Somewhat knowledgeable about Web life, actually using these types of fancy forums is unfamiliar to me—although I did learn about them when doing distance learning. If I were real busy, I might get frustrated at not knowing exactly what to do, how to get here easily, how to post my announcement, how to quickly get new forum posts (notify-by-email is great!) without going through the many-step trial-and-error process, and I would wish for some pointers or a FAQ to get me going and up to speed.
I also wonder how to remove posts or do they become part of the increasingly full Web closet?
These are some things I’d like to know (if I were a real newbie to all this)
How do I post a message to the forum?
How do I search the forum?
Can I send email to other members?
What is Private Messaging?
How do I use the Member List?
What are announcements?
How do I post/remove-when-out-of-date announcements?
How do I rate a thread?
What are the various thread display options?
Where can I find the RSS feed?
How do I use Code Buttons and Clickable Smilies?
How do I create and vote in polls?
What are Attachments?
What are message icons?
Can I edit my own posts?
What are Moderators?
etc.
I would be happy to write up an introductory blurb for the site and the Newsletter if it would help get attention.
Okay, I have finally gotten this far.
So I wonder if a broader range of topics might help. Perhaps, for example, a “literature” forum? Perhaps, for another example, something on Japanese visas and taxes? (Yes, I know that would only be of interest to people in Japan, but that’s most of us.) Perhaps something on getting published—e.g., finding a publisher, promoting your work, and the rest?
If these discussions were started and publicized, would they draw people in?
—Fred Uleman, wondering if there is some way to sign this automatically
So I wonder if a broader range of topics might help. Perhaps, for example, a “literature” forum?
Actually, I was thinking along the same lines myself. ;-)
Perhaps, for another example, something on Japanese visas and taxes? (Yes, I know that would only be of interest to people in Japan, but that’s most of us.) Perhaps something on getting published—e.g., finding a publisher, promoting your work, and the rest?
If these discussions were started and publicized, would they draw people in?
Both good ideas, I think. Do you think the first would work well as a general “Life in Japan” forum? I’m not sure what we’d call the second one yet, but I’m sure it will come to us as we clarify our ideas.
Fred Uleman, wondering if there is some way to sign this automatically
Sure. While logged in, click on the “Your Control Panel” link at the top of the page (in the forums section), click on the “Edit Signature” link listed under the Personal Settings in the left-hand column, and then edit and update your signature.
I wonder about a “life in Japan” thread because it would get so broad. Finding an apartment. Getting rid of a pet. Shopping. And all of those other non-business aspects. But there is no reason it could not get started and then be divided later if it actually does get too broad.
On the literature one, I suspect, given swet’s Japan focus, that this would tend to be self-focusing. So why not start it and see what happens.
On getting published, there are a number of publishing people—Ed Lippsett comes to mind—already on swet-l. So it might work
And perhaps we could even persuade Ed to moderate the getting-published one. And Julie Carpenter the literature one?
And if there were a “smoke-free restaurants” forum, I might even volunteer to moderate it. <g>
I wonder about a “life in Japan” thread because it would get so broad.
Perhaps a “working in Japan” forum would do a better job of keeping the discussion focused.
On the literature one, I suspect, given swet’s Japan focus, that this would tend to be self-focusing. So why not start it and see what happens.
I agree that this would be a good one to have (I have often wondered why there are not more frequent discussions of literature on SWET-L, actually).
On getting published, there are a number of publishing people—Ed Lippsett comes to mind—already on swet-l. So it might work
If he would be interested in moderating such a forum for us, I agree that he would be an excellent choice!
And Julie Carpenter the literature one?
I’m afraid that I am not familiar with her work, but yes, if she would be interested in doing it, I think we could arrange to make it easy for her to do.
Is this worth taking to the SC?
We may need to flesh these ideas out a bit more before doing so, but I cannot think of any reason not to.
Looked in the members’ list for Juliet Carpenter and Ed Lippsett and did not find either. So I assume they are not members and hence not immediate candidates to moderate forums. (Note: at yesterday’s 25th anniversary celebration, Seidensticker spoke of how downtrodden literary translators are and how nice it would be if SWET could do something for these people. This is a possible topic of discussion.)
But I did see lots and lots and lots of names I did not recognize. Could somebody remind me how all of these names got here and what, if anything, is done with them now that they are here?
