All posts in the topic Forum usage (Short link)
Summary
- There are 5 posts — by 3 authors — in this topic.
- Latest post made by Julie Olague at Mar 10 20:52 UTC
Hi Forum members -
I'm really excited about having the Forum finally, actually working, and I'm
starting to learn *how* it works. One thing I just learned this morning
from Tim Erickson who provides technical support and general encouragement
is that because the Forum allows both e-mail and Web access, posts cannot be
edited. This means that when an e-mail covers more than one topic or
includes extraneous material, ni modo, the whole thing goes in one topic.
Thus the topic lists are coming out sort of messy, with some posts included
twice and some material that should have been in a different topic in an
inappropriate list. I had thought that I would be able to edit everything
and straighten all these things out, but not so. Therefore, be advised that
*your e-mail in its entirety will be posted in the topic you have written in
the subject line*.
On Feb 24, 2008, at 12:41 PM, Bob Wallace wrote:
> I'm really excited about having the Forum finally, actually working,
> and I'm
> starting to learn *how* it works. One thing I just learned this
> morning
> from Tim Erickson who provides technical support and general
> encouragement
> is that because the Forum allows both e-mail and Web access, posts
> cannot be
> edited.
Yes, the forum is off to a great start. If you joined the forum late,
visit this URL to read some of what you have missed:
http://forums.e-democracy.org/groups/lasvegas-issues
A couple of other really important things to remember about how this
forums works.
#1) Every member is limited to 2 posts per 24 hour time period. We do
this because many members are reading the forum via email and we can't
afford to overwhelm them with lots of posts from a few individuals.
We'd rather see posts from a larger number of different people.
For more info: http://blog.e-democracy.org/posts/74
#2) If you don't want to get all the messages via email, you can
change your subscription in this forum to either:
a) Web Only
(no email, you must go to web site to read messages)
b) Daily Digest
(one email per day, with links to recent topics)
For more information on how to change your email delivery settings,
please see:
http://pages.e-democracy.org/Change_Email_Settings
If you have any technical questions about how the forum works, please
contact me. Any comments about the content of the forum should be
directed to Bob Wallace.
Thanks,
Tim Erickson
E-Democracy.Org
HOW TO POST TO THE FORUM There are two ways to post messages on the Forum: (1) Go to the home page at http://forums.e-democracy.org/groups/lasvegas-issues Log in with your user name and password [upper rightish part of page] Scroll down a bit to Members of Las Vegas Issues Forum Click on Read and post messages [1at or 2nd line, depending on how you count] Most of the page you see will be a list of topics, but just above that list is a line that says: Posts.... Start a new topic Click on the Start a new topic, and you should see an easy-to-follow guide. (2) Alternatively, if you want to avoid the Internet, e-mail your post to <email obscured> Be sure to put the name of the new topic in the subject line of the e-mail, otherwise it will not be posted correctly in the list of topics on the Internet site.
A short time ago Bernard Schaer posted an introduction to his rich and
interesting life. In the course of making the post, he discovered a feature of
this Forum that will drive you insane if you're not careful, because once
you've committed yourself and posted a message, it can never be changed. It
can't be erased or edited. In Bernard's case it was no big deal, because he
had just forgot something he wanted to have there and was able to just post a
follow on message. It's kind of a drag if you don't have the exact right words
in the subject line, and so your post doesn't go in the appropriate topic
listing. But worst of all, of course, is if you're writing in a fit of pique,
and you say bad things about somebody. This is not good. It violates the
spirit and also the rules of the Forum. Everybody ought to check out the
rules, at least once. They're a part of the Charter (left hand column of Home
Page). They may be a trifle heavy, but I can't say that they're unreasonable.
Anyway, my point is that Forum software doesn't always operate as one might
wish, but I doubt that I (or we) could have reinvented this system with so many
pluses and so few minuses. And don't forget that there's always the patient and
pretty indefatigable Tim Erickson standing by, ready to fix whatever is
fixable, at <email obscured>.
Thanks Bob, I'm glad you brought this up.
One of the goals of the Local Issues Forum is to find solution based answers to
our needs.
While preparing the Forum, we wanted to be certain to cover all bases; that is,
to offer a safe, non-threatening, unbiased and PEACEFUL online town hall
meeting.
It's sometimes difficult to be objective when a 'raw nerve' is hit, but to be
fair and see through our differences as human beings is the essence of the
Forum.
This is a Local Issues Forum, not a Personal issues forum, so said, it's better
to take any negativity to the source and deal with it on a face to face basis.
A little negativity goes a long way very quickly.
Yes, the "rules" are lengthy, but worth the read, basically, the point is to
"be considerate, be nice and just plain use common courtesy" when posting.
Nothing difficult, when it comes right down to it.
It was suggested to choose a "few" guidelines from the list, but a listing the
entire "rules of conduct" is what we agreed would be more beneficial in the
long run.