I like the diversity and diversion of the existing fora; I couldn?t have said things better than TheFallibleFiend?s first two paragraphs about Origins and Not-Quite-Science. I also strongly agree with TheFallibleFiend?s, ?One benefit of the, ahem, 'discussion' with Trilobyte over on origin is that it's got me thinking a lot?.?
Eternautu also has a good point in, ?Origins forum is a huge, bright sign reading: ?Creationists, come?.?" There?s probably no avoiding that even if we ?code? the title with something such as ?Family Tree.? The other above points are well taken too.
In terms of the Science fora, I think the distinction (Science Discussion and Not-Quite-Science) should be abandoned, but that the resulting large umbrella of ?General Science? should be split 3 ways (these would still exclude evolution, climate change, & cosmology) (see below**).
First split would be Science News (postings based on news releases).
Second split would be Science Reports (postings based on journal/peer-reviewed reports).
Third split would be Science Letters (posting of an original nature, speculative musings, the Not-Quite-Science stuff in general, and requests for information and input.
**
RicS?s idea of splitting Origins got me thinking of a split between ?Living Origins? (subsuming evolution) and ?Cosmologies? (which would subsume a lot of the ?Physics? postings from the Sci. fora). Additionally, I would add the ?Planetary Sciences? (climate change) Forum here, to these other ?hot topic? fora.
These Big-Three (hot-topics) (?family/home/environment? or life/planet/cosmos) would not be split up by the nature of their sources (reports, news & letters) as with the ?General Science? Forum; but threads could be flagged to indicate the type of posting (report, news, or letter). The initial post of a thread could be duplicated on the appropriate Gen.Sci forum (rpt./news/letter) based on the flag; but in order to reply, one would have to move to the thread?s home (originating) forum.
Alternatively, all post could originate on one of the three General Science fora (based on source); but, if desired, could be flagged (based on topic) to re-post on the appropriate ?big-three? forum, for receiving comments. Is it possible to block comments and direct people to the right place for comments, or automatically direct a reply (to the re-post) on the appropriate forum?
Replies to general threads on the General Science, ?sourced fora,? would continue as they are currently done; but only replies to flagged threads would be directed over to the appropriate Big-Three forum (life, planet, or cosmos).
Avian Flu would fit under the ?Living Origins? Forum if needed; but until there is a transmissible human variant (and it becomes a hot topic), the ?sourced fora? could handle this topic.
A master list of all threads (w/ no comments allowed), that would direct people to one of the 6 fora where comments could be added, would be helpful.
Some rules about following guidelines (based on the flags) in the Big-Three fora might help keep discussions on track, but ultimately, I think we want the diversity and serendipity that currently exists.
Even if things can?t be automatically processed and routed/restricted or flagged as I?m imagining, we could make ?rules? about these distinctions more prominent, hope for the best, and see what evolves.
Summary: 6 fora:
Three general science fora (based on sources)-see above
&
Three ?hot topic? fora (evolution (etc.), cosmologies, and climate change)
Thanks, ~samwik
