So, do I need to hack into and ruin the next one too, to get y'all to just use a discussion board template? ;-)
I still see no advantages a standard blog has over a discussion board (which would still let moderators have a section in which only they can start posts), and can name several advantages going the other way.
Columns as wide as a page that you don't have to scroll down forever to read, discussions that die down only when they don't get bumped by new submissions - not because the date of the original post is from more than a couple of weeks ago and most casual readers don't see it (I know many still stumble onto them through searches), formatting options, ordinary user-originated discussions in a separate section, interfaces that allow you to see all posts by you or another poster, one-line titles that will let you easily scan through hundreds of older thread topics, etc.
If you start getting the posting volume of TheologyWeb, with hundreds of contributors, it seems that the typical blog format would become pretty cumbersome.
For whatever my opinion is worth, I'm with ismellarat. A message board/forum format is much preferable for a site that desires a lot of conversation and discussion. I think blogs are good for reading a certain person's perspective, like on computer software or home businesses, or maybe a friend's personal blog about their life with pics, stuff like that. But when it's just discussion, I don't see the advantages to the blog format, while I do see lots of advantages to the message board format, which ismellarat listed.
I'm with ismellarat and rachel- a message board format would make life easier for me, and that should be your criterion for doing anything. Btw- is Mell a rat, or isn't he?
Hell no, this site should not be reduced to a "discussion board".
I come here to read articles self-published by educated contributors, preferably with real names. NOT to read endless "discussion" from the types whom DC mods rightfully screen here.
Discussion boards are a dime a dozen and are playgrounds for trolls and flame wars.
If someone from the peanut gallery wants to 'discuss' an article here I'm sure they can link to it from IIDB or wherever and let those mods monitor the thread. Take the strain off the DC mods, who have better things to do, like writing.
Here's what will happen if DC becomes a "discussion board." Good articles will start to get "Peter Pike'd". (For lack of a better term.)
Go read Lee's recent comments on Triablogue regarding rebuttals to his Gen 2-3 article. As is common for trolls to do, Lee's comments are split up, line by line, then each line is responded to with some jackass remark, until there are so many insults and tangents that there is no way to coherently respond.
Trolls do this so they can play "king of the thread" and create the appearance that they're worth a damn.
In conclusion: there are some advantages to the discussion board format, as presented by 'ismellarat', like thread-bumping. But DC should not cater to the peanut gallery, it should be vise-versa, and is already doing a bang-up job of eliminating trolls and preserving civil discussion for those who are up to it.
P.S. As it relates to thread-bumping - I usually browse this blog via the 'recent comments' menu. That keeps me up to date with the latest comments, if I'm so inclined.
Off Topic: (The linked press release is cogent to atheology because the research findings demonstrate yet more evidence that human consciousness is an evoloved brain phenomenon rather than the result of a supernatural "spirit-mind-soul.")
Humans have developed complex thought processes that can help to regulate their emotions, but these processes are also linked with evolutionarily older mechanisms that are common across species, according to a study by neuroscientists at New York and Rutgers universities. The research appears in the Sept. 11 issue of the journal Neuron.
I'm with Openlyatheist as there are many discussion boards out there. They tend to be very noisy. At least with this blog discussions tend to be focused.
Openlyatheist, wouldn't a blog format still have the same drawbacks you correctly say come up in discussion boards, but worse?
Sure, they have trolls and flame wars, but how would a blog format prevent them?
I'd think any kind of moderation that can be done in a blog could also be done in a discussion board.
A top section for moderator-originated topics, as is common in discussion boards, would preserve (and improve upon) the current format anyway, and whatever's off-topic to that could then go to the other section, instead of distracting from those topics.
New template is up. Working, for the most part. The "book store" is gonna get revamped and streamlined in the next couple weeks, so I know that part is a little thin/shaky for now.
But at least you can see the side bar in IE now!
I'll watch the combox for reports of UI errors and problems.
-TS
(I like the wider content area a lot, much better for this kind of blog...)
