Comments on Rule H.2.

Official website announcements are posted in this forum.

If you have questions, suggestions, or need support or help with anything, please email [email protected].
Post Reply
gad-fly
Posts: 1133
Joined: October 23rd, 2019, 4:48 pm

Comments on Rule H.2.

Post by gad-fly »

HH.2. Before posting a new topic, search the forum and see if that topic already exists.

i cannot help wondering if any one of us bother about this rule at all. I would very much appreciate if at least one of you can confirm doing so. Indeed, my appreciation would extend to his tenacity to undertake what I would consider 'mission impossible'.

On average, roughly one new post emerges in this forum every day. How can new philosophical titles, let alone their content, be created at this break-neck speed? Note that the titles/topics are supposed to be serious, thought-provoking, and so on, if other rules are followed.

The effect: The forum is accumulating sediment with time, like the ocean floor. Layers upon layer, up to a kilometer deep. The ocean floor will not be touched and disturbed, except the very top layer which will soon be covered up.
User avatar
JackDaydream
Posts: 3218
Joined: July 25th, 2021, 5:16 pm

Re: Philosophy Forum Rules

Post by JackDaydream »

gad-fly wrote: March 21st, 2022, 10:17 pm HH.2. Before posting a new topic, search the forum and see if that topic already exists.

i cannot help wondering if any one of us bother about this rule at all. I would very much appreciate if at least one of you can confirm doing so. Indeed, my appreciation would extend to his tenacity to undertake what I would consider 'mission impossible'.

On average, roughly one new post emerges in this forum every day. How can new philosophical titles, let alone their content, be created at this break-neck speed? Note that the titles/topics are supposed to be serious, thought-provoking, and so on, if other rules are followed.

The effect: The forum is accumulating sediment with time, like the ocean floor. Layers upon layer, up to a kilometer deep. The ocean floor will not be touched and disturbed, except the very top layer which will soon be covered up.
There are rules about creating new topics and you are right that they are being created almost daily. The issue though may be that if one exists and it is about 50 pages long, I would not have to plough my way through reading it all, unless the discussion was as good to read as a book and often these long threads are extremely repetitive, going round in circles over one point, like a tangent. Also, it may be that a topic is looked at but from a specific angle or in relation to one point. Even though a thread on a topic exists in some shape or form the topics are broad and don't cover the entire subject, just as new books are written to tackle new areas.

Even now, I would have thought that this thread should not be here in the top 5 about philosophy and should be in the one on feedback. Also, even this thread is more or less a repeat of the forum reform one, but certainly isn't a topic for philosophy discussion unless it were approached with the view that people should not talk about that which has been spoken about previously, which makes no sense as new people join.
User avatar
chewybrian
Posts: 1594
Joined: May 9th, 2018, 7:17 pm
Favorite Philosopher: Epictetus
Location: Florida man

Re: Philosophy Forum Rules

Post by chewybrian »

gad-fly wrote: March 21st, 2022, 10:17 pm HH.2. Before posting a new topic, search the forum and see if that topic already exists.

i cannot help wondering if any one of us bother about this rule at all. I would very much appreciate if at least one of you can confirm doing so. Indeed, my appreciation would extend to his tenacity to undertake what I would consider 'mission impossible'.

On average, roughly one new post emerges in this forum every day. How can new philosophical titles, let alone their content, be created at this break-neck speed? Note that the titles/topics are supposed to be serious, thought-provoking, and so on, if other rules are followed.

The effect: The forum is accumulating sediment with time, like the ocean floor. Layers upon layer, up to a kilometer deep. The ocean floor will not be touched and disturbed, except the very top layer which will soon be covered up.
I think there is a forum rule about asking a philosophical question unless you are posting in the lounge or the feedback section, which seems like the spot for this thread. The other irony is that you posted a thread "The Philosophy of Science forum" that seemed to be nothing but a rebuttal to the "Religion of Science" thread (they are both on the hot topics page at the moment). That thread certainly could have been a reply to the other thread rather than an alleged new idea.

