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Registered: 11-2017
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A Message to the Moderators: Restructure, Repurpose With Steemit


If we have any chance to make this site work, we should make Escape Velocity better right now, before we have much participation. First, we should learn from the structure at the original MindX. Second, the site will ultimately fail if it’s just a dogs-lunch leftover from Kurzweil. For instance, if the new Kurzweil website has a forum, this one would be abandoned. Finally, we need a new mission, and we could do that using Steemit. Doing so would bring in a multitude of participants, invigorate the mission of the original MindX, and insure this site’s success. Our mantra is the “Escape Velocity Consortium”.

MindX was great because . . .

Everyone seems to agree that Kurzweil was successful because of RayK. There is a little truth in that because RayK got people in the door. But the real reason that MindX was unbelievable successful was because of the brilliant (at the time, almost 20 years ago) user interface of old MindX. It encouraged participation and discussion. For example, look at this thread originated by Barry Kumnick at Old (Golden) MindX http://www.kurzweilai.net/mindx/show_thread.php?rootID=170424
The archive is messed up but you can get the idea. The OP is titled “Alternatives to Information”. There are a bunch of comments, then set/AI creates a subthread titled “Information=Existence”. That goes on for awhile until I post a subthread entitled “Petty Dualism” that has a long exchange, until set/AI posts a new one. And so on (137 posts all on one page!)

Elements of MindX . . .

 Here were the elements that made Golden MindX so great (James Jaeger can chime in on this):

1) Dogpile. Everything was in one forum, and the latest post on any thread was pushed to the top. That is genius. It’s fine to have a few, seldom used subforums, but there should be one main forum for most comments (call it “MindX”).

2) Threaded responses with subthread names. The front page showed the thread title, the originator, and inter alia, the last post with subthread name. Here’s the home page (what’s left of it) of Golden MindX:
http://www.kurzweilai.net/mindx/top.php

3) No limits moderation. Almost everything was allowed, e.g. Just for Women:)
posted on 06/26/2010 12:40 PM by knowledge http://www.kurzweilai.net/mindx/show_thread.php?rootID=185595

4) Posting history. Runboard has a ‘last posts’ section under the profile. It lists every post, not just threads, and it is unclear to me how far back it will go. Apparently, others can’t not access another members posting history. That’s a drawback!

Making Escape Velocity Insanely Great . . .

How much of Gold MindX can we reproduce here? What don’t we want? About the only thing that’s the same here is that the latest post on any subforum is pushed to the top of that subforum. But that’s a start! Threaded responses probably aren’t possible and so, if true, I won’t discuss it further. What’s possible?

1) Dogpile structure can be approximated. There are just too many subforums that overlap and exaggerate the weaknesses of runboard, see e.g. Jumping to the latest post: http://bescapevelocity.runboard.com/t61 . We can fix some of that.

2) No limits moderation. We can work with the concept of a freewheeling open “MindX” forum. The complaints at MindX about ‘off-topic’ were mainly in service of censorship, and was heavily influenced by ideology. We can fix that.

3) Posting history. I have a suggestion for that dealing with Steemit, discussed below.

Here’s how I would propose restructuring Escape Velocity. The most important change by far is utilizing Steemit to enable Escape Velocity to have a ‘future’. Sub forums should be reduced from nine to six:

NewsFlash!

MindX

Steemit for the Money: The Escape Velocity Consortium

Lobby

Foundation & Bureaucracy

Netherworld

A discussion of each:

NewsFlash!: Many posts at Kurzweil were just posting a link. I typically found it mildly annoying, especially if the only information was the title. That was seldom enough to get me to look at the article. Hey, guys, tell me what’s interesting or important, or at least a quote from the article to give a taste. Posters that just want to see their name in lights especially abuse this, and then complain if someone posts to the same article with a discussion. One could fill up the forum with these sorts of posts by just copying 10 articles a day from EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-12/uom-nar120517.php

So, we have a news flash section, where people can just post links. As a moderator, I would feel most comfortable with moving posts from the MindX section to the NewsFlash! forum.

Dealing with politics is discussed below, but it has something to do with NewsFlash!

MindX. Main forum; dogpile fashion. I think this is a key reform. An elegant approach that in the ‘future’ everyone would appreciate. Combine Technophilla, Tomorrowland, Shambhala and Alternate World Views into one. There is no reason for a bunch of different subforums – it just makes it a pain to browse in Runboard. I think it would be a better idea to roll NewsFlash! in here than to keep all those subforums.

Steemit for the Money – the Escape Velocity Consortium. KurzweilAI always lacked a purpose, and so it was hard to retain good members. Eventually, it was drawing from a small pool. There were far more users commenting on the news side of the board than on the forum.

