Excellent idea, Lisa. That is great! I'll definitely put that on the list of features to add...

Alan,

Mark said: "...it seems it is natural for most to either see forums as a place to be heard or simply read the thoughts of others without active contribution or exchange."

And this reminds that at one of the sites I sampled there was a function which displayed how many people had viewed (read?) each of the threads. The number of viewing was astounding to me. In many threads where there were fewer than 20 written posts, there were very often 1,000 - 1,500 or more viewer/readers of that thread.

Having such a functionality for 'these' dialogues would seem to provide significant, additional (otherwise unknown) info for Global Oneness to learn/monitor/gage the segment of 'silent users' viewing &/or reading these dialogues. Plus, if the participants who ARE writing posts can also see this info, then they/we would get a sense as to whether we are 'just whistling in the wind...' or that others are out there - potentially reading along.

Seems worth considering since you are still revamping changes here.

Follow up on my earlier post this morning: I hadn't noticed until now that a "next" and "previous" began showing at the bottom of the thread! Lisa, I now see you pointed it out, but I'd read your post while in a Google Reader and didn't see it or understand it in context.

We're investigating why a thread limit has been applied to this interface, and will adjust it.

Meanwhile, this afternoon we changed the interface to default to all-expanded, as you'll see once you clear your browser's cache and reload/refresh the screen.

Finally, only after discovering the "next" button did I discover your last two posts (one from each of you), which are additionally valuable. Much food for thought...

Great points to ponder, both of you. Many thanks.

Mark, by the end of this week all of the "hidden" or collapsed content will be expanded by default, as an experiment to see if it will make it easier to find new postings. We may end up placing a button that expands/collapses all, as you suggest. Good idea.

Lisa, your research into other sites is very helpful. I'd thought I'd known the sector relatively well, so your discoveries are great. Knowing that the overwhelming sense of participants is that they prefer an 'open topic' option is something we're going to have to digest, and evaluate how best to move forward.

Finally, Lisa, your question/suggestion about how to denote new posts is noted. We'd planned on moving ahead this week with making substantive changes to the dialogues, but we're actually now going to move ahead with a Spanish localization of the site first (which itself has been waiting in the wings for months now), because there are enough questions about exactly what we should do in the dialogues that I don't want to spend the time/resources to make changes that only end up changing again in the near term. As such, this thread is, as I said earlier, very helpful!

Yes, that's a good point about seeing forums as a comments area. For the most part, even if people are making replies about a topic of interest, I find often the mindset is one of wanting to voice one's own thoughts rather than engaging in a dialogue. The fact of the matter is while an open topic forum may invite more posts, there may be very little in the way of actual dialogue. Clarity of the message helps in this regard, but it seems it is natural for most to either see forums as a place to be heard or simply read the thoughts of others without active contribution or exchange. And of course, a significant factor is that when things become a collective monologue, then it is actually not in the spirit or dynamic of oneness even if the topic of "discussion" is still oneness. Often open topic forums become a place for a lot of virtual socialization largely limited to inter- and intrapersonal concerns.

The structure and functionality of the forum can be helpful, but I don't think in itself it will change the way people participate to a significant degree. I for one would like to see a more visual language in the way of a flow chart or a mind map, but of course that goes beyond the function of forum software - although a way to accomodate graphical illustrations would make this possible. But again, even here one may just use it to present their own ideas, rather than be engaged with others in an interactive way.

I do think additional functionality and an open area may be worth a try, though. I am reminded of Facebook groups having a discussion area as well as "The Wall" which is intended for brief general comments.

Note of clarification: I'm not suggesting a whole new forum, just suggesting an 'open topic thread' to accompany the thematic questions.

So, perhaps if there are usually 4 specific theme related questions, we might try adding a 5th which reads (+/- something like) -

"Open Topic For Your Thoughts: What’s on your mind today?" (or, this week, month, other...)

Then, we can see what additional topics people may be interested in discussing, - if you wish to try this. Your Call, Alan & Global Oneness Project.

Hi Alan, you ask:

Functionally, do you think it would get used enough to justify it being separate?

..... I have no idea. How can we know until we see?

Alan: Or, might it dilute the discussion taking place on the main theme?

....Yes, it might, or might not. If it did, would that be a problem? Wouldn’t we learn something i.e. what people care about / are most interested in discussing?

Alan: To clarify, I'm wondering if the main theme might end up being more of a comments area, without the back-and-forth between users, (continues below)

. ... Yep, good query. My observation is that other than Mark, Istlota, myself (and perhaps a couple of others? I'm not remembering just now) the main theme has functioned, generally, as a one off ‘comment area’; but maybe my observation is inaccurate; what do you observe, Alan, Mark, Others? - comments here, or on any part?

Alan: (cont'd) And then the real dialogue might end up being located in the accompanying 'open forum'?

.... Maybe one month it would, other month not. Participants can & do engage in dialgue where ever they are moved to do so, don't they? And some other people only like to add their one comment and stop, don't you find this to be true?

Alan, since reading your comments and questions last night (my time zone), I’ve looked at the formats of several other international forums and discovered that while each forum offers thematic-type or "Main" questions or topics, each of the forums I visited also offers an ‘open topic’ area labeled something like “ Tell us what’s on YOUR mind” or “Speak your truth” (that idea), and from what I saw - OVERWHELMINGLY (by numbers total)participants preferred the ‘open topic’ option. Obviously, my sampling of sites was casual, but roughly speaking, my guess-timate is that on every site - somewhere in the range of 5 Xs to 20 Xs more postings were made under the ‘open topic’ option compared to posts made under the Main or Thematic topics posed by the sites.

Does this seeming favoritism for ‘open topic’ mean that the thematic questions are diluted? I don't know. Maybe, or perhaps, people simply prefer to have the opportunity to express what is most important to them personally, at any given moment. While one month some people might care about elections, a different month others might care about the Middle East if that becomes a thematic topic, ....etc, but very likely, everybody cares about ‘something’ each month and that’s where the 'open topic' allows them to express & discuss whatever 'they' are focused on at that moment, day or month. Participants know they can comment on any or all topics. Seems to me the 'open topic' give them an additional option, if/when they choose to post there.

On the sites I sampled, the 3 hottest topics by numbers of posts were: 1. the Economy - what's happening? (Global and re: various nations) 2. Preparations for the near future(food, survival, health & nutrition in tough times, self-sufficiency- getting off the energy grid, transportation, and so on...), and 3. Spirituality and Self-learning (Sharing insights, companionship, videos & reading materials, etc.)

There were also dozens, if not hundreds, of additional topics, but none appeared so consistently & overwhelmingly popular as the 3 mentioned above... for whatever use this info may offer us here.

One final observation (again, for whatever use it may offer) was that it seemed clear that the total overall number of postings, on all topics at all sites, seemed to have taken a sizeable drop off during Oct 2008, and still now – none has recovered to its pre-October participation level(s). Thus, because global oneness dialogues only came on-line in late October, participation levels here may reflect a larger picture of happenings. This forum has no pre-Oct record of participation level to compare, drop offs, other factors.

Ultimately, the call seems to be yours, Alan. How much focus or control of the topics discussed is needed or desirable here, from the perspective of global oneness? Do you wish to have or try - an ‘open topic’ thread (for a month or two, say) where participants are invited to express and discuss what is most important to them?

I don’t see that it would be necessary to have more than one open thread (each month, if it works well)as long as participants can & will reference to whom (or to which topic)their posting is responding to, or... Question: Will the “hide” (replies) aspect be removed with the new changes you descibed, or continue as it now is, evolve somehow? It would be great to be able to see: "4 replies, newest 11:00, 1/12/09" -though, I have no concept of how do-able that may be.

With nothing further to add just now, I leave you all in Peace to ponder onward, offer more thoughts.

Cheers to all!

Note: Please see additional clarifcation post by pressing "next" below.

One side thought: How about the ability to link to existing topics? The connection might become obvious and relevant during the discussion of another.

In terms of the functionality of the software, I'm sure a "tree view" to "expand all" for both the particular dialogue and all under a particular sublevel with one click would be useful. Also the ability to enter some kind of note to label the replies would also be helpful. (like the subject field of regular message forums, but displayed in the context of a structured outline)

Lisa, you have lots of good ideas and suggestions. Many thanks. One of the quickest things for us to get going in the short run might be to simply add a companion 'side topic thread' for open discussion alongside the monthly theme questions. Functionally, do you think it would get used enough to justify it being separate? Or, might it dilute the discussion taking place on the main theme?

To clarify, I'm wondering if the main theme might end up being more of a comments area, without the back-and-forth between users. And then the real dialogue might end up being located in the accompanying 'open forum'?

I'd prefer, I think, allowing one thread to diverge into various topics than having it split...plus it would be less to 'manage' on a regular basis...but I'm eager to discuss more, so please let me know.