Openlyatheist, wouldn't a blog format still have the same drawbacks you correctly say come up in discussion boards, but worse? Sure, they have trolls and flame wars, but how would a blog format prevent them?
All I'm saying is: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
So far, the crew of DC has done a great job keeping their house from burning down.
For proof of that, just go to some of the boards on IIDB. Have you been to the philosophy section lately? Some morons there make me want to weep. And I'm referring to some of the atheists there. It's not that they break rules, they're just not worth reading. Unlike most of the writers of DC.
I like the fact that a blog is about the opinions of the bloggers, not the commentators. This is their house.
Thanks goes to Touchstone for this new template. He worked hard on it. It has a better and more useful look. We'll all get used to it soon enough. Thanks so very much! There are still things to work on but give us time...
I, for one, would not be interested in a message board format. I find the fact that discussions die after getting bumped to be a feature; it is rare that a discussion is worth continuing after it's been on about a week. Usually at that point, it's down to a small group of people responding to a troll, or two small groups with deeply intractable differences rehashing the same points over and over and over and over...
Being somewhat of a completist, I enjoy the fact that I have an excuse to allow myself to let unproductive discussions just die. Besides, there is a very good chance they will start back up again quickly.
I'm thinking it would be good to shift the template around a bit, and put the "Recent Comments" display at the top of the right sidebar, and have it open up as initially expanded. In doing a test on a development blog, I like it. The main blog area works as always, and posts scroll off with time. But the "Recent Comments" is activity-based, and if there are old posts with continuing activity in the combox, those will be easy to identify by a glance to the right sidebar.
For what it's worth - I think the new format looks great. I only wish I had more time to read! I'm more of a lurker than a poster, normally. Keep up the great work!
24 comments:
About time, the blog needs a cleaner, fresher look.
Can't wait to read the next article debunking the Garden of Eden using the new template.
(Yeah... that's mean. I like this site.)
So, do I need to hack into and ruin the next one too, to get y'all to just use a discussion board template? ;-)
I still see no advantages a standard blog has over a discussion board (which would still let moderators have a section in which only they can start posts), and can name several advantages going the other way.
Columns as wide as a page that you don't have to scroll down forever to read, discussions that die down only when they don't get bumped by new submissions - not because the date of the original post is from more than a couple of weeks ago and most casual readers don't see it (I know many still stumble onto them through searches), formatting options, ordinary user-originated discussions in a separate section, interfaces that allow you to see all posts by you or another poster, one-line titles that will let you easily scan through hundreds of older thread topics, etc.
If you start getting the posting volume of TheologyWeb, with hundreds of contributors, it seems that the typical blog format would become pretty cumbersome.
What do others think about this?
For whatever my opinion is worth, I'm with ismellarat. A message board/forum format is much preferable for a site that desires a lot of conversation and discussion. I think blogs are good for reading a certain person's perspective, like on computer software or home businesses, or maybe a friend's personal blog about their life with pics, stuff like that. But when it's just discussion, I don't see the advantages to the blog format, while I do see lots of advantages to the message board format, which ismellarat listed.
I'm with ismellarat and rachel- a message board format would make life easier for me, and that should be your criterion for doing anything. Btw- is Mell a rat, or isn't he?
Hell no, this site should not be reduced to a "discussion board".
I come here to read articles self-published by educated contributors, preferably with real names. NOT to read endless "discussion" from the types whom DC mods rightfully screen here.
Discussion boards are a dime a dozen and are playgrounds for trolls and flame wars.
If someone from the peanut gallery wants to 'discuss' an article here I'm sure they can link to it from IIDB or wherever and let those mods monitor the thread. Take the strain off the DC mods, who have better things to do, like writing.
Here's what will happen if DC becomes a "discussion board." Good articles will start to get "Peter Pike'd". (For lack of a better term.)
Go read Lee's recent comments on Triablogue regarding rebuttals to his Gen 2-3 article. As is common for trolls to do, Lee's comments are split up, line by line, then each line is responded to with some jackass remark, until there are so many insults and tangents that there is no way to coherently respond.
