Philosophy Discussion Forums

I agree that we need a temporary (10 minute or so) edit option.

I don't know why this forum is getting so rigid...it's keeping and attracting those similar and repelling those who may be holding less quarters between their cheeks. Maybe Socrates, Aristotle, Leibniz, Kant and other philosophers are seen by some to be overbearing and inflexibly obsessive about rules and some here are trying to follow suit? WTH is going on???

Can we please have the moderation here relaxed a little?

Newme wrote:I agree that we need a temporary (10 minute or so) edit option.

I don't know why this forum is getting so rigid...it's keeping and attracting those similar and repelling those who may be holding less quarters between their cheeks. Maybe Socrates, Aristotle, Leibniz, Kant and other philosophers are seen by some to be overbearing and inflexibly obsessive about rules and some here are trying to follow suit? WTH is going on???

Can we please have the moderation here relaxed a little?

Calm down Newme, Scott is not going to change his rules as he seems to think that logic alone is capable enough to tackle the matters about human i.e. human matters, and there is no need to include some emotions with it. I have gone through this kind of psychology in my life and understand that this kind of psychology is only because of no experience that how rigid rules and rigid prejudices tends to create problem and make a room for errors, deliberate corruption. He don't know that circumstances are the biggest power in human matters, and rigid rules do not accomodate all kinds of circumstances. Well it may sound much heavy without any explanation and example. But I think he is not going to understand soon. You need a good topic to make him understand(if he is ready to understand).

So IMO, just don't try. There are two kinds of people moderating here, one is boss, and others are servants, both have limitations, and because of these limitations they cannot be perfectly human, but like some kind of machine. You cannot make machines to understand you.

You can save a post as draft. When saved as draft, you can edit the post as much as you want for as long as you want. You can leave the site, come back later, pull up the draft and edit it some more. You can use the preview button as many times as you want to see how the post will appear in its published state. The forum rules require that you use the preview button immediately before actually submitting the post to make sure it is formatted correctly. The forum rules also require proofreading the post. Once you click 'submit', you send the post to the printing presses and it is published. Once reading it in that state, you should look at it much like you would like reading an article you sent in to the local newspaper for regular old publishing. It's been given your seal of approval.

99% of internet forums are much more lax in that department. We are doing something different here.

Hi Scott,

What do the different colours mean to the left of each thread, in the 'View your posts' section. Some are red, some are black, some are moving? I cant find it in the FAQ's.

Scott wrote:You can save a post as draft. When saved as draft, you can edit the post as much as you want for as long as you want. You can leave the site, come back later, pull up the draft and edit it some more. You can use the preview button as many times as you want to see how the post will appear in its published state.

It's difficult if the thread is busy though, as your point may be useless if you wait too long to post. I know there is a spell check which is good but could there also be a grammar check to highlight obvious errors?

-- Updated March 13th, 2015, 11:37 pm to add the following --

Scott wrote:You can save a post as draft. When saved as draft, you can edit the post as much as you want for as long as you want.

Can we edit the draft in a 'safe' mode of some sort, in which a slip of our little finger doesn't result in accidentally posting the whole thing?

Also,

It would be nice if, when a thread is locked, that (at least a cursory) explanation is given.

Spiral Out wrote:

Lionheartnv wrote:How do I start a new post?

Go into the Forum where the topic listings are and click on NEW TOPIC in the upper left corner, or click on POST REPLY to reply to a previous post. You have to put in a title when posting a new topic.

Hi,

As a new member I attempted to submit a piece of work. The site did say that is has been successfully submitted but I can't locate it on your site. Does work need to be approved prior to it being posted online or has something went wrong?

Many thanks for your help,

Chris.

Yes, the success message should have further stated that it would need to be approved by a moderator before being shown publicly.

I have a question: When a member has been banned, are there any circumstances in which their membership might be re-instated, or are they banned permanently? Are there a fixed number of rule-breaking posts that lead to a ban? Or is it up to the discretion of the moderators and the perceived severity of the rule-breaking?

Thanks.

That is at the sole discretion of the site administrator.

I am a brand new member.

I just left a long post on one of the boards.

After I left the post, the system replied "awaiting moderation, (etc), because you broke one or more of the forum rules." (This is not a verbatim quote, but quoted to define who said it.)

I read the rules. I am not aware of breaking any forum rules. So how can I find out what rules I broke? The message that told me that on the screen disappeared automatically in a few seconds. (this is something that may be used to improve the site: If an important piece of information is conveyed, perhaps it should be communicated to its proper audience, not just flashed to him or her.)

Maybe they referred to the constant breaking of the rule with regard to spelling. My spelling is not bad, it's excellent, as you can see. But I do use Canadian and not American spelling, and some words get flagged.

What should I do to:

1. Learn precisely what forum rules I have broken in that one attempted message;

2. Avoid breaking rules which are not obviously spelled out to me, and I have to guess at them?

For the record, I could not discover any violations of any of the forum rules in my post.

I'm looking forward to a prompt, timely, and comprehensive reply to my questions.

