This is the item for telling people about all the *other* wonderful conferences on Grex. Summer Agora is NOT everything - there are about ONE HUNDRED other conferences here on Grex, on all sorts of subjects - books, poetry, cooking, sex, web pages, women, role playing games - you name it. Type "help conferences" at the Ok: prompt to see the list, or just check out the ones that are touted in this item.32 responses total.
Your Grex journey cannot possibly be complete without a stop
at the Enigma conference. Guided tours leave every hour on
the half hour. So, take a ride on the clue bus and visit
Enigma today.
That conference is modernist.
But what is Enigma /about/?
It is enigmatic. Therefore, by definition, no one can say.
Is it that no-one can say, or just that nobody knows?
Investigate the question, dcat. We'd love to hear your answer. :)
Damn, I was hoping this wouldn't be an audience-participation thing. . . .
bbs is not a spectator sport. ;)
of the poetry conference, be sure: although quiet, we're hardly demure. now the login screen's changed, we need *you* to orate -- it's more fun than a bi-hourly tour.
The music conference is worth a look. Usually the discussion revolves around British Isles folk and Napster-style items (copyright and file sharing in the industry). Occasionally, there is a different item-- Sapna entered an American Idol item a while back. Break the mold and come on over. I've enjoyed the cooking/kitchen cf a lot, too. Full of restaurant reviews in the A2/Ypsi area, recipes, cooking tips, comments on cooking implements, the conference might give you a little insight into your cooking time. Inferno is psychological discussion of a light and popular nature. It's been a little quiet, but has been friendly. It is a 'refurbished' cf, so to speak, in that it had different content once upon a time. The Perky (originally Steve) conference is another changed conference. It is currently inactive, but it funny at least for the read on the Agora item that started it. I am the fw of the recovery cf. It is primarily a resource conference, a place to check in occasionally or to share helpful bits of information.
There once was a FW named Erinn Whose conference likes she was sharin' But her limerick art All too quick fell apart When the rhyme scheme I found she was tearin'. Join Science. Just because it's geeky. And we geek out about some pretty esoteric things. Come geek out with us and tell us what's going on that *you* think is cool.
(response voiced a la traditional poetry cf "shred:") While I find your poetic use of name pleasing and was impressed that you chose it for the base of the rhyme scheme, your internal criticism of my limerick's own rhyme scheme falls a bit flat when you did the same in your own, Russ. d;
Join the international conference, and learn about the world around you. It's a little slow, and unfortunately has become a slamming cf, but it'll change, I promise. If you have something interesting to say about the world and other people, do it in the international conference
d'oh. :/name/my name
resp:13 you're a fw there, right, Sapna?
Yes, she is. I just had occasion to stop by the consumer conference. Well worth a visit. You'll find information on how to shop for just about anything, and recommendations for the rest.
What does "FW" stand for?
"Fair Witness", the person responsible for a conference (for certain values of "responsible").
Isn't the same as a Moderator?
Not really, but I guess the concept is similar. The moderator of a debate or panel discussion has a bit more power than a fair witness of a conference, and the moderator of an e-mail list has a lot more control than a fair witness of a conference. In most cases, the fair witness links items between conferences, freezes (or otherwise removes) duplicate items or items not germane to the conference, subject to the mores of the particular conference. The fair witness is also the person to contact with specific questions about the operation of the conference.
So how is this different from a Moderator's duties/abilities?
It's a Heinlein groupie thing. See http://freerepublic.com/~fairwitness/
A moderator would be able to steer the discussion and slap people's wrists when they get out of line. A fw has much less responsibility. From what I've learnt, you're not allowed to delete stuff that could be disruptive to the community. Basically your hands are tied.
Most of the powers that people think moderators ought to have turn out to be really bad solutions in terms of social dynamics. "Fairwitness" was my attempt to defuse this tendency. In Confer they were called "organizers", and there were occasional flame fests related to this or that abuse or perceived abuse. On the well, they're called "hosts". In the BBS world, a common term was "sysop". A popular newspeak term for ftf meetings is "facilitator".
The Usenet model of moderated and unmoderated discussion groups works
out pretty well; it seems that many people are irked by percieved moderator
abuse, but not enough to deal with unmoderated garbage, and many people
are irked by unmoderated garbage, but not enough to institute moderators.
There are a lot of reasons why, socially, percieved abuse tends to get way
out of hand, but that's probably outside the scope of this discussion.
Generally I think of a "moderator" as someone who approves or rejects posts before they appear publicly. A Picospan/Backtalk fairwitness doesn't have that ability.
Usenet has different scaling issues, and different social problems.
Marcus: We're in complete agreement here. I re-read my post, and
realised that it might be construed as criticism; it wasn't meant to be
criticism, but rather a comment about a system that worked well for its'
niche.
Do you expect these morons to actually have anything useful to say except for the vain babbling that takes place here? These shitdick asshats should be confined to agora. Thier senseless rambling is best posted here.
Wanna-be iconoclast=0
jaklumen = a wanna-be thinker...you are so cliche.
Look who's talkin'.
You have several choices: