I worked in that environment for a while and it seemed that one's very survival depended on it.
It's certainly one of the reasons that I'm hesitant to pursue a PhD. That being said, I should probably put a little more pressure on myself to actually finish one article and submit it to a prestigious journal. So I'm signing off for now, perhaps for the day.
A PhD will open doors you didn't know were there and it will teach something about yourself you didn't know you had to learn. The first 2 or 3 papers write themselves and then you can go off stage left through one of those doors or none of them because you can choose.
Having worked on a cooperative space program with Russia myself this is good news for me personally, to know that the cameradie which developed then is still there and thriving in spite of today's tension between the West and Russia.
Publication pressure in the academic work is excessive, IMHO. I worked in that environment for a while and it seemed that one's very survival depended on it. Not just, I should say, in academic universities but in other organisations which need to show what they are dlong, even if no-one knows what they are writing about. Often it is the key to getting yet more funding.
Sometimes one simply has no choice. but to publish.
The annoying thing is that I reckon that of those that demanded the paper few actually read the result.
Any relevant point, or are you just whispering sweet nothings in my ear to show your appreciation?
I presume you did not yet spot the howler you made. I was pointing it out in a humorous way without resorting to actually calling others mathematically ignorant.
I think you've got your finger on the pulse there Bel.
It does suggest a new variant of TV.
TV with vibration actuators set into the floor, smell generators giving burnt rubber outputs and billowing fumes. Maybe a motor on the TV itself which would run over a randomly chosen viewer at least one per race.
Yes, the effort of moderation could be large if such an extension took off; limiting it to Members Blogs would help at first (there might be none,!) But it could grow and a rethink would be necessary.
@Emdek - Hi! --- Hope things are panning out on your side.
A question; there has not been the take-up of discussion type posters we had hope for across from your Otter Browser Forum. Do you think your lot know they are welcome, indeed wanted, to post? Can you think of anything that can be done on your side to encourage them. I did wonder if a sticky thread asking for interest would help to entice some to take part. I suspect that quite a few read the stuff but don't post.
We should use an old tactic, turn the Forum a restrict and very select Club. Than all the populace wants to get in...
Seriously, it could work. Add to the header "Only by Invitation".
How many people would we aim at? Who would invite them? Can spammers invite other spammers?
On a couple of occasions when I bave thought to invite people, they've said thanks but no thanks. Hence my introspective comments on what is off putting in the forum.
I want to bring attention to the VR ratio, that is the ratio between the number of views to the number of posts.
I got slightly interested in this in D&D, (not much but slightly). I noticed that many apparently interesting threads had a lowish VR ratio as low as 5 to 7 , the more successful (in terms of frequency of viewing) 10 or 12 upwards. Figures that low indicated that views were mostly from those that posted.
Some very popular threads had a VR ratio of upwards of 70, but they were rare. At that level the viewers were interested in the subject but did not necessarily post.
Those are crude inaccurate statements, and does not take account of double viewing, but interesting to keep in mind if you look at the VR figures for threads. They give an idea on what is happening, and which threads have wider interest. It is quite surprising how large some of the VS ratios are.
That is interesting in terms on which threads, which type of thread, can bring people in.
I mentioned topical posts earlier. If there is a newsworthy event in Lyon, for example a train crash, then a thread on "Train Crash in Lyon, was it terrorism?" may well be found by the flurry of people googling for information on the Train Crash. So topical posts can attract more into DnD.
I stand by my vision of rjhowie being the one turning the lights off. New place, same scenario.
The "criticism" of the US on this forum is beyond stupid. My own well-reasoned insights into American foibles are of course the exception.
I entirely disagree with that and I will not align with any solution that passes by member's censorship.
There's millions of people always criticizing the US and they are not here. The criticism on the USA is not the reason of our concerns about the number of members and I will never accept a witch hunt against those who helped to build this forum.
Rjhowie is an asset so much valid for this forum as any of you and that includes me. And I'm not suspect of any ideological sympathy with him.
I'm certain that any American proud of his heritage would recuse such a treatment of favor and protection. Americans are not children to need others to defend them.
Of course jax is just having a good moment of joke, but what I said is to be taken in account.
I agree with pretty well all those sentiments, Bel. There's no gain in singling out anyone. As I understand the "America Feud" it is overstatement countered by overreaction. I hold with neither.
But I do think that such prolonged and bitter feuds don't entice a new poster partly because he/she is repulsed by it but also because a lot of such things have history and posts cannot be replied when they keep referring back to past inter-forum grievances.
That said a forum would be too bland without some spice, it's just that things go too far too often.
Joking aside, there was a conversation on the BBC the other day on how to make F1 more exciting.
Car speed was identified as contributing to boring races, speed being so high that it made overtaking more difficult. Without being specific it was suggested that the cars should be made slower.
I'm not so sure that is an answer but the race circuits could be made more convoluted to offer many more overtaking opportunities.
Charges raised against Blatter include those concerned with the payment oh £1.35 to Platini for services given in the period 1998 to 2002. These were not paid until 2011.
If we had two lines for thread / topic titles, we could ask those who raise them to put their chosen key words on the second line.
So for example in the topic I just started, on F1 Racing, one (I) could add a second line Formula 1 racing electric drive technomoby development .... And so on, raising the profile of that topic and thus also DnD.
Given a request to do so I'm pretty sure people would join in. Mods could add things if they felt like it.
I'm not sure that Electromagnetic Engine is the right word but if so it could raise some interesting racing possibilities, to Pluto and back for example. However I doubt it would raise the interest level of the race itself, not so much watching paint dry, more watching it evaporate.
There could well be things that could be done, hopefully without overburden the feel of the forum.
I think it would be worthwhile collecting ideas for such things (in a dedicated topic and choose good suggestions for implementation. It depends on Frenzie's say so though and the effort involved. I'm loathe to give him more workload on this sort of thing. So awaiting his comment.
An example could be to have a second line of text in brackets after each group of threads (I forget the classification word which is used), under DnD Central for example which is a nice title but does not help the advertising aspect. So something like DnD Central ( Discussions on politics, Sport, Food, etc etc.............)
It could get cumberson if we had too much but might help.
Yes, it can be exciting for 30 seconds or so when start if there's a pile up, but then the rest is just waiting for something to happen which is not often.
Does it pollute, smell, is it noisy?. ---- yes.
Does it advance passenger car design?.--- Once upon a time perhaps, but not now
Is it worth the money?. --- I don't think so.
Vroom, Vroom !
Are people interested in it? --- Surprisingly, some are.
Blogs ---- I can't imagine any account of my life would interest anyone.
Let's see
Woke up to find a Ninja poised above me, broke his neck and took him down to the cop shop Composed a new poem for the opening of the Russian Parliament Checked on the results of my time travel experiment that I shall make tomorrow Had Breakfast (coconuts on toast)