In fleshing these ideas out, I wonder about the email notification. It makes sense to have email notification per se—to remind people to check the forum. But that notification is purpose-defeating if it includes the full text of the response it is telling me about. Can this—should this—be changed?
Looked in the members’ list for Juliet Carpenter and Ed Lippsett and did not find either. So I assume they are not members and hence not immediate candidates to moderate forums.
They can easily join, if they are interested—or we could even handle the registration for them—so I wouldn’t worry much about that.
But I did see lots and lots and lots of names I did not recognize. Could somebody remind me how all of these names got here and what, if anything, is done with them now that they are here?
People sign up to use the site all the time. Right now, there is very little on the site that they need to sign up for, but they do anyway. What is done with them? Nothing, really, but most of them receive our meeting announcements and so on.
In fleshing these ideas out, I wonder about the email notification. It makes sense to have email notification per se—to remind people to check the forum. But that notification is purpose-defeating if it includes the full text of the response it is telling me about. Can this—should this—be changed?
Purpose-defeating, you say? I never thought of it that way. Because it sends me the text of the response, I can tell before I fire up my browser if I want to go respond or not.
;-)
Yes, it can be changed. Should it? I’m not sure why it needs to…
As I indicated in my recent message to the SC, I would like to open these forums up for general use at the beginning of next year, so why don’t we contact Ed and Juliet (and any other potential candidates) to find out if they would be interested in moderating a forum, and then use the time between now and then to get everything set up? Even if Ed and Juliet are interested in the idea, I am sure they would appreciate some time to prepare topics for discussion and so on. I will also need a little bit of time to make some modifications to the way the forums are set up.
Do we have a volunteer to do the contacting, or is that something else to put on my to-do list? ;-)
Saw the note on the SC list, and like the idea of encouraging people to use the Forums for announcements. Also like the idea of a SWET Shopping Cart, but that’s a different issue.
So why don’t I contact Ed and Julie about maybe moderating forums? Will have to figure out how to explain the Forums idea to them, but that’ll do me good because maybe then I’ll understand it.
...why don’t I contact Ed and Julie about maybe moderating forums?
That would be great. Thank you, Fred!
Will have to figure out how to explain the Forums idea to them, but that’ll do me good because maybe then I’ll understand it.
Well, if it helps at all, you can point them to the forums so that they can at least get a sense of what it looks like. I’ve also made you the moderator of this forum (“General Discussion”) so that you can get a sense of the options available to moderators—I figure that might help you explain how it works.
I can answer questions or provide information, if necessary, so please feel free to ask.
Thanks, I think, for making me a moderator here. Which leads to my first question. You said being a moderator will help me figure out how it works. But I do not see anything that looks different now from what it was before I was a moderator. I don’t see anything to click to exercise my awesome powers. <g> Where should I be looking?
Second question: Is it possible to modify this forum set-up so only the unread messages open when I go to a forum? In Gmail, for example, the posters’ names are shown for notes that I have already read in a thread and only the unread-yet notes are open. Saves a lot of scrolling.
You said being a moderator will help me figure out how it works. But I do not see anything that looks different now from what it was before I was a moderator. I don’t see anything to click to exercise my awesome powers. <g> Where should I be looking?
Your powers might not be quite as awesome as you might like, but they should be there if you are looking in the right places.
First, look in the top-right corner of the first post in the thread (in this case, Kay’s initial message). You should see the IP address Kay posted from (which will be listed for each user), followed by a link that will enable you to close the thread (which will only be listed in the first post of each thread).
Next look at the bottom of Kay’s first post. In addition to the Profile, PM, and Quote buttons, you should also find ones that will enable you to Edit or Delete the post or to Move the entire thread to a different forum (again, this last option appears in the first post only).
In addition to these powers, which enable to you moderate a thread in progress, you can also create “announcements” for forums you moderate or “sticky” posts that stay at the top of the list of threads even when newer topics push other threads down the list. You can do these things by creating a new topic and then clicking the “More Options” link in the New Topic form.
These may not be very exciting powers, but they are powers that non-moderators do not have.
:-)
Second question: Is it possible to modify this forum set-up so only the unread messages open when I go to a forum? In Gmail, for example, the posters’ names are shown for notes that I have already read in a thread and only the unread-yet notes are open. Saves a lot of scrolling.
Unfortunately, I don’t think such features have made their way into these forums yet, but I will note that using Firefox with auto-scrolling and/or smooth scrolling enabled also saves a lot of scrolling.
;-)
