I feel that most intelligent people who have a lot to contribute probably find it
an excessive waste of time to wade through so many postings. Therefore, I
suggest that all those who post should be Extropy Institute (EI) members. I do
not believe that basic EI membership should have a price tag though. Another
electronic community that I am a member of (the HTML Writer's Guild at
http://www.hwg.org.) has several levels of membership but basic membership is
free. In this way those who have more time (and admittedly a bit of money) can
subscribe to a print copy magazine (sort of like Web Magazine), other services,
get a plaque (ala Public Television) or whatever. A live chat room for Level 2
members, for example might be set up. An archive of the most popular threads
could be available for Level 3. A member's Guide (on paper, CD-ROM, or online by
access number) is possible. These things cost money for the owner of the list
but would be paid for by the members who desire such services. It's a thought
worth serious thought. Maybe a vote of sorts could be taken. Who would I
contact about this plebiscite notion?
Twink wrote:
> Thanks for using NetForward!
> http://www.netforward.com
> v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v
>
> At 02:08 PM 11/30/97 -0800, Geoff Smith <geoffs@unixg.ubc.ca> wrote:
> >I may be a little premature in saying this (since you haven't given your
> >"hows and whys"), but I think this decision may turn some good people off
> >extropy. Having to pay to join an institute to participate on a
> >discussion has a culty feel to it, even if the justification is to reduce
> >the signal-to-noise ratio. Also, I don't think being a member of the
> >extropy institute implies you make less "noise." Some people may join the
> >extropy institute for the purpose of making some noise on the list.
> >Others, who would contribute a lot to the list, may not be interested in
> >joining the extropy institute, either for monetary reasons or because they
> >do not want to incur the wrath of those who would take out their petty
> >frustrations on the members of the extropian movement.(ie. misguided
> >neo-luddites)
>
> I tend to agree, but it is ExI's list. And the amount of spam has been, well
> not terribly high, more than I expected. Also, moderating the list would be
> a full time job. (Of course, it could be distributed.)
>
> I am, BTW, not a member of ExI, so when the list gets restricted I will be
> reduced to read=only status.:(
>
> >One restriction I would like to see is allowing only list-members to post.
> >Restrictions beyond this may reduce the S/NR, but I don't think the
> >reduction noise will be worth the loss of perfectly good signals! ;)
>
> Well, a compromise might be to have an ExI member sponsor someone
> to be a participant. Still, this will be restictive, but what does everyone
> think?
>
> Daniel Ust
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I feel that most intelligent people who have a lot to contribute probably find it an excessive waste of time to wade through so many postings. Therefore, I suggest that all those who post should be Extropy Institute (EI) members. I do not believe that basic EI membership should have a price tag though. Another electronic community that I am a member of (the HTML Writer's Guild at http://www.hwg.org.) has several levels of membership but basic membership is free. In this way those who have more time (and admittedly a bit of money) can subscribe to a print copy magazine (sort of like Web Magazine), other services, get a plaque (ala Public Television) or whatever. A live chat room for Level 2 members, for example might be set up. An archive of the most popular threads could be available for Level 3. A member's Guide (on paper, CD-ROM, or online by access number) is possible. These things cost money for the owner of the list but would be paid for by the members who desire such services. It's a thought worth serious thought. Maybe a vote of sorts could be taken. Who would I contact about this plebiscite notion?
Twink wrote:
Thanks for using NetForward!--------------9F8A7E5F245F3B7920240583--
http://www.netforward.com
v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^vAt 02:08 PM 11/30/97 -0800, Geoff Smith <geoffs@unixg.ubc.ca> wrote:
>I may be a little premature in saying this (since you haven't given your
>"hows and whys"), but I think this decision may turn some good people off
>extropy. Having to pay to join an institute to participate on a
>discussion has a culty feel to it, even if the justification is to reduce
>the signal-to-noise ratio. Also, I don't think being a member of the
>extropy institute implies you make less "noise." Some people may join the
>extropy institute for the purpose of making some noise on the list.
>Others, who would contribute a lot to the list, may not be interested in
>joining the extropy institute, either for monetary reasons or because they
>do not want to incur the wrath of those who would take out their petty
>frustrations on the members of the extropian movement.(ie. misguided
>neo-luddites)I tend to agree, but it is ExI's list. And the amount of spam has been, well
not terribly high, more than I expected. Also, moderating the list would be
a full time job. (Of course, it could be distributed.)I am, BTW, not a member of ExI, so when the list gets restricted I will be
reduced to read=only status.:(>One restriction I would like to see is allowing only list-members to post.
>Restrictions beyond this may reduce the S/NR, but I don't think the
>reduction noise will be worth the loss of perfectly good signals! ;)Well, a compromise might be to have an ExI member sponsor someone
to be a participant. Still, this will be restictive, but what does everyone
think?Daniel Ust