-- JohnGilbert - 16 Oct 2005

Conversation Forum Software Committee

( Its not really a committee, just anybody's comments )

Comments AFTER the Nov installation of the phpBB forum.

• Dec 5 2005. The phpBB FAQ says "Please note that normal users cannot delete a post once someone has replied.".

Comments PRIOR to the Nov installation of the phpBB forum.

• Should we choose the correct software the first time? If we change the software later we may not be able to integrate the older messages. Lets not rush into the wrong software
• Samples of adequate forum software
  • Nov 10, 2005: Free Skool Santa Cruz has great viewer interactivity and
    their forum software is very good. - http://santacruz.freeskool.org/forum.php
    • An example of their interactivity which AFU can do for AFU PROMO http://santacruz.freeskool.org/forum_viewtopic.php?17.1
    • Santa Cruz's website index is better the the AFU site's index.
  • http://www.animalsentience.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=22&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15 - Their software worked okay ...John
  • http://www.naturestuff.net/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=94#94 - Their software worked okay ...John
  • http://www.uwatch.ca/ - Has font control which the 2 above lack. For university students with focus on critical new issues, relevant news of interest to anarchists. Its success is less the software and format, but that their very knowledgable moderators select the best message topics from the best university related conferences and the best university related news items. It may not be the best format for multi-topic such as internal debates and questions from outside viewers. It needs a little more study because I didn't try it. ...John
  • Some conversation message forums wisely make all their posts visible to googles bots. AFU can score bigtime in the promo department if our upcoming forum software has this feature.
  • ??
  • YourFavourite? forum (features) software. - Give anarchistU the URL with your favourite forum software with your post & topic. Please provide post username?)

• Maybe a good Wiki style forum would be best. Is there is such a thing?
  • AnyAnswers??

• Should we choose a temporary forum blog location until AFU settles on the permanent forum software, &
  the main topic in the temporary location would be: choosing forum software. ...Possible locations include the following examples:
  • Blogger.com - http://www.blogger.com/login-comment.do
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

One feature of some forum software seems useless because its misleading. It polls the popularity of the opinions posted --

Google uses popularity and counts website links, the blind following the blind. ... John
"I find more and more that it is well to be on the side of the minority, since it is always the more intelligent". ... Goethe
"Follow the course opposite to custom and you will almost always do well." ... Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
When a popular belief is wrong and you,ve googled for the popular lemmings, remember: "The best way to get a new idea is to get a lot of ideas" ... Linus Pauling - (DrVitaminC?

A MODERATOR OF A CONVERSATION FORUM IDEALY HAS A BROAD KNOWLEDGE of the axis of evil; the axis of the world's 'top down democracies' and bottom up democratic values; the axis of corporate monopoly and civil society; the axis of the rich feeding off the poor and maybe the most important of all, the difficult blurred axis of tactics and goals where an aversion to violence cannot be the sole determinate when one reminds that "The_needs_of_the_many_come_before_the_needs_of_the_few" where other cultures place a lower value on one human life from the personal perspective of each, not fearing death for the very best of spiritual reasons. Our Western false ego fear of death and pain probably appears materialistic or even sociopathic to the Hindu culture and the Buddha. [More]