Introducing Articles

[Barry]

Hi Everybody,

Like you, I’ve enjoyed the amazing variety of posts that appear on WaccoBB.net and the serendipity that they afford. I’ve worked hard to create an environment that encourages thoughtful community dialog. Topics appear organically from the community and it generally works out surprisingly well, given that there is no coordination or planning.

Comments also appear. Sometimes they are thoughtful, sometimes just a “me too”, sometimes they hijack the thread, sometimes, shall we say, they are less than kind.

It’s quite rich. And while there is lots of wheat, there is also lots of chaff. It does take a little sifting to find the really interesting bits.

So I’m going to do a few things to both help you with the sifting, and to stimulate the creation of more quality content. This is all above and beyond the existing categories whose function and moderation level will not change.

Post of the Day via Facebook
A while back I created a Facebook fan page for WaccoBB.net ( https://www.facebook.com/WaccoBB) I’ve been using it to promote what I think is one of the most interesting posts from that day (“Post of the Day”). So if you’d be interested in seeing a short introduction to that post, along with a link to it in your Facebook news feed, please goto https://www.facebook.com/WaccoBB and Like it and become a fan! Your friends might be interested in seeing it too and its a great way to introduce them to WaccoBB.net! We particularly appreciate if you click "like" on the Facebook post (if in fact you do!) At some point the Post of the Day feature will find its way onto the website as well.

Articles
We’ll publish thoughtful articles by community members and occasional outside authors. This will allow us to cover various topics that are of special interest to our local progressive community in a more focused fashion, while still keeping our special Wacco flavor.

Topics may include local progressive politics, spirituality, sustainability, healthy lifestyles, entertainment picks and reviews, local news, gardening, along with anything having to do with conscious community.

Columns
I am delighted to say that Dixon Wragg, an original Wacco (in all senses) has signed up to write an ongoing column on Critical Thinking. Critical Thinking clearly is a key component of being “conscious” and its also rather helpful for having a worthwhile conversation, whether online or off.

Several other writers have expressed interest and I welcome you to contact us if you would like to submit an article or column for publication.

Community Features
We are an exceptionally talented and creative community! I’d like to provide a opportunity for those of you who’d like to step into the spotlight for a moment. We’ll have a few topical features written by a different member each time, such as the Divination of the Week, Goddess of the Month, as well as a featured member profile (anybody got a creative name for that?)

I consider Astrology, Tarot, Numerology, and the I Ching tools for divination. I know that some of you use them as important talisman for your lives, while others dismiss it for rubbish. I guess I’m someplace in between.

I invite practitioners of these arts to offer a “reading” (in article form) for us, with a different reading each week . I’d love someone to step up to be the editor of this column, say for 3 months, including soliciting appropriate articles and reviewing them.

The Goddess of the Month will feature one of the many beautiful goddesses that inhabit greater Waccovia who will introduce us to a goddess (mythical or real) that inspires her, accompanied by a sweet photo of our local goddess author, along with any other appropriate images. The first Goddess has been selected for the columns debut in March.

We’ll also start up a community member spotlight feature where we’ll ask a community member to answer several questions as they exercise their transparency and creativity.

Community Features will be accompanied by a generous bio of their author.

Moderated Community Comments
Comments on these articles will be moderated (reviewed) to assure that they substantially and appropriately contribute to the community dialog before they are made visible.

The articles and comments will appear on our new Home Page, as well as a new category called, creatively enough, Articles and moderated comments. Initially your email subscription to this category is set to same level as your subscription to the General Community category. So if you are getting the General Community category in your digest now, the new Articles and moderated comments will be included as well. You can easily adjust which categories appear in your digest.

Quid Pro Quo
The articles are to be strictly non-commercial, that is to say that they will not contain any marketing content, or in any way be self serving. However, it may very well be that the author, who has expertise on the topic, works in a related field to their article. So for instance, a nutritionist might write about switching to a raw diet, but they would be prevented from plugging their practice in the article. I will allow the author a short bio that may contain links to commercial offerings.

I will also be offering a small honorarium of Wacco credit as a token of my appreciation, in addition to the certain fame that will follow...

If you or somebody you know would be interested in writing an article or column for WaccoBB.net, please contact me.

Threads and Posts of Note
Some of the content that appears organically in our categories are also worthy of special attention. I (and perhaps members of the Editorial Council) will add to a weekly summary of some of the more interesting posts on an ongoing basis.

Editorial Advisory Council
This initiative is going to create the need for more editorial review. I’d love some help with that! We’ll need to review articles and comments. I have a few candidates in mind based on their worthy participation in our discussions. Please contact us if you’d like to be considered as well.

I hope you’ll enjoy this new area of our conscious community!

Barry

[Magick]

Barry, I like this expansion very much. For the Divination section I would like to offer my "Tarot Reading for the World" that I do once a year. I've just completed writing it up and I think it will offer Waccovians useful insights using numerous lens such as Myth, Symbol an Metaphor.

I hope there will be pictures of the authors next to the articles. I think the lack of pictures of members and real bios keeps wacco from its full potential as a social medium. My two cents, Sincerely, Magick

[Barry]

Barry, I like this expansion very much. For the Divination section I would like to offer my "Tarot Reading for the World" that I do once a year. I've just completed writing it up and I think it will offer Waccovians useful insights using numerous lens such as Myth, Symbol an Metaphor.

I hope there will be pictures of the authors next to the articles. I think the lack of pictures of members and real bios keeps wacco from its full potential as a social medium. My two cents, Sincerely, Magick

I was hoping you would share your insightful wisdom with us!

Do you not see members' photo/avatar next to their posts? Not every one has set one yet, but you do! I've been secretly setting them for people too... Anybody else not seeing the avatars? If you are referring to the digest, perhaps your email is configured to not show images.