Hooking up Escape Velocity with Steemit would change all that. Steemit is a very large pool, and we could easily find people with the “right stuff”. Steemit is a brilliantly designed and implemented idea, and you can earn a tidy sum of real money (one guy in Indonesia bought a coffee plantation with his proceeds, and named it “Steemit Farms”). I don’t know what to make of cyrptocurrencies, but I know a good ride when I see it. Bitcoin could crash, but I don’t see why Steembucks wouldn’t survive.

 Steemit has just one small draw-back -- most posts aren’t read by more than a couple people (most voting is done by bots), and there is seldom any discussion of a post. The magic of MindX was that there were robust exchanges, see, e.g. the Kunmick thread listed above (at the new KurzweilAI, that deteriorated to stalkers and insults too often). So, that’s the merger. An EV consortium member posts at Steemit, then links to that post in the EV Steemit subforum. Consortium members are encouraged to upvote and comment on other members posts (both the author and the upvoter earn Steembucks). Comment at Steemit are also encouraged (more Steembucks – and don’t forget to upvote your own comment). Discussions on both boards will occur. In addition, members are encouraged to “re-steem” other members posts. More SteemBucks.

EV consortium members are encouraged to include an advertisement at the end of every post. This is common at Steemit, but it usually consists ‘please follow me’. I sign my posts at the end, but can add something like this:

RedQ
Escape Velocity Consortium*
[as hyperlink to EV]
*Escape Velocity [same hyperlink] is a diverse futurist group, some of whom participate as a consortium on Steemit. Check it out. You're invited to join. It's just started.

You tag your article to the various fora on the board (like “Science” or “Technology”), and then your post shows up in up to five of the fora. You can also create a forum by just listing it as a tag (Extropia has her own sub forum I think), so one of the tags would be EscapeVelocity. In that manner, you can create a history of your posts, articles and comments, that are easy to find. See e.g. my blog at Steemit https://steemit.com/@redq

Steemit is incredibly innovative, both the site and members. If this is really a futurist site, we should be there. If KurzweilAI comes back, who cares. Its model is obsolete and Steemit is the future. We can make the Escape Velocity Consortium part of that future.

The subforum of “Lobby” is fine. “Foundation & Bureaucracy” would combine two current subforums. No need for two, and it should be placed at the bottom, except “Netherworld” which by its name, should go at the bottom.

We have six moderators. Let’s get everyone involved in this discussion. Don’t make me PM you! :) At least post to this thread that you’ve read it (hey, Spike, round ‘em up).

P.S. Extropia and I are both on Steemit, so I presume she’d be in favor. Steemit is a natural for Giulio, if he’s not there already. Devil/Green should absolutely favor this idea because he is informed and likes to write, so if your going to write, why not to it for a larger audience and get paid. Richie/Alan could easily find an audience and says he has 5000 Facebook followers. If James Jaeger isn’t on Steemit he’s missing the boat, bigly. Spike can write new stuff and recycle posts from his blog – he dislikes cybercurrencies, but he can do it for the team. Spud doesn’t like work (and posting at Steemit takes a bit of work), but even if he sticks with his minimalist approach, he’d find an audience see, e.g. Everitt Mickey, Rep 72, wallet $17K https://steemit.com/@everittdmickey

P.P.S. I don’t think politics is really much of an issue. It was made an issue at KurzweilAI because some people wanted to censor other people. The whole issue could have been easily managed with objective moderation (in fact the moderators created the problem). Alas. Here, we should just put partisan, news-cycle politics in the NewsFlash! section.


Last edited by RedQ, 12/17/2017, 6:58 pm
12/8/2017, 2:38 pm Link to this post PM RedQ Blog
 
Spikosauropod Profile
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Parliamentarian

Registered: 06-2007
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Re: A Message to the Moderators: Restructure, Repurpose With Steemit


I read this whole thing. You have some good ideas, but I think you should become better acquainted with Runboard and the format of this forum before you push too hard for these changes.

Some of the things you want may not be feasible; others may not be necessary. You seem to be trying to make a silk purse out of a ham sandwich. Let's see how you feel in February.

I actually have no say in this matter. However, that is my sincere opinion.

Last edited by Spikosauropod, 12/8/2017, 8:19 pm
12/8/2017, 7:53 pm Link to this post PM Spikosauropod
 
RedQ Profile
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Moderatorₗ

Registered: 11-2017
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Re: A Message to the Moderators: Restructure, Repurpose With Steemit


Hi Spike, all my proposed modifications can be instituted in a couple hours of your time. :) (I hate those balloons)

Round up the moderators and let's discuss it.

We can make this site a silk purse. The writing is on the wall. Why wait 'til February?

Last edited by RedQ, 12/8/2017, 9:05 pm
12/8/2017, 8:28 pm Link to this post PM RedQ Blog
 
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Registered: 06-2007
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Re: A Message to the Moderators: Restructure, Repurpose With Steemit


quote:

Round up the moderators and let's discuss it.