Trolls do this so they can play "king of the thread" and create the appearance that they're worth a damn.
In conclusion: there are some advantages to the discussion board format, as presented by 'ismellarat', like thread-bumping. But DC should not cater to the peanut gallery, it should be vise-versa, and is already doing a bang-up job of eliminating trolls and preserving civil discussion for those who are up to it.
P.S. As it relates to thread-bumping - I usually browse this blog via the 'recent comments' menu. That keeps me up to date with the latest comments, if I'm so inclined.
Off Topic: (The linked press release is cogent to atheology because the research findings demonstrate yet more evidence that human consciousness is an evoloved brain phenomenon rather than the result of a supernatural "spirit-mind-soul.")
Brains rely on old and new mechanisms to diminish fear, researchers find
Humans have developed complex thought processes that can help to regulate their emotions, but these processes are also linked with evolutionarily older mechanisms that are common across species, according to a study by neuroscientists at New York and Rutgers universities. The research appears in the Sept. 11 issue of the journal Neuron.
To see what may be in store for you check this out.
I usually browse this blog via the 'recent comments' menu.
I didn't know about about this, where is this?
Locate those words on the sidebar to your right. Click and read.
I'm with Openlyatheist as there are many discussion boards out there. They tend to be very noisy. At least with this blog discussions tend to be focused.
Openlyatheist, wouldn't a blog format still have the same drawbacks you correctly say come up in discussion boards, but worse?
Sure, they have trolls and flame wars, but how would a blog format prevent them?
I'd think any kind of moderation that can be done in a blog could also be done in a discussion board.
A top section for moderator-originated topics, as is common in discussion boards, would preserve (and improve upon) the current format anyway, and whatever's off-topic to that could then go to the other section, instead of distracting from those topics.
New template is up. Working, for the most part. The "book store" is gonna get revamped and streamlined in the next couple weeks, so I know that part is a little thin/shaky for now.
But at least you can see the side bar in IE now!
I'll watch the combox for reports of UI errors and problems.
-TS
(I like the wider content area a lot, much better for this kind of blog...)
I like it,
good job!
now, I gotta get busy on my next article!
Aahh! The new template is so bright! My eyes!
ismellarat said:
Openlyatheist, wouldn't a blog format still have the same drawbacks you correctly say come up in discussion boards, but worse? Sure, they have trolls and flame wars, but how would a blog format prevent them?
All I'm saying is: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
So far, the crew of DC has done a great job keeping their house from burning down.
For proof of that, just go to some of the boards on IIDB. Have you been to the philosophy section lately? Some morons there make me want to weep. And I'm referring to some of the atheists there. It's not that they break rules, they're just not worth reading. Unlike most of the writers of DC.
I like the fact that a blog is about the opinions of the bloggers, not the commentators. This is their house.
Thanks goes to Touchstone for this new template. He worked hard on it. It has a better and more useful look. We'll all get used to it soon enough. Thanks so very much! There are still things to work on but give us time...
Very good color coordination. Me likey.
Well done, Touchstone.
I, for one, would not be interested in a message board format. I find the fact that discussions die after getting bumped to be a feature; it is rare that a discussion is worth continuing after it's been on about a week. Usually at that point, it's down to a small group of people responding to a troll, or two small groups with deeply intractable differences rehashing the same points over and over and over and over...
Being somewhat of a completist, I enjoy the fact that I have an excuse to allow myself to let unproductive discussions just die. Besides, there is a very good chance they will start back up again quickly.
Shygetz,
I'm thinking it would be good to shift the template around a bit, and put the "Recent Comments" display at the top of the right sidebar, and have it open up as initially expanded. In doing a test on a development blog, I like it. The main blog area works as always, and posts scroll off with time. But the "Recent Comments" is activity-based, and if there are old posts with continuing activity in the combox, those will be easy to identify by a glance to the right sidebar.
Dig the new look!
For what it's worth - I think the new format looks great. I only wish I had more time to read! I'm more of a lurker than a poster, normally. Keep up the great work!
I really like the new look. Glory!
The new format looks excellent!
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