Oh, are you referring to the photo next to article on the Home page? There's room for one photo there. It can be of the author or something else relevant to the topic.

The copy of the article in the new "Articles and moderated comments" category does not support a photo when looking at the list of the articles, but it does once you are viewing the article.

[Dixon]

Moderated Community Comments
Comments on these articles will be moderated (reviewed) to assure that they substantially and appropriately contribute to the community dialog before they are made visible.

Hey, Barry,
I sent you a personal email about this pre-screening moderation thing before I saw your explanation on my Wacco digest. Now that I see you're doing it on all articles, one of my questions has been answered. I'd still like you to consider not pre-screening responses to my column. To me, it smacks of censorship, which is contrary to the tenets of critical thinking, and besides, I can always use practice in responding to obtuse or obnoxious comments in a way that models rationality.

[Barry]

Hey, Barry,
I sent you a personal email about this pre-screening moderation thing before I saw your explanation on my Wacco digest. Now that I see you're doing it on all articles, one of my questions has been answered. I'd still like you to consider not pre-screening responses to my column. To me, it smacks of censorship, which is contrary to the tenets of critical thinking, and besides, I can always use practice in responding to obtuse or obnoxious comments in a way that models rationality.

The pre-screening setting affects the whole category. I can't control it on a thread level.

It's not censorship, where certain opinions are suppressed, that I'm going for, but rather upholding a high standard of quality.

Clearly this is a change from the normal operation of this site, which continues in the other categories. And I haven't rejected any comments yet. But I do ask people to rise to a higher standard here, take some more time in formulating a response and present it well. Just as you have taken the time to create such well-written and thoughtful treatise, I'd like others to dig a little deeper as well.

I have to say, so far I am encouraged.

And I hear your request and understand how any response can be grist for your creative mill, so I'll approve all responses to this column!

[Dixon]

And I hear your request and understand how any response can be grist for your creative mill, so I'll approve all responses to this column!

Great! Thanks!

[Dixon]

Hello again, Barry--

Last night I was able to respond to a comment on my article via the usual way, which allows us to include quotes from the post we're responding to. Today I was about to respond to another comment on my article, only to find that the format has changed and the only option is "Reply without a quote". I don't understand why you'd want to reduce our options in that way, making it a little less convenient, and probably less clear, to include quotes in our replies. Whassup widdat?

[Dixon]

Sorry for all the little posts, but more questions have arisen. Hopefully these questions will help you polish up the new Articles category, and answer questions for everyone who may share my confusion.

The Gratitude I'd gotten from someone for my article has disappeared from the page, and it looks like the new format doesn't allow for showing Gratitudes. Waaaah! I want my Gratitudes! They're helpful feedback for me, as well as being much-needed little ego strokes.

At the top of my article, under the title, it says "f 24 people like this". Does that mean you're also publishing it on Facebook? And if so, does that mean people may be commenting on it on Facebook? If so, I may finally have to join Facebook to get that feedback, in spite of my being heretofore resistant to joining the Borg.

A few inches to the right of that, it says "Rate this article". How will I be able to view these ratings?

Just below that, it says "1 comment", but there are actually 3 comments, so there appears to be a glitch in your automatic comment counter.

[Barry]

Hello again, Barry--

Last night I was able to respond to a comment on my article via the usual way, which allows us to include quotes from the post we're responding to. Today I was about to respond to another comment on my article, only to find that the format has changed and the only option is "Reply without a quote". I don't understand why you'd want to reduce our options in that way, making it a little less convenient, and probably less clear, to include quotes in our replies. Whassup widdat?

There are two ways to reply to articles: 1) Via the home page and the section pages (aka "content area") underneath that and 2) via the listing in the Articles category in the bulletin board. They both contain the same posts, but the formatting is different (paying homage to the 2 prevalent styles on the web these days, I believe). Sorry but the first one doesn't support quotes.

Sorry for all the little posts, but more questions have arisen. Hopefully these questions will help you polish up the new Articles category, and answer questions for everyone who may share my confusion.

The Gratitude I'd gotten from someone for my article has disappeared from the page, and it looks like the new format doesn't allow for showing Gratitudes. Waaaah! I want my Gratitudes! They're helpful feedback for me, as well as being much-needed little ego strokes.

At the top of my article, under the title, it says "f 24 people like this". Does that mean you're also publishing it on Facebook? And if so, does that mean people may be commenting on it on Facebook? If so, I may finally have to join Facebook to get that feedback, in spite of my being heretofore resistant to joining the Borg.

A few inches to the right of that, it says "Rate this article". How will I be able to view these ratings?

Just below that, it says "1 comment", but there are actually 3 comments, so there appears to be a glitch in your automatic comment counter.

Gratitudes show in second style (Articles Category).

The Facebook display that shows on your full article display on the content area ("Miles Mendenhall and 24 others like this" ) seems to be hooked up to the wrong page. Hopefully that will work it self out or I'll untwist as I go along. Just ignore that for now.

The "Rate this Article" in the content area is the same as the "Rate this Thread" in the categories. Once there are at least 3(?) ratings, the average rating (displayed as stars) is displayed next to the thread in the category list. You can see this on Larry Robininson's Poem of the Day in the Poetry and Prose category.

Yes, there appears to be a problem with the comment counter on one of the pages. I presume that will get fixed when we install a maintenance update to the underlying software.

[Barry]

.... I'd still like you to consider not pre-screening responses to my column....

Okay, moderating comments is quickly turning into a hassle, so I'm going to remove that "feature". I will however remove comments that don't substantially add to the thread, or in any way are not up to the higher standard here I will try to maintain.