The Science and Philosophy Forum

Braininvat » March 28th, 2018, 11:20 am wrote:You'll have to toe the line, if you want the free toaster and set of Tweety Bird drinking glasses.

If we mess up, do we have to donate toasters and drinking glasses? (I have extras!)

With all that has been going on in the last few days, it has been a relativity check. Many members I used to see here are no longer. Some are honored members, but many more have just lost interest. So it is not the vibrant scientific community it once was. The list is longer the more I think about it, of active members that I haven't seen in a while.
So for the first time since joining here, I went looking into other science forums, and the first avatar I saw on a news site was that of Marshall. Obviously active and well respected there as well, during his time. I also recognize members here, are also on other sites, based on their name and level of knowledge in their few posts I came across. There is also a higher level of engagement from multiple members. Something that has dropped off here of late.
As far as the look of other sites they are very busy looking at best. The advantage of this site is the clean look. It is comfortable to use and more important to look at. But as I understand it, that is one of the changes to be made.

I think that one of our previous administrators' eagerness to ban anyone she disagreed with, or disliked, did not help matters. As Lincoln's feedback suggests, by zealously banning the less valued members you often cause the more valued ones to lose interest.

There'll be lost members we cannot regain, inevitably. The question is of finding new ones, and making it worth their time to stay. Hopefully our new admin/developer has some good ideas about this. The rest of us can play a part by having engaging and intelligent discussions.

Pleased to read all is ok with BioWizard and hi. What I like best about this site is reading the thoughts and well explained responses and answers of some of the great minds that have posted here, and the small size helps to make it seem really friendly. (Like others have said, some of my posts have been lost when I tried to post, btw.)

One of the reasons I come back here is because I have an understanding of the various personalities that frequent the site. It takes a long time to get an insight into people's psychology and even in a technical discussion such an insight can be useful. Additionally if you are as lazy as me it saves a bit of effort.

The original idea of an experts exchange I don't feel is workable. The internet is better suited for a broader exchange of ideas. The challenge is to keep the discussion from expanding into the ridiculous.

Hello everyone!

First of all, let me apologize for my absence the past couple of days. As some of you know, I am currently juggling a faculty position (across three different departments) with a chief scientific officer job in a biotech startup company. So to say the least, finding time is a challenge. This is primarily what lead me to the conclusion that someone needs to take over the responsibility of maintaining and developing this site. I will stay on board, however, as founder and administrator (as time allows).

Second, let me welcome you aboard - Ted! I have not met you yet, but I have been communicating with your colleague all this while and it has been extremely pleasant. I am super stoked to have your team's chops on board to help us build this place up.

I'm glad to see that you already dove into the deep end and gotten your hands wet with our forum. You probably already noticed that the character is somewhat different from other fora you may have dealt with. It comes with the territory - we have focused more on quality instead of quantity, which has been great in ways (above average level posts) and not so much in others (opinionated members [Hah just kidding guys, you know I love you], relatively low traffic etc). I think with you guys on board, however, we can finally combine the best of both worlds and get this forum steam rolling in the right direction.

Now on to forum business. As you may have already noticed, Ted, our membership is one that takes pride in being part of the forum and acts protective of it. In fact, a lot of our members operate as moderators, and are regarded with similar status, even if they don't directly push the buttons. Nevertheless, we do have SOPs for how things can be done here (for example, affecting managerial change), and they usually start in the moderator forum. That is part of the reason why this ownership change was still being discussed in the moderators forum, and was not yet announced to the membership at large. I was expecting that you would sign up, contact me, and have me introduce you to the moderators and show you the ropes, rather than shock the forum with an "I own you now" kind of message (I have to admit though, that was pretty funny!). Perhaps something more along the lines of "I will be the one developing this site from now on" would've been a little less alarming? I mean, even I got a bit alarmed when I saw it, and I KNEW about it :]

In any case, no harm done, we are all on the same team here and I am proud to see how much the members and moderators care about this place. The important thing is that we figure out how to coordinate our efforts so that we continue to proceed quickly towards our common and most important goal - growing these forums and making them truly awesome. Ted and I will try to coordinate our moves better in the future.

Braininvat, happy to see you back on board the admin team.

Lincoln, good to see that you haven't given up no the traffic issue, and hopefully we can finally make that happen here.

zetreque, thanks for always being so vigilant.

Lomax, thanks for always been a calm balancing voice.

Everyone, thanks for caring so much about our community!!!

In hindsight, I like what Ted's move has already done here :)

If anyone has any questions, concerns, paranoia, feel free to ask me directly or post here. While I may not be able to respond very quickly, I promise that I will be here for you and for the forum for a very long time to come.

Let's do this!

kudayta » 27 Mar 2018 08:17 pm wrote:So on the chat room side of things, which is still connected to this site I think, we don't really much care about the forums anymore. That said, most of the people that come to us from the website are looking for homework answers. We don't do tutoring on the chat room, since DALnet isn't for commercial use. That said, you might want to disconnect DALnet's #science from this website and set up a chat room for tutoring. Might be a good income stream for you.