I'm not picking on you and I'm not bothered, but only pointing out that it is easy to accidentally violate the forum rules. I don't see this re-starting of threads as a serious problem, as long as folks are genuine. The only real problem I've seen here is a few preachers who try to go back to the same topic over and over with new threads that amount to the same topic. They seem to give up after a while, but they drown out discussion at times. However, another thread about free will or whatever is just a chance for new people to participate in that discussion rather than trying to dredge up a 20 page thread from 4 years ago that inevitably drifted into some side topic anyway.
"If determinism holds, then past events have conspired to cause me to hold this view--it is out of my control. Either I am right about free will, or it is not my fault that I am wrong."
gad-fly
Posts: 1133
Joined: October 23rd, 2019, 4:48 pm

Re: Philosophy Forum Rules

Post by gad-fly »

chewybrian wrote: March 22nd, 2022, 6:40 pm
I think there is a forum rule about asking a philosophical question unless you are posting in the lounge or the feedback section, which seems like the spot for this thread. The other irony is that you posted a thread "The Philosophy of Science forum" that seemed to be nothing but a rebuttal to the "Religion of Science" thread.
Thank you and JackDaydream for pointing out. I agree that this thread may fit into the feedback section. This was indeed my initial intention, but the issue carries much more significance than feedback. In General Philosophy, it says ". . . topics that does not fit into one of the other categories."

Posting a new topic is like building the foundation of a philosophical structure. Replies, comments, and argument are building blocks forming the superstructure. It makes no sense to bury it and start building a similar new structure. Not only that, but we would end up like that doomed man pushing the rock up the Atlas Mountain only to have it rolled down, to start all over again. What is his name?

On the Philosophy of Science Forum, I would like to have discussed there rather than here, if you like.
User avatar
JackDaydream
Posts: 3218
Joined: July 25th, 2021, 5:16 pm

Re: Philosophy Forum Rules

Post by JackDaydream »

gad-fly wrote: March 22nd, 2022, 11:29 pm
chewybrian wrote: March 22nd, 2022, 6:40 pm
I think there is a forum rule about asking a philosophical question unless you are posting in the lounge or the feedback section, which seems like the spot for this thread. The other irony is that you posted a thread "The Philosophy of Science forum" that seemed to be nothing but a rebuttal to the "Religion of Science" thread.
Thank you and JackDaydream for pointing out. I agree that this thread may fit into the feedback section. This was indeed my initial intention, but the issue carries much more significance than feedback. In General Philosophy, it says ". . . topics that does not fit into one of the other categories."

Posting a new topic is like building the foundation of a philosophical structure. Replies, comments, and argument are building blocks forming the superstructure. It makes no sense to bury it and start building a similar new structure. Not only that, but we would end up like that doomed man pushing the rock up the Atlas Mountain only to have it rolled down, to start all over again. What is his name?

On the Philosophy of Science Forum, I would like to have discussed there rather than here, if you like.
I definitely agree that deciding which category to put a thread in is extremely difficult and it's probably because the problems of life don't fall into neat categories. With the the first thread, yours and mine, it's unfortunate that there are overlaps but it is significant that each of them is in a different one of the three categories, so when they fall from grace into the main threads they will go off into independent lives of their own, for better or worse.

With the issue of the overlap in areas of the thread it is likely that there being 3 which tackle similar issues it may be that each received different replies. My own was not really meant to be about science specifically but it appears that is the direction it may head if it lives at all. Really, mine was based on some thoughts which I was having and I planned to put it on the other forum site which I have been using, but, somehow, I ended up putting it here instead.

Your post here does at least give people a chance to stop and think before posting. Your thread on forum did enable me to really stop and reflect on how I was making too many threads. I haven't stopped writing them but my own rule is that I definitely avoid having more than 1 in the 5. But, as for how long they survive, that is another matter. It may be like the shelf life of a book, when new books come out others fall into the background.

