Cycling UK Forum

Right as usual (thirdcrank).

patricktaylor wrote:Right as usual (thirdcrank).

Come to think of it, I'm rather warming to the idea - perhaps we could link it to some sort of sound effect, like canned applause?

And

patricktaylor wrote:Chatting in the pub (or anywhere else) are you continually looking at thumbs and waiting for rounds of applause? I imagine not. When saying something seems clunky it's time to pack in. Sorry Jerry. I know you're looking for improvements but thumbs down on this one. The powers that be will do what they like and so will I!

You are rightly suspicious of anything that reduces debate to a scoring or numbers game. I don't want to see any debate becoming a competition. Perhaps the positive flag would be in risk of that, but do you know that from experience?

I don't know why you suggest I should 'pack (it?) in'? You mean I should should scrub that one post for sounding clunky, or that I should pack in contributing?
Listen, I'm only making a suggestion. I like making suggestions, not because I think they are right, but because I hope they may further discussion or understanding of an idea. If it's not the case, I'm quite happy to reconsider an idea. They are not proposed as absolutes. But it is interesting how yours and others can express your position so absolutely! Perhaps you have long held opinions on the 'flagging' feature.

What I don't see much on any forum though, is the acknowledgement that one's own point of view cannot be sustained under analysis.
The dynamics of forum debate are then reduced to a form of opinion ping pong, which unfortunately resembles the political discourse of mainstream politics. So neither protagonist or antagonist really moves beyond their original position. It's a sad part of human nature.

How do we move beyond that? If there were forum features that could shake up such entrenched behaviour, then I think they would be useful. But I'm not saying the approval flag is one of those.

CREPELLO wrote:... I don't know why you suggest I should 'pack (it?) in'? You mean I should should scrub that one post for sounding clunky, or that I should pack in contributing? ...

Sorry Jerry, I didn't mean you. I meant that I would pack in here if a scoring system was introduced. I've seen it used on the BBC website, where massive numbers of comments are posted by people who are unfamiliar with each other - here today, gone tomorrow - and I suppose it might have some use in that scenario. But not here IMO.

I find I can be often open to new ideas, but sometimes (often ) averse too. New technology and trends are always being bombarded at us and although the internet forum may seem to be thoroughly contemporary as a way of exchanging opinion and ideas, what we have is still little removed from the pub setting. That is largely a good thing, especially when we can keep our exchanges polite, something I think we do well on the whole here - compared to some of the bile expelled on other forums.

But the method's of communication and exchange are surely going to evolve. What with twitter and facebook, what's going to be the next big thing and what gadget will the masses be twiddling in ten years time? (how about the instant brain activated brain response? Please no!) How will these trends filter down to regular forums and everyday means of comm's I wonder?

CREPELLO wrote:... How will these trends filter down to regular forums and everyday means of comm's I wonder?

One thing you can be sure is that there will be people divising ways to use them to spin infomation.