posted
I know that as soon as I post something like this I'll get piled on for lack of realism.
But that's kind of the point.
Hatrack's forum exists, as it is right now, as a voluntary organisation of about 1000 people who post, perhaps 70-120 of those post regularly enough to be familiar. It is unique in the fact that it brings together people of all ages, backgrounds, educations, areas etc in an environment that would never usually exist. It provides all sorts of services from fashion advice to medical advice to cheering up to political discussion.
Here's the proposal. Supposing, as a person reaches thirteen or fourteen they are assigned to a forum like this which contains people of all ages, professions and opinions from around the world, perhaps with one common attribute (such as a love of a particular author ), perhaps not. There would be about 1000 people per forum, some people would show up now and then, others would be regulars. A community would grow. A moderator would handle cases of harassment or trolling.
It would be invaluable, I think, to promoting understanding, improving political awareness, offering advice etc.
Such an organisation would/could be completely volutary- you sign up you are assigned, with a password to a forum that suits you. A teenager would get an adult's perspective, an adult's a teenagers. Such a think could be as informal or as formal as you'd like it and all it would take is a tiny bit of effort.
Okay, what are the holes in my idea?
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
So would there be a required amount of reading time on the forum daily? I mean -- forced participation beyond just being a member and having a password?
Posts: 9538 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
No, you'd never be able to enforce that kind of thing. I think it would be voluntary.
I mean if we were delving into the realm of science fiction itself I would have "assigned" reading time, but I'm trying to be more realistic that not.
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
If all of this is voluntary, and you pick which forum to participate in, how is it different than the way things are now?
Posts: 2149 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Farmgirl: I don't know- perhaps even the voluntary participation would do something. It's not only to promote understanding it's also of a source of "community" and advice.
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
It's different because not every finds a community now, and a lot of the people who do find one that's mostly populated with other people very much like them. This, while not being required, would give people a push in the right direction. And as the idea spread, checking in with your community every now and then would become expected.
It would also lead to a plummet in productivity as everyone became as crazy as we are. Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
Well yes considering I should be doing work right now and instead I'm hitting the refresh button I am a case in point.
Yes, ELjay, you have expressed some of what I cannot (and it's my own idea!).
Hm. I guess forums would help someone learn to express their ideas both clearly and diplomatically. So many forums are either attack-dog forums or fluff or angst.
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
I think that this would have as much chance of becoming a realy community as do school classes. Just because you are assigned to be in the same group with a bunch of people doesn't mean you'll really form a community.
Sure, it happens occasionally, but it usually doesn't.
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
m_p_h: But if you were voluntarily assigned and the forum had interesting discussion, the likelyhood shoots up quite a bit.
Not everyone would stay but quite a few might. There would still be people who discussed exclusively fluff but more people would have more chance to exist in a more wide-ranging community.
EDIT: Perhaps it is that 'occaisionally' that I am going for.
posted
I know Kama, that occured to me. But it's possible that even through the language barrier, especially with European languages together, which are decipherable and Bablefish that hurdle could not overcome but could give people experience with other languages.
Arabic, Chinese and the other zillion languages that don't use European characters are more difficult. Translators probably exist but are less common.
The only solution I can think of here would be to give each forum an official language or two. That would cause problems, but not insurmountable ones.
Or everyone could just speak esperanto, or elvish, or klingon or something. Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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What would happen if you were assigned a forum that just didn't suit you? Could you request a new assignment?
Posts: 2149 | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
Miro: I thought about this, and I think that would be acceptable, to a certain extent.
This would, however, cause problems in passwords, with people being able to access more than one Forum; perhaps your access would remain but you wouldn't be able to post.
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
Since Bokonon hasn't chimed in yet, I'll make the obligatory plug for Vonnegut's "Slapstick." One of the ideas explored in that book is the idea of artificial families. Everyone is assigned a last name and a number. People with the same last name and number are siblings, people with just the same last name are cousins. An utterly artificial, random grouping of people whose purpose is to help people belong to something.
He explores the idea from an opposite angle in his discussion of granfalloons in "Cat's Cradle."
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), perhaps not. There would be about 1000 people per forum, some people would show up now and then, others would be regulars. A community would grow. A moderator would handle cases of harassment or trolling. 
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