Most people would like to write a classic or even a thread which goes on for a long time rather than about a week. But, perhaps this doesn't really matter and the importance is to have some kind of meaningful discussion on some thread, whether it is one's own or someone else's. Often, I find it harder to have lengthy exchange on others' but that is because threads go off in unpredictable directions, depending on the various people involved. Sometimes, if too many people are writing on one it is like a disharmony of voices, and some getting drowned or lost altogether.
gad-fly
Posts: 1133
Joined: October 23rd, 2019, 4:48 pm

Re: Philosophy Forum Rules

Post by gad-fly »

JackDaydream wrote: March 23rd, 2022, 5:07 am
Your post here does at least give people a chance to stop and think before posting. Your thread on forum did enable me to really stop and reflect on how I was making too many threads. I haven't stopped writing them but my own rule is that I definitely avoid having more than 1 in the 5. But, as for how long they survive, that is another matter. It may be like the shelf life of a book, when new books come out others fall into the background.

Most people would like to write a classic or even a thread which goes on for a long time rather than about a week. But, perhaps this doesn't really matter and the importance is to have some kind of meaningful discussion on some thread, whether it is one's own or someone else's. Often, I find it harder to have lengthy exchange on others' but that is because threads go off in unpredictable directions, depending on the various people involved. Sometimes, if too many people are writing on one it is like a disharmony of voices, and some getting drowned or lost altogether.
Today I can see three new posts out of five by the same person. Perhaps Forum Reform may impose the restriction of no more than 1 in 5. The rule: No new post from you unless you can find none under your name in the top five. What do you think? It would help more serious posts being drowned out by marginal topics.

"The importance is to have meaningful discussion." I disagree. Not here. Fine if in a social group, or a boxing room with punch bags to let off steam, but not what I am here for.
User avatar
JackDaydream
Posts: 3218
Joined: July 25th, 2021, 5:16 pm

Re: Philosophy Forum Rules

Post by JackDaydream »

gad-fly wrote: March 25th, 2022, 4:01 pm
JackDaydream wrote: March 23rd, 2022, 5:07 am
Your post here does at least give people a chance to stop and think before posting. Your thread on forum did enable me to really stop and reflect on how I was making too many threads. I haven't stopped writing them but my own rule is that I definitely avoid having more than 1 in the 5. But, as for how long they survive, that is another matter. It may be like the shelf life of a book, when new books come out others fall into the background.

Most people would like to write a classic or even a thread which goes on for a long time rather than about a week. But, perhaps this doesn't really matter and the importance is to have some kind of meaningful discussion on some thread, whether it is one's own or someone else's. Often, I find it harder to have lengthy exchange on others' but that is because threads go off in unpredictable directions, depending on the various people involved. Sometimes, if too many people are writing on one it is like a disharmony of voices, and some getting drowned or lost altogether.
Today I can see three new posts out of five by the same person. Perhaps Forum Reform may impose the restriction of no more than 1 in 5. The rule: No new post from you unless you can find none under your name in the top five. What do you think? It would help more serious posts being drowned out by marginal topics.

"The importance is to have meaningful discussion." I disagree. Not here. Fine if in a social group, or a boxing room with punch bags to let off steam, but not what I am here for.
The person who wrote the 3 threads is new to the forum, so probably didn't stop and think about the issue of the 5. I didn't really stop and think about it fully for some time. It is when you become aware of your own dropping so quickly that it sinks in. The person who used to write many in a week hasn't written any for some time now.

I find that I do get some meaningful discussion, particularly if people are able to talk about ideas in books rather than simply their opinions. I definitely don't want fierce arguments. Life has too much conflict as it is. But, I do struggle between deciding what to share and what not to share because in some ways aspects of the philosophy quest are fairly personal. If one shares some really personal aspects and they get attacked by others it can be painful, although I may be more sensitive than some others here. But, it is likely that many people would not choose to write on sites like this because they prefer to keep their ideas as fairly private.
Post Reply

Return to “Forum Announcements”

2023/2024 Philosophy Books of the Month

Entanglement - Quantum and Otherwise

Entanglement - Quantum and Otherwise
by John K Danenbarger
January 2023

Mark Victor Hansen, Relentless: Wisdom Behind the Incomparable Chicken Soup for the Soul

Mark Victor Hansen, Relentless: Wisdom Behind the Incomparable Chicken Soup for the Soul
by Mitzi Perdue
February 2023

Rediscovering the Wisdom of Human Nature: How Civilization Destroys Happiness

Rediscovering the Wisdom of Human Nature: How Civilization Destroys Happiness
by Chet Shupe
March 2023