We don't want your a$$ over here anyway.
Good to see you kud :)

Braininvat » 27 Mar 2018 11:50 am wrote:

Admin1 wrote:Adding a point system. The only purpose of it would be to give away items to our strongest community members. i.e books, tablets, etc. We get tons of free products as a company and din't use half of what we get.

First, who is "we." Second, ugh. Seriously? This is a fairly intellectual group. I don't think that will really generate much excitement here. Most of us have ready access to the books and equipment we want. And not everyone here would want to give out their personal address and related information. This is a forum of ideas, not things.

Speak for yourself brah! I need a new nutribullet. And I have like 10,000+ posts. I can probably get 100 of those. or maybe a tablet! Admin1, What do I get for 12,733 posts?

BadgerJelly » 27 Mar 2018 12:09 pm wrote:Biv -

Erm, doesn't New Posts already do this, quite effectively?? Sounds like a fix for a nonexistent problem.

My complaint here has been with the Religious discussions never showing up in new posts. That would be welcome to me because I have an interest in the history and development of religions.

I'd also prefer the time period to be extended to 48 hours or more? I regularly look on the site and even I miss some new posts.

Hey Badger!

There is a reason for that. It was very annoying a few years ago when we got swarmed by a bunch of trolls that posted nothing but ID propaganda on the religion forum. It made it very difficult to follow with any of the science discussion going on at the time. After multiple waves over several years, I decided to just wall that place and let people follow it on a need-to basis, rather than leave it to the ID trolls to influence how we see forum activity. Maybe if there's going to be a browser-based notification system, we can set it up so that people can de-select certain fora.

Hi Everyone,

This Site is still my favorite Site. I tried several other Science Sites when I went looking for a place to exchange ideas. I didn't last long on other sites, as I'm very much interested in thinking outside the proverbial box. As soon as I challenged any person of credentials on a science/physics topic, I'd get the boot. That didn't happen here, even though it was a struggle to fight against the (then) voting system that caused an automatic boot if it reached -10. I'd have to make a number of positive contributions to gain enough (+)points to afford a controversy that usually brought a hoard of (-)points. Fortunately, that system was scrapped after a few months. If I wanted accepted facts.. I go to Wikipedia etc. Intelligent controversy is great and should be a big draw to get more butts in the seats.

Example:
1. Science holds that Energy cannot be Created.
2. The Big Bang was the Creation of the Universe from Nothing.

These two concepts are contradictory. One must be False. My money is that #2 is the correct view.

Anyway.. welcome TED. The current format of this site is clean and simple. I wouldn't want to see that changed. Good luck.

Gotta run, back later.

Best Wishes,
Dave :^)

BioWizard » Wed Mar 28, 2018 11:38 am wrote:Hello everyone!

First of all, let me apologize for my absence the past couple of days. As some of you know, I am currently juggling a faculty position (across three different departments) with a chief scientific officer job in a biotech startup company. So to say the least, finding time is a challenge. This is primarily what lead me to the conclusion that someone needs to take over the responsibility of maintaining and developing this site. I will stay on board, however, as founder and administrator (as time allows).

Second, let me welcome you aboard - Ted! I have not met you yet, but I have been communicating with your colleague all this while and it has been extremely pleasant. I am super stoked to have your team's chops on board to help us build this place up.

I'm glad to see that you already dove into the deep end and gotten your hands wet with our forum. You probably already noticed that the character is somewhat different from other fora you may have dealt with. It comes with the territory - we have focused more on quality instead of quantity, which has been great in ways (above average level posts) and not so much in others (opinionated members [Hah just kidding guys, you know I love you], relatively low traffic etc). I think with you guys on board, however, we can finally combine the best of both worlds and get this forum steam rolling in the right direction.

Now on to forum business. As you may have already noticed, Ted, our membership is one that takes pride in being part of the forum and acts protective of it. In fact, a lot of our members operate as moderators, and are regarded with similar status, even if they don't directly push the buttons. Nevertheless, we do have SOPs for how things can be done here (for example, affecting managerial change), and they usually start in the moderator forum. That is part of the reason why this ownership change was still being discussed in the moderators forum, and was not yet announced to the membership at large. I was expecting that you would sign up, contact me, and have me introduce you to the moderators and show you the ropes, rather than shock the forum with an "I own you now" kind of message (I have to admit though, that was pretty funny!). Perhaps something more along the lines of "I will be the one developing this site from now on" would've been a little less alarming? I mean, even I got a bit alarmed when I saw it, and I KNEW about it :]

In any case, no harm done, we are all on the same team here and I am proud to see how much the members and moderators care about this place. The important thing is that we figure out how to coordinate our efforts so that we continue to proceed quickly towards our common and most important goal - growing these forums and making them truly awesome. Ted and I will try to coordinate our moves better in the future.

