The Problem With PD is This (serious thread, not stupid attempt at sarcasm):

[Cain]

You didn't lose me on it.  Don't presume me to be some sort of idiot.  I disagreed.

[Kai]

You didn't lose me on it.  Don't presume me to be some sort of idiot.  I disagreed.

Forgive me, for I am a bit intoxicated. I am sorry I assumed "you had me up until" equaled "I lost you". Why do you disagree?

[Cain]

Because I've tried to start many things people have not given a crap about, things I put a lot of effort into.

Maybe some people get others involved that way, but apparently, I'm not one of them.  I can put all the effort in the world into something, and I'll get a token pair of mittens and a "fuck yeah" or two. If that.  And that's probably only because of my status on the site.

So you'll forgive me if I think doing more of the same will achieve anything.

[Dr. Paes]

Because I've tried to start many things people have not given a crap about, things I put a lot of effort into.

Maybe some people get others involved that way, but apparently, I'm not one of them.  I can put all the effort in the world into something, and I'll get a token pair of mittens and a "fuck yeah" or two. If that.  And that's probably only because of my status on the site.

So you'll forgive me if I think doing more of the same will achieve anything.

I wish I had the ability to reply to your posts with more than a "Fuck yeah. Mittens and shit." but I often have to go away and do some research and a whole lot of thinking afterwards. If there are some threads in particular you need some responsish energy put into, though, point me at them and I'll try and put something coherent and useful into it to help the discussion continue. It can be hard as OP to keep it going when all you're getting is congratulatory responses, as if the discussion is over. I tend to go through all the unread posts when I log in, so if there's something that I've missed it's unlikely because I didn't give a crap about it but probably because I didn't think I had anything useful to add at the time. I dunno. Maybe others haven't contributed much because they feel the same.

[Freeky]

Because I've tried to start many things people have not given a crap about, things I put a lot of effort into.

Maybe some people get others involved that way, but apparently, I'm not one of them.  I can put all the effort in the world into something, and I'll get a token pair of mittens and a "fuck yeah" or two. If that.  And that's probably only because of my status on the site.

So you'll forgive me if I think doing more of the same will achieve anything.

I wish I had the ability to reply to your posts with more than a "Fuck yeah. Mittens and shit." but I often have to go away and do some research and a whole lot of thinking afterwards. If there are some threads in particular you need some responsish energy put into, though, point me at them and I'll try and put something coherent and useful into it to help the discussion continue. It can be hard as OP to keep it going when all you're getting is congratulatory responses, as if the discussion is over. I tend to go through all the unread posts when I log in, so if there's something that I've missed it's unlikely because I didn't give a crap about it but probably because I didn't think I had anything useful to add at the time. I dunno. Maybe others haven't contributed much because they feel the same.

I think this is pretty likely. I rarely have anything to add, for fear of spagging up a good OP.

[PeregrineBF]

That, of course, leads me to a question: is it better to add nothing or something worthless? Adding nothing doesn't clutter up the board, but a "mittens, fuck yeah" at least gives the OP knowledge that the post was read and liked.

[Triple Zero]

Because I've tried to start many things people have not given a crap about, things I put a lot of effort into.

Maybe some people get others involved that way, but apparently, I'm not one of them.  I can put all the effort in the world into something, and I'll get a token pair of mittens and a "fuck yeah" or two. If that.  And that's probably only because of my status on the site.

So you'll forgive me if I think doing more of the same will achieve anything.

How do you want people to react? What exactly are you aiming for?

More than mittens or "fuck yeah", okay I get that much.

But do you expect people to reply with their own well-thought out essays and studies of international politics? Because that may be a littlebit much to expect (at least, I couldnt).

Of course it's another thing to claim to be rendered speechless or anything. I usually give my mittens or "fuck yeah" to let you know I have read it and appreciate it, so you know it doesnt fall on dead ears. But when possible I try to fit in a littlebit more than that, a question or something. But often your piece is already so much information on the subject, I dont immediately desire more.

[Cain]

Actually, I was thinking of things like relaunching HIMEOBS, Philosopher of the Week or Verwirrung.

[Cain]

Anyway, my point was to illustrate how putting in effort and trying hard doesn't necessarily matter at all, and you can try and create a really cool project, only for people to give tacit support and not back it up with anything concrete at all.  Like Howl said, this isn't about turning this into a creative writing site.