The Unfakeable Code®

The Unfakeable Code®
by Tony Jeton Selimi
April 2023

The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are

The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are
by Alan Watts
May 2023

Killing Abel

Killing Abel
by Michael Tieman
June 2023

Reconfigurement: Reconfiguring Your Life at Any Stage and Planning Ahead

Reconfigurement: Reconfiguring Your Life at Any Stage and Planning Ahead
by E. Alan Fleischauer
July 2023

First Survivor: The Impossible Childhood Cancer Breakthrough

First Survivor: The Impossible Childhood Cancer Breakthrough
by Mark Unger
August 2023

Predictably Irrational

Predictably Irrational
by Dan Ariely
September 2023

Artwords

Artwords
by Beatriz M. Robles
November 2023

Fireproof Happiness: Extinguishing Anxiety & Igniting Hope

Fireproof Happiness: Extinguishing Anxiety & Igniting Hope
by Dr. Randy Ross
December 2023

Beyond the Golden Door: Seeing the American Dream Through an Immigrant's Eyes

Beyond the Golden Door: Seeing the American Dream Through an Immigrant's Eyes
by Ali Master
February 2024

2022 Philosophy Books of the Month

Emotional Intelligence At Work

Emotional Intelligence At Work
by Richard M Contino & Penelope J Holt
January 2022

Free Will, Do You Have It?

Free Will, Do You Have It?
by Albertus Kral
February 2022

My Enemy in Vietnam

My Enemy in Vietnam
by Billy Springer
March 2022

2X2 on the Ark

2X2 on the Ark
by Mary J Giuffra, PhD
April 2022

The Maestro Monologue

The Maestro Monologue
by Rob White
May 2022

What Makes America Great

What Makes America Great
by Bob Dowell
June 2022

The Truth Is Beyond Belief!

The Truth Is Beyond Belief!
by Jerry Durr
July 2022

Living in Color

Living in Color
by Mike Murphy
August 2022 (tentative)

The Not So Great American Novel

The Not So Great American Novel
by James E Doucette
September 2022

Mary Jane Whiteley Coggeshall, Hicksite Quaker, Iowa/National Suffragette And Her Speeches

Mary Jane Whiteley Coggeshall, Hicksite Quaker, Iowa/National Suffragette And Her Speeches
by John N. (Jake) Ferris
October 2022

In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All

In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All
by Eckhart Aurelius Hughes
November 2022

The Smartest Person in the Room: The Root Cause and New Solution for Cybersecurity

The Smartest Person in the Room
by Christian Espinosa
December 2022

2021 Philosophy Books of the Month

The Biblical Clock: The Untold Secrets Linking the Universe and Humanity with God's Plan

The Biblical Clock
by Daniel Friedmann
March 2021

Wilderness Cry: A Scientific and Philosophical Approach to Understanding God and the Universe

Wilderness Cry
by Dr. Hilary L Hunt M.D.
April 2021

Fear Not, Dream Big, & Execute: Tools To Spark Your Dream And Ignite Your Follow-Through

Fear Not, Dream Big, & Execute
by Jeff Meyer
May 2021

Surviving the Business of Healthcare: Knowledge is Power

Surviving the Business of Healthcare
by Barbara Galutia Regis M.S. PA-C
June 2021

Winning the War on Cancer: The Epic Journey Towards a Natural Cure

Winning the War on Cancer
by Sylvie Beljanski
July 2021

Defining Moments of a Free Man from a Black Stream

Defining Moments of a Free Man from a Black Stream
by Dr Frank L Douglas
August 2021

If Life Stinks, Get Your Head Outta Your Buts

If Life Stinks, Get Your Head Outta Your Buts
by Mark L. Wdowiak
September 2021

The Preppers Medical Handbook

The Preppers Medical Handbook
by Dr. William W Forgey M.D.
October 2021

Natural Relief for Anxiety and Stress: A Practical Guide

Natural Relief for Anxiety and Stress
by Dr. Gustavo Kinrys, MD
November 2021

Dream For Peace: An Ambassador Memoir

Dream For Peace
by Dr. Ghoulem Berrah
December 2021