Braininvat, happy to see you back on board the admin team.

Lincoln, good to see that you haven't given up no the traffic issue, and hopefully we can finally make that happen here.

zetreque, thanks for always being so vigilant.

Lomax, thanks for always been a calm balancing voice.

Everyone, thanks for caring so much about our community!!!

In hindsight, I like what Ted's move has already done here :)

If anyone has any questions, concerns, paranoia, feel free to ask me directly or post here. While I may not be able to respond very quickly, I promise that I will be here for you and for the forum for a very long time to come.

Let's do this!

Great post to clear things up. I think you said it well that members care a lot about what happens to this community. One thing is clear, there isn't a lack of transparency and I hope that is a sign of continuing integrity. I look forward to positive change so that we can keep what is loved and grow what is needed. To further be a welcoming hub for communication, diving into important issues/topics and providing a voice for people on the quest to improve themselves and the world around them through gaining knowledge and being part of the positive change they wish to see.

BioWizard » March 28th, 2018, 11:59 am wrote:

Braininvat » 27 Mar 2018 11:50 am wrote:

Admin1 wrote:Adding a point system. The only purpose of it would be to give away items to our strongest community members. i.e books, tablets, etc. We get tons of free products as a company and din't use half of what we get.

First, who is "we." Second, ugh. Seriously? This is a fairly intellectual group. I don't think that will really generate much excitement here. Most of us have ready access to the books and equipment we want. And not everyone here would want to give out their personal address and related information. This is a forum of ideas, not things.

Speak for yourself brah! I need a new nutribullet. And I have like 10,000+ posts. I can probably get 100 of those. or maybe a tablet! Admin1, What do I get for 12,733 posts?

Carpal tunnel?

:>}

BioWizard » Wed Mar 28, 2018 10:44 am wrote:

kudayta » 27 Mar 2018 08:17 pm wrote:So on the chat room side of things, which is still connected to this site I think, we don't really much care about the forums anymore. That said, most of the people that come to us from the website are looking for homework answers. We don't do tutoring on the chat room, since DALnet isn't for commercial use. That said, you might want to disconnect DALnet's #science from this website and set up a chat room for tutoring. Might be a good income stream for you.

We don't want your a$$ over here anyway.
Good to see you kud :)

Keep talkin' like that, and I'll organize a raid on the forums :)

Good to see you too Wiz.

Bio -

I understand that. I just wish anyone who is religious, and willing to come to a science forum, would be encouraged to look at the scientific method and widen their understanding.

Of course there are always going to be those that refuse to do anything but preach.

BadgerJelly » 28 Mar 2018 11:17 pm wrote:Of course there are always going to be those that refuse to do anything but preach.

I have yet to meet any other religious phenotype on online fora.

kudayta » 28 Mar 2018 08:22 pm wrote:Keep talkin' like that, and I'll organize a raid on the forums :)

You and the entire army of 2-3 people who still use IRC Dalnet? Scary ;)

Bio -

There are a few of them trust me :) Religious people can talk about both science and religion on separate terms (I've seen it enough.)

No idea what the techy jargon joke was, but I'll assume it was funny enough to be appreciated by others :D

Now you've made me google "Dalnet"

Badger wrote:religious...refuse to do anything but preach.

BioWizard wrote:I have yet to meet any other religious phenotype on online fora.

If you had, would you know it?

Good luck with your new endeavors (glad to hear the change wasn't illness related) and THANKS for providing such a convivial forum.

BadgerJelly » 29 Mar 2018 09:56 am wrote:Bio -

There are a few of them trust me :) Religious people can talk about both science and religion on separate terms (I've seen it enough.)

Yes I know, hence why I specificed “on online fora”. One almost gave me hope once, but then turned around and pulled a bait and switch on me.

BadgerJelly » March 29th, 2018, 9:56 am wrote:Bio -

There are a few of them trust me :) Religious people can talk about both science and religion on separate terms (I've seen it enough.)

And then there are oddballs like me who put science first, but then maybe for that reason I am not included in what you call "religious people." To be sure, with all my criticism of most religious, I often come off as anything but religious myself, not fitting in with what people have come to expect from that sector.

Has the site become more snappy or is it just my imagination?

Snappy?

BioWizard » Sun Apr 01, 2018 3:49 am wrote:Snappy?

The time between hitting the submit button and you are returned to the thread.

I think it does seem better!

I havent noticed anything but that’s entirely possible since the site has been moved to a new server.

Ok yes I noticed it now :)

Damn that’s fast!

Whoa! My posts are going through before I've even had chance to finish writing the last

Negative waves

Yes very fast, but my e-mail is full of notifications of every thread and every post made in each of those threads. This is a hundred +, (150) or so notifications to an email I only set up last Tuesday. Posting in a thread doesn't mean we need to be notified of a possible reply. Certainly not a notification each time.

Can we go back to an opt-in notification option?