[Telarus]

I'd be interested in helping with Verwirrung.

What I see right now is that all (well, most, but pretty much all) of 'our' content is currently hidden behind:

1: A static Homepage that doesn't really give an idea of what's happening NOW with Discordia (most recent things mentioned are "Our current projects are The Verwirrung Blog, The Choose Your Own Misadventure Wiki, The Golden Apple Seed Missions and The Discordian Radio Station." Really... because only 1 of those has momentum at the moment....).

2: A forum Login screen (yeah, yeah, guests can read everything but OM =P), and searching through multiple sub-forums and multiple threads to determine the wheat from the chaff.


I think this is hampering our memetic reach. We only get eyes in our direction if some-one from the forum gives out a direct link. I really think that #1 is the bigger problem, and that getting a core group of people to move (and format) content from the forum over to Verwirrung, and incorporate Verwirrung onto the front page would solve that. Especially if the posts included links back to the threads.

I know 000 is the one who was working on the front page, so we should brainstorm with him.

[Faust]

I'd be interested in helping with Verwirrung.

What I see right now is that all (well, most, but pretty much all) of 'our' content is currently hidden behind:

1: A static Homepage that doesn't really give an idea of what's happening NOW with Discordia (most recent things mentioned are "Our current projects are The Verwirrung Blog, The Choose Your Own Misadventure Wiki, The Golden Apple Seed Missions and The Discordian Radio Station." Really... because only 1 of those has momentum at the moment....).

2: A forum Login screen (yeah, yeah, guests can read everything but OM =P), and searching through multiple sub-forums and multiple threads to determine the wheat from the chaff.


I think this is hampering our memetic reach. We only get eyes in our direction if some-one from the forum gives out a direct link. I really think that #1 is the bigger problem, and that getting a core group of people to move (and format) content from the forum over to Verwirrung, and incorporate Verwirrung onto the front page would solve that. Especially if the posts included links back to the threads.

I know 000 is the one who was working on the front page, so we should brainstorm with him.

Cram gave me a list of threads to link on the front page and I completely forgot about it. The list might need to be updated but I can add it no problem.

[Richter]

I'm still down with writing stuff for Verwirrung, if folks are interested in kicking up writing again.  I still get new comments from time to time on the old stuff. 

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

So I'm going to make another comment. I mean it to be constructive and to spur discussion,  so please no one take it as insult or anything..

Personally, I think a 'part' (not the main part, but a part) of our problem here at PD is maybe that we have expectations that are out of line with reality. Sure, we might come up with something full of awesome and win (we sure have in the past)... but that happens due to inspiration, muse and the fifty previous concepts that fell flat on their face. Sometimes I get the feeling that we see ourselves as 'The NEW DISCORDIA' and hold some expectation that we will change the face of Discordia, or have the most awesome projects in Limbo, or something... but generally our best stuff happens in the moment... not in the expectation.

I wonder how much of the in-fighting and perceived discontent is a result of expectations not being met... maybe because they're too high, or because past success is causing us to forget how those successes happened (sometimes it seems incidental, a explosion of interest based on an accidental muse). Have we disappointed ourselves, because we expected too much, or because our egos led us to expect too much?

Just a thought, please no one explode.

[East Coast Hustle]

Which old ways?  Can you point out the 50 page threads about *stabby stabby* and tequila?  Or the threads about Really Real Discordianism?  Or the spasms of mod abuse, real and accused?  Or perhaps the old way of this board not existing at all, or with three posters dropping in once a month?  Bad as "facebook for weirdos" may be, there is always, always worse, and this board has seen it.  

so....because something could be worse than it is now, that means there's no point in trying to improve it?

[Z³]

Because I've tried to start many things people have not given a crap about, things I put a lot of effort into.

Maybe some people get others involved that way, but apparently, I'm not one of them.  I can put all the effort in the world into something, and I'll get a token pair of mittens and a "fuck yeah" or two. If that.  And that's probably only because of my status on the site.

So you'll forgive me if I think doing more of the same will achieve anything.

Honestly Cain, your rants, and the fascism series... are the primary reason I've continued to pay attention to this site.
For whatever that is worth.