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Post by ShivaTD on Feb 10, 2014 12:54:23 GMT
With the great people that have posted here it is sad to see this forum is dying. We met so many of the goals that we wanted such as respectful discussion and debate without resorting to insults and personal attacks. What we lacked was a willingness to come here often and express our opinions. It has been days since anyone posted anything new or responded to anyone else.
I wish everyone would give it another chance. Make this the forum we visit first. I know that fewer people will see our posts here but those that do are really better people. IMHO
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Post by Oddquine on Feb 10, 2014 15:31:02 GMT
To an extent, in my case, that is as much down to my current preoccupation with the forthcoming Scottish Independence Referendum as anything else. Fora which are International in scope, and have relatively few members with votes in Scotland are not the platform for posts setting out the benefits of Scottish Independence for Scots and the Scottish economy.....so I am doing my posting in UK based forums, mostly Scottish local ones, though I do check in here most days.
Having tried myself in the past to set up a forum like this, which also started off with a bang but died with a whimper, I did kinda wonder if part of the reason was exactly the fact that I, too, emphasised respectful discussion and debate without resorting to insults and personal attacks.....but reading forums elsewhere, it appears that the more insults and personal attacks..the more page views they get. Go figure!
I will mention one thing, though...I'm not overly keen on the split of the whole forum up into specific areas for debate from the off-go. When I come on, being Scottish from the UK, I home in on Western Europe and if there is nothing of interest there, I wander down to Nationalism then General Non-Political chat and then go away, very often without posting at all.
Personally, I would prefer the main forum was a single World News/Current Affairs one...something on the lines of your Global and Inter-Regional forum...because it is only by reading an OP that I know if I have an opinion or not..and no offence, but I'm not about to trawl through nine specific area fora and twenty-eight subject specific ones in the hopes I'll find something to which I can relate to which to respond. To be fair, I possibly could find something in most posts in the different geographic areas on which I could hang a hook...but I look at forums for Australia etc, North America, Africa et al, and I think "nothing to do with me..I don't know anything about what is happening there."
But I know myself that the problem with a catch-all forum, will be that you will catch posts which are neither Global or Inter-Regional, and that will require moderation to move them to the appropriate place..because the one thing posters believe implicitly is that if they have something to say, they are entitled to say it in a place where everyone is going to see it, and to pot with the rules. Moving posts made initially in the wrong place, with a link to their new home however, would perhaps encourage people into other areas of the forum to participate.
That's my tuppence worth....and at least it's a post.
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Post by iolo on Feb 10, 2014 19:19:00 GMT
To an extent, in my case, that is as much down to my current preoccupation with the forthcoming Scottish Independence Referendum as anything else. Fora which are International in scope, and have relatively few members with votes in Scotland are not the platform for posts setting out the benefits of Scottish Independence for Scots and the Scottish economy.....so I am doing my posting in UK based forums, mostly Scottish local ones, though I do check in here most days. Having tried myself in the past to set up a forum like this, which also started off with a bang but died with a whimper, I did kinda wonder if part of the reason was exactly the fact that I, too, emphasised respectful discussion and debate without resorting to insults and personal attacks.....but reading forums elsewhere, it appears that the more insults and personal attacks..the more page views they get. Go figure! I will mention one thing, though...I'm not overly keen on the split of the whole forum up into specific areas for debate from the off-go. When I come on, being Scottish from the UK, I home in on Western Europe and if there is nothing of interest there, I wander down to Nationalism then General Non-Political chat and then go away, very often without posting at all. Personally, I would prefer the main forum was a single World News/Current Affairs one...something on the lines of your Global and Inter-Regional forum...because it is only by reading an OP that I know if I have an opinion or not..and no offence, but I'm not about to trawl through nine specific area fora and twenty-eight subject specific ones in the hopes I'll find something to which I can relate to which to respond. To be fair, I possibly could find something in most posts in the different geographic areas on which I could hang a hook...but I look at forums for Australia etc, North America, Africa et al, and I think "nothing to do with me..I don't know anything about what is happening there." But I know myself that the problem with a catch-all forum, will be that you will catch posts which are neither Global or Inter-Regional, and that will require moderation to move them to the appropriate place..because the one thing posters believe implicitly is that if they have something to say, they are entitled to say it in a place where everyone is going to see it, and to pot with the rules. Moving posts made initially in the wrong place, with a link to their new home however, would perhaps encourage people into other areas of the forum to participate. That's my tuppence worth....and at least it's a post. I think a different format would be better, with new posts under headings. This format tends to encourage 'duets' - and I don't know about others, but I like to come in when the mood takes me, rather than be expected to keep things going when I don't feel like it. |
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Post by iolo on Feb 10, 2014 19:31:24 GMT
With the great people that have posted here it is sad to see this forum is dying. We met so many of the goals that we wanted such as respectful discussion and debate without resorting to insults and personal attacks. What we lacked was a willingness to come here often and express our opinions. It has been days since anyone posted anything new or responded to anyone else.
