedded. The site is actually monitored and data is organized. You have a private notes area, schedule and contact list.

There are still public threads for theory and debate. But there can be threads specific to your project too. You are completely in control of your own private thread. You can delete, block etc. But when you delete the originator still has a copy and would see it as if it was never deleted. Your data is public to all even those that are blocked but they can't post to your project thread. You can limit posts to your thread to only team members or replicators. You sign a open source agreement and the data is permanently here unless the moderators deem it useless at which time if due to inactivity they can delete it as they see fit. All projects in their entirety can be downloaded by all no matter what with a click of a button.

There is a for sale area. People or businesses can sell their wares but pay a posting fee as the owners of this site see fit.

In order to accomplish this the site would have tiered pay plans. From free to full feature. Data space is limited at different levels. Features like vid chat or text chat maybe part of a premium package. Some users may get the fee waived based on their participation.

The whole look would be more graphical as I see it. People can subscribe to your thread or project even if not team members.

These are just a few of my thoughts regarding the ideal research site. Not well organized or well worded but they are here none the less. Sorry if I repeated someone's ideas. Quite frankly it's late and I didn't read all of the posts. Wanted to get it off my chest.

[Aaron]

it's in your profile already

You have a customizable home page from which you work.

But there can be threads specific to your project too. You are completely in control of your own private thread. You can delete, block etc.

Thanks Kyle and all, but a customizable home page and private threads are already a part of your profile system.

It is the most underused part of the entire forum.

Only downfall is that if we upgrade to a newer version of this software, that profile system "zoints" may not be compatible.

mnsman, visit this: http://www.energeticforum.com/z/mnsman/

You can see the resume, discussions, etc... you can see the settings allow you to do quite a bit. Can make a homepage, you also have a blog and you can do your own private threads. I believe you can change permissions so only friends or whatever can see them, etc... it is actually pretty powerful and serves the purpose of everything you all are asking for.

[Slider2732]

mnsman - your efficiency meter sort of approach seems a lot like the method used by Sourceforge.net. I used to regularly try out different projects that were 'in the works' and would download applications that were say 85% done and similar. You could expect a well running and usable piece of programming at around that percentage.
Or, a similar method to the 'lightsaber' on YouTube...if you see a small green section and a large bar of red, then you know the video is probably pants.
Thumbs up count would be good. Same symbol as we have on the sidebar when posting, but with a counter, displaying the amount of folks who have liked that project...such as:
175

Aaron - a Buy/Sell would be great and as hinted at above. I hope this thread can discuss that addition now that the homepage functions have been brought up.
While I believe that my former 'home' on the internet, RCGroups has way too many sections for navigation, here it could all be made so much cleaner and concise.
As well as members here wishing to buy or sell, vendors could be actively encouraged to post special offers, group discounts and more. Sections would include 'Free' for freebies costing just postage. A 'Wanted' and a 'Sales'.
My thinking is that members of other forums may browse the sections, but only registered members may transact (Paypal etc).
The section would operate freely.

[Aaron]

buy/sell

Aaron - a Buy/Sell would be great and as hinted at above. I hope this thread can discuss that addition now that the homepage functions have been brought up.
While I believe that my former 'home' on the internet, RCGroups has way too many sections for navigation, here it could all be made so much cleaner and concise.
As well as members here wishing to buy or sell, vendors could be actively encouraged to post special offers, group discounts and more. Sections would include 'Free' for freebies costing just postage. A 'Wanted' and a 'Sales'.
My thinking is that members of other forums may browse the sections, but only registered members may transact (Paypal etc).
The section would operate freely.

At the moment, everyone has been free to post things they have for sale or things they are wanting - as long as they are relevant to the forum/topics. Anyone could post for sell stuff in their personal homepage or private threads they have in their profile section and make a link to it from their signature line or mention it in their regular posts.

A buy/sell section would have to be it's own subforum like Renewable Energy or General Discussion. All the moderators would have to agree to it and I'm personally not to hot on the idea. I know that it will increase the amount of spam that I have to delete - it may seem a good idea to some members - but I'm the one who will be spending time keeping it in good order. If there is a buy/sell section, it will attract spammers like a bug to a lightbulb.

[kcarring]

Thanks Kyle and all, but a customizable home page and private threads are already a part of your profile system.

It is the most underused part of the entire forum.
You can see the resume, discussions, etc... you can see the settings allow you to do quite a bit. Can make a homepage, you also have a blog and you can do your own private threads. I believe you can change permissions so only friends or whatever can see them, etc... it is actually pretty powerful and serves the purpose of everything you all are asking for.

Indeed! That's awesome. I'll go back to being the idiot, and you keep running the ship hehe

[mnsman]

@Aaron

I know that it will increase the amount of spam that I have to delete - it may seem a good idea to some members - but I'm the one who will be spending time keeping it in good order. If there is a buy/sell section, it will attract spammers like a bug to a lightbulb.

There is a for sale area. People or businesses can sell their wares but pay a posting fee as the owners of this site see fit. A posting fee will keep the spammers away. A small fee $2? The post may just point to ebay.

Trying to make you money Aaron and make the site more useful at the same time. I know it would take a lot of work to do what I have proposed but it could make you some $$ too. Of course I have no knowledge of your web development skills, the costs involved or how many active members you have etc. Just thinking out loud about what I believe would be beneficial to the cause and be an income source for you.