Richard,
My first thought when I read this topic was that my concerns about theories could be applied here. One forum to address evidence, one to address predictions, one to address founding assumptions, etc. might help keep things focused; BUT?.
Every time I start thinking about how to ?guide? the conversation, I end up seeing it as limiting. Would diversity be limited? Would serendipity, creativity, comfort level, and enjoyment be limited?
Every time, after pondering these limitations for a while, I find myself imagining different way the forums could be physically restructured to accommodate the wide variety of responses on a thread. I like wikipedia?s discussion pages linked to a particular topic. Something like that could accompany each post, allowing comments on the post, without derailing the thread from the original topic; because so often a post simply critiques the previous post?s style or technique without commenting on the thread topic. The linear structure of the current forums fosters this; whereas if ?critiques? could be posted on a ?sidebar,? the topic thread might survive more easily.
A ?guideline? about reading the thread completely (at least once!) should be self-evident; but even that could be somewhat ?limiting.?
As it stands now, things may be better though, because it stikes me as a sort of organic system with competing threads, some more fit than others, that evolve as postings continue. It is harsh and unfair at times, but that?s evolution!
It might be neat if thread originators could move the whole thread between forums.
I just recently became aware of the ?notifications? option, and haven?t looked yet; but I can imagine some options in that area that might provide more cross-linking between threads.
Basically, every time I start thinking about this, I start imagining different designs, structures, and capabilities of the fora.
Good topic Richard, if not a good reminder too.
~~Samwik
P.S. 'nother thought. It'd be good to have a "quote" showing which post was "most recent" when the current post was started. Sometimes, while composing a post, others are posted and it becomes hard to attribute the references in the composition to the correct previous postings.
~or words to that effect....
~S