You round them up. I will watch.
12/8/2017, 8:45 pm Link to this post PM Spikosauropod
 
Extropia DaSilva Profile
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Registered: 12-2017
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Re: A Message to the Moderators: Restructure, Repurpose With Steemit


I am all for linking with steemit.
12/9/2017, 2:24 am Link to this post PM Extropia DaSilva Blog
 
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Parliamentarian

Registered: 06-2007
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Re: A Message to the Moderators: Restructure, Repurpose With Steemit


Since you two are earnest about this, what exactly would that mean? For example, can it be done with hyperlinks in a sticky topic here? Would it somehow be done at Steemit? I have no say in the decision to do this, but I would need to understand the technical details. Note that I can only push the buttons provided by runboard. Is this a "window" like Rich described for Facebook? You will need to educate us all about Steemit. And no, we can't just bring in BDO ;)

Last edited by Spikosauropod, 12/9/2017, 7:16 am
12/9/2017, 7:03 am Link to this post PM Spikosauropod
 
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Registered: 11-2017
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Re: A Message to the Moderators: Restructure, Repurpose With Steemit


quote:

Since you two are earnest about this, what exactly would that mean?



First let me clear up my first P.S. I’m not suggesting everyone has to be on Steemit, just that it might be attractive to each person listed.

Second, posting and having bull-sessions is a hobby/pastime for me. I went to Steemit as an outlet for that (I was banned again from Kurzweil and it seemed like an improved alternative), but there wasn’t much interaction. I wasn’t in it for the Steembucks, so lost interest. However, I envision that having a hearty band here that post on Steemit might be a Panglossian optimum – the best of both worlds. I think the Escape Velocity Consortium would be a fun project that would give this site a reason for being, independent of KurzweilAI.

Third, the EV Steemit consortium would be an extra, not a replacement of anything. It’s not either/or but both. Members could choose not to participate on Stemmit and most won’t. It’s just a way to add content and participants on this board.

Many people on Steemit are there to make Steembucks (which does translate to real money) and are desperate to find a way to increase their exposure. The Escape Velocity Consortium may be able to offer that.

quote:

For example, can it be done with hyperlinks in a sticky topic here? Would it somehow be done at Steemit?



It would simply be instituted by having a subforum labeled Steemit. Steemit posters would link to their Steemit posts in the subforum, and ‘consortium’ members would be asked to upvote members at Steemit, if the author includes an ‘ad’ and tag for Escape Velocity like the one in the OP.

There are tons of Steemit posts about how to make money, post good articles and generate interest. We’d include tips and tutorials in the Steemit forum.

I’ve got a couple of Steemit post ready, and will let them go as soon as the Steemit forum here is up.

Extropia, are you OK with putting an Escape Velocity ad and tag on your articles? If not, it kind ‘a kills the baby in the cradle.

quote:

I have no say in the decision to do this, but I would need to understand the technical details. Note that I can only push the buttons provided by runboard. Is this a "window" like Rich described for Facebook? You will need to educate us all about Steemit.



I think I’ve addressed that all above. The Steemit thing is easy: you just need to add a subforum. If both Extropia and I are posting ad’s to EV, that’s a start to attract interest. I think we’ll all be amazed. If anyone else is on Steemit, please let us know. Facebook followers are natural feeds for Steemit (Richie take note).

The bigger issue for you, Spike, is whether we are going to restructure the front page of EV as I suggested in the OP.

quote:

MindX. Main forum; dogpile fashion. I think this is a key reform. An elegant approach that in the ‘future’ everyone would appreciate. Combine Technophilla, Tomorrowland, Shambhala and Alternate World Views into one. There is no reason for a bunch of different subforums – it just makes it a pain to browse in Runboard. I think it would be a better idea to roll NewsFlash! in here than to keep all those subforums.



  We’re already having trouble figuring out where things go. We need moderator input, and if we can’t get it, that’s a bad sign.




Last edited by RedQ, 12/9/2017, 12:29 pm
12/9/2017, 12:26 pm Link to this post PM RedQ Blog
 
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Registered: 12-2017
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Re: A Message to the Moderators: Restructure, Repurpose With Steemit


Sure, I could add such a tag. But not everything I post on my steemit page has much relevance to this site. Happy to help when relevant though:)
12/9/2017, 1:21 pm Link to this post PM Extropia DaSilva Blog
 
RedQ Profile
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Registered: 11-2017
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Re: A Message to the Moderators: Restructure, Repurpose With Steemit


Thanks, Extropia.
12/9/2017, 1:27 pm Link to this post PM RedQ Blog
 
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Parliamentarian

Registered: 06-2007
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Re: A Message to the Moderators: Restructure, Repurpose With Steemit


Red, post links to yours and Exy's Steemit accounts. Let me see if I can come up with something that satisfies you.
12/9/2017, 9:13 pm Link to this post PM Spikosauropod
 


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