I wish everyone would give it another chance. Make this the forum we visit first. I know that fewer people will see our posts here but those that do are really better people. IMHO
What happens as it is is that you get stuck in a discussion with someone who is perhaps not on your wavelength. You feel challenged, all the time, to reply to something that is up there in front, and you don't want to, so you stay away until the 'front-billing' has passed. I've often come here and found the same two posters going on and on at one another, too, and not felt like butting in. Just give the subjects in small type, together with the name of the last poster. |
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Post by fred on Feb 11, 2014 11:18:52 GMT
I would like to spend more time on forums but I've had to cut back a lot due to pressure of work.
That work is going to hold me back for a few more months as I'm rebuilding a lot of lessons to include many more video clips.
Much of what I need isn't available on youtube so I have started to make my own.
That takes a lot of time but the lessons are far better for them.
EXAMPLE
Hardly a top quality documentary but it works a treat for what I want.
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Post by fred on Feb 11, 2014 11:26:06 GMT
As a note; I'm also adding many references to capitalism and how it's the best political system for the kids to follow. Our kids are mostly from business minded families, diplomats or government officials so I have a lot of support from parents in this matter. Clearly, discouraging socialism and encouraging capitalism is good for the kids so I'm trying to show them as many ways to be the best as I possibly can in lesson time. I have a banner with slogans about making money and a 'Time' front page of Maggie in a rather nice frame on my office wall.  |
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Post by Oddquine on Feb 11, 2014 12:31:44 GMT
So basically, fred, you are using your position to brainwash the children in your control and not giving them the tools to make informed decisions for themselves?
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Post by ShivaTD on Feb 11, 2014 13:51:49 GMT
What happens as it is is that you get stuck in a discussion with someone who is perhaps not on your wavelength. You feel challenged, all the time, to reply to something that is up there in front, and you don't want to, so you stay away until the 'front-billing' has passed. I've often come here and found the same two posters going on and on at one another, too, and not felt like butting in. Just give the subjects in small type, together with the name of the last poster.
<<< Waving my hand >>>
I'm one of those two idiots LOL
..... and I wish you would jump into the conversation. Your opinion is valuable even if I disagree with it. It is the "challenging" aspect of a forum that makes it worthwhile. Often I've been forced to do the research necessary to support my opinion and that is a very good thing. I've even had to correct my opinion because when I did the research I found out I was wrong.
So please do butt in because butting in is really what we need more of.
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Post by ShivaTD on Feb 11, 2014 13:59:09 GMT
So basically, fred, you are using your position to brainwash the children in your control and not giving them the tools to make informed decisions for themselves?
There is obviously a difference between brainwashing and education. For example:
Capitalism is good and socialism is bad is brainwashing.
This is what capitalism is, it's advantages and shortcomings, and this is what socialism is, its advantages and shortcomings, is education.