Yours truly,

Renee

Scott wrote:You can save a post as draft. When saved as draft, you can edit the post as much as you want for as long as you want. You can leave the site, come back later, pull up the draft and edit it some more. You can use the preview button as many times as you want to see how the post will appear in its published state. The forum rules require that you use the preview button immediately before actually submitting the post to make sure it is formatted correctly. The forum rules also require proofreading the post. Once you click 'submit', you send the post to the printing presses and it is published. Once reading it in that state, you should look at it much like you would like reading an article you sent in to the local newspaper for regular old publishing. It's been given your seal of approval.

99% of internet forums are much more lax in that department. We are doing something different here.

My point is you do not give a person credit for the possibility that they may have improved. Once condemned always always unmoderated?

It is my impression that this site is set up in its forums, guided by forum rules, with good intenions, and the forum rules reflect a healthy philosophy or principle of practice.

When I browse the "Forum rules" section, I get the impression that the philosophy or principle of practice is healthy, and it is reflected by changes to it, as no healthy system can remain stagnant.

When I read the "Forum rules" section, I realize that the changes implemented have not been UPDATED in the software response of the system. Error messages show up that inform of errors when there are no errors, for instance.

When I read the "Forum rules" forum, I notice that only fifty percent of the questions get answers. Those that are easy to answer, and can be answered by a normal being by reading the forum rules, get answers. Those that can only be answered by studying the structure of the programming engine do not get answers. These unanswered questions just linger, and render the purpose of the forum unattended. One wonders why easy, simple and straightforward questions remain unanswered; my guess is that the forum administration and the person responsible to answer questions simply does not know the answers. Although the questions are not complex, and ask for simple, uncomplicated clarification of some program rules and policy pragmatics.

This makes me believe, and I suggest it as an improvement, that

1. Someone update the forum rules to reflect the changes in policy, if any, since they have been first written up. 2. Someone update the programming engine to reflect changes in the error messages. Now the users get confusing error messages, because the messages have been generated with probably the first issue of he program,and the program has never been updated, changed, to reflect the changes and to iron out misleading directives, notices. 3. Should the forum rules be updated, and the error messages re-written to no longer display inaccurate information, this section will be much simpler and the job of SCOTT will be much easier.

Finally,

4. I find it hard to focus on topics when one has to spend most energy on posting bickering remarks on how the site works, "why it did to me what it did", etc. These days the site mechanics ought to be transparent and intuitive; the designers and the maintainers of this site have neglected to update for a long time the rules, the error messages aimed at the users, and therefore it is a brain wrecking experience to use the site.

In other words, the site has good policies, but the programming does not reflect the policies accurately. Therefore using the site is confusing and tiresome.

In other words, the site has policies that have grown out the programming, and the programming reflects old policies; the discrepancy is so troublesome, that I find it way too distracting, disturbing, and even insulting to the user.

5. Unless this discrepancy is reduced or eradicated, I am not willing to be participating here. Sorry. I have better use for my brain than to figure out from falsely reported errors what the heck is going on.

6. My ultimate suggestion is to update the error messages and do a general overhaul of the system's workings in programming logic, so that it will reflect the policies as they change. Please do this, please do invest the money, energy and time into this, because my complaints are valid, and they will get only worse in time, as the policies will likely get farther and farther away in their directives than what the system communicates to the users.

Hi big guy, it appears I am a member but I'm not allowed to post, perhaps you can explain why my most recent post failed. I will gladly debate you on a philoshpical level instead of drowning in red ink I was once booted out of a political dicussion group because I questioned the politics of the group..... which clearly were akin to nazi Germany because they kicked me out. One of the most amusing moments of my life..ie kicked out of a political dicussion group for have a political opinion l&lol Perhaps you will kick me out of this group for having a philisophical opinion Acotu

Hi Scot.

This is not strictly speaking about rules.

I am in the process of finishing a philosophical work entitled "Intraplay: An Engineers Viewpoint". I expect to finalise it arround Easter 2016. Does your site publish philosophy works online?

You would be welcome to critise it beforehand and refuse to publish it. However I would expect to retain editorial, intellectual and updating rights.

If this arrangement is possible we could charge a nominal fee (split 50/50) to download a PDF copy and thereby both benefit.

Yours in anticipation

Mr C.A.Young MIET (retired)

Engineer0RQ1 wrote:Hi Scot.

This is not strictly speaking about rules.

I am in the process of finishing a philosophical work entitled "Intraplay: An Engineers Viewpoint". I expect to finalise it arround Easter 2016. Does your site publish philosophy works online?

You would be welcome to critise it beforehand and refuse to publish it. However I would expect to retain editorial, intellectual and updating rights.

If this arrangement is possible we could charge a nominal fee (split 50/50) to download a PDF copy and thereby both benefit.

Yours in anticipation

Mr C.A.Young MIET (retired)

I will contact you about this

Spiral Out wrote:

Lionheartnv wrote:How do I start a new post?

Go into the Forum where the topic listings are and click on NEW TOPIC in the upper left corner, or click on POST REPLY to reply to a previous post. You have to put in a title when posting a new topic.

i hate to ask but where are the topic listings