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Post by iolo on Feb 11, 2014 14:22:22 GMT
What happens as it is is that you get stuck in a discussion with someone who is perhaps not on your wavelength. You feel challenged, all the time, to reply to something that is up there in front, and you don't want to, so you stay away until the 'front-billing' has passed. I've often come here and found the same two posters going on and on at one another, too, and not felt like butting in. Just give the subjects in small type, together with the name of the last poster.
<<< Waving my hand >>>
I'm one of those two idiots LOL
..... and I wish you would jump into the conversation. Your opinion is valuable even if I disagree with it. It is the "challenging" aspect of a forum that makes it worthwhile. Often I've been forced to do the research necessary to support my opinion and that is a very good thing. I've even had to correct my opinion because when I did the research I found out I was wrong.
So please do butt in because butting in is really what we need more of.
I think that 'Recent Posts' should just give the title, in which case it would be easier, rather than making so much of the latest message. For one thing, when two people are having a long discussion, you have to go back miles to know what it's all about - which, all too often (for me, that is) is 'America'. I like just to put in my three-half-penceworth without being made so much of. |
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Post by Oddquine on Feb 11, 2014 14:26:19 GMT
So basically, fred, you are using your position to brainwash the children in your control and not giving them the tools to make informed decisions for themselves?
There is obviously a difference between brainwashing and education. For example:
Capitalism is good and socialism is bad is brainwashing.
This is what capitalism is, it's advantages and shortcomings, and this is what socialism is, its advantages and shortcomings, is education. So anyone who writes Clearly, discouraging socialism and encouraging capitalism is good for the kids so I'm trying to show them as many ways to be the best as I possibly can in lesson time is brainwashing, not educating?  |
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Post by fred on Feb 12, 2014 6:41:44 GMT
So basically, fred, you are using your position to brainwash the children in your control and not giving them the tools to make informed decisions for themselves?
There is obviously a difference between brainwashing and education. For example:
Capitalism is good and socialism is bad is brainwashing.
This is what capitalism is, it's advantages and shortcomings, and this is what socialism is, its advantages and shortcomings, is education.
Hard work produces reward and the kids must know this.
Socialism, in its many forms and fails, gets a lot of mentions as well.
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Post by fred on Feb 12, 2014 6:44:26 GMT
There is obviously a difference between brainwashing and education. For example:
Capitalism is good and socialism is bad is brainwashing.
This is what capitalism is, it's advantages and shortcomings, and this is what socialism is, its advantages and shortcomings, is education. So anyone who writes Clearly, discouraging socialism and encouraging capitalism is good for the kids so I'm trying to show them as many ways to be the best as I possibly can in lesson time is brainwashing, not educating? Not at all. I make it very clear to the kids; they can express their own ideas and opinions on any and all subjects we talk about. |
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Post by ShivaTD on Feb 12, 2014 8:55:12 GMT
There is obviously a difference between brainwashing and education. For example:
Capitalism is good and socialism is bad is brainwashing.
This is what capitalism is, it's advantages and shortcomings, and this is what socialism is, its advantages and shortcomings, is education.
Hard work produces reward and the kids must know this.
Socialism, in its many forms and fails, gets a lot of mentions as well.
This was so interesting that I've decided to start a thread on it for discussion so we can explore it. I'm an avid laissez faire capitalist but also acknowledge that there are problems with it. Great in theory (as is socialism) but it has short-comings that really need to be identified and addressed. I just provide the "introduction" to the topic so I don't scare others off.
worldpf.com/thread/755/capitalism-success-failure
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Post by iolo on Feb 14, 2014 18:23:27 GMT
So anyone who writes Clearly, discouraging socialism and encouraging capitalism is good for the kids so I'm trying to show them as many ways to be the best as I possibly can in lesson time is brainwashing, not educating? Not at all. I make it very clear to the kids; they can express their own ideas and opinions on any and all subjects we talk about. How would you stop 'em? In this you are like the system - theoretically you can say what you please - if the bullyboys let you! |
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