The Next Time A2K Absorbs A Board.........

@msolga,

Hey Olga - if they are like me - they only have specific threads they check on all the time while perusing total only occasionally. I miss all kinds of things because of that.

I think that the issue is change. Change never goes over well. I think even the most flexible struggle a little. The ones who are tenacious will hang in there and this will become their normal. I hope there are more that will than won't.

I seem to gleen that one of the issues is how "white" it is here. I think they had a color for the background of the phil. forum. Probably gave it a bit more of a cozy feel. White makes a big room seem bigger.

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@msolga,

msolga wrote:

So a couple of days' notice.
OK, I see.

Thing is, the number of people that SEE such warnings is pretty low.

That board had an announcements forum, which probably helped...and they were small, so there was likely a lot of word of mouth, and they seem to be a pretty alert and switched on group.

But look at what hawk just said "Nobody ever told ME there was to be a switch to a new A2k" The place was awash with notifications and discussion about the move...but lots of even well-intentioned people didn't see them!

I heard a great story at work about just this sort of thing today.

A group of our staff went up to a ward to have their flu shots the other day. (The 'flu trolley moves around.)

They had to fill out forms + consents, and L didn't have a pen.

She saw one in an adjoining private closed room, (a patient bed room...but the bed was empty) and ran in to borrow it.

She was filling out the form (and biting the pen) peacefully, and couldn't understand why her colleagues and the flu nurse were agitated and telling her to drop the pen.

Turns out she had simply not noticed that the room she so casually entered was literally festooned with huge red warnings not to enter without a bio-hazard suit (you know those moon suits you see on films about horror microbes) because the patient had a dangerous and highly infectious disease!!!!!

All she saw was a pen.

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@mismi,

Quote:

Hey Olga - if they are like me - they only have specific threads they check on all the time while perusing total only occasionally. I miss all kinds of things because of that.

I think that the issue is change. Change never goes over well. I think even the most flexible struggle a little. The ones who are tenacious will hang in there and this will become their normal. I hope there are more that will than won't.

Hi Missy.

Don't misunderstand. I am not trying to make some sort of issue out of this.

I have simply been trying to understand what happened, how it happened & why so many people appear to have been so upset by it.

All I can say is that if this ever happened to A2K, well I'd be extremely upset.

But it looks like internet sites (even those with extremely loyal subscribers) can be sold by their owners any time they feel like it. That makes me feel not too comfortable, I can tell you!

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@ehBeth,

ehBeth wrote:

dlowan wrote:
It's just not in Rob's interests to do this stuff so suddenly. Look at the work that is going on trying to manage the results!

hamburgboy and I were talking about this last night. Did any of the droids hang in after their sudden merge?

I hope at least a handful of the philosophers hang in here. Lots would be better, but changing forums is rough. The food forum I used to spend a lot of time at was pretty much decimated when the software was changed earlier this year. It was a really distressing experience all round.

Hell yeah!!! I think the philosophers are a more open and reasoned bunch, though. But I totally get how rough such changes are.

Look at the Sturm und Drang with just a change of forum style that happened with the A2k change. Also, I can still recall the frenzy on Abuzz just after I joined because some features changed.

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@mismi,

mismi wrote:

I think that the issue is change.

I seem to gleen that one of the issues is how "white" it is here.

I recall how much I fussed when we came here from Abuzz. I hated hated hated the look of A2k. I still look at one of my old Abuzz screen shots on occasion. It was a pretty place.

1 Reply

@msolga,

I think the Philosophy Forum owner had had it and worked like a Trojan for quite a few years...I think he's still around and actively working with A2k staff to help. Sounds like a really great guy.

I really do think that the PF folk may find it a good thing after a while...especially when they can form their own group and manage stuff for themselves more, a feature which I gather is well on its way.

I suspect the sooner they can find a secure base of their own the better it will be.

I do hope they spend lots of time with the rest of us though. I think they'll add a lot (already are.)

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@ehBeth,

I have the Digression threads saved (plus others)...some in the full Abuzz format.

I still really like it, too.

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@djjd62,

djjd62 wrote:

could there be a link to the board a few days before, so we can see what the forum looked like

i feel for the folks who get absorbed and lose a sense of comfortability, but i've been a member of about 50 forums in the past, and this incarnation of A2K is one of the best boards i've belonged to (this is my opinion only)

I must AGREE that this IS indeed an excellent, convenient and reliable board.

Its fun and easy to use.

David

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@msolga,

Whenever A2K is shut down for some new implementation I have moments of panic. It is because I have a routine and when my routine is screwed with it makes me feel off balance.

Even if I don't post I look through and check to see how my buds are - and when I can't - it is upsetting. Not freaking out crying and arm flailing upsetting - just an inside flutter kind of upsetting. It would be an extremely unhappy thing if I woke up one morning and A2K had been moved, or shut down.

So I do understand. It always gets better though. For me anyway. I fall into new paths pretty easily. Of course I fuss a lot about it until I do though...I totally get it.

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Naturally, it would have been ideal to begin the process of forum merge in a more orderly, step-by-step process where potential issues could have been foreseen, discussed, and work-arounds or modifications made. This did not, for obvious reasons, happen. As soon as I heard, I made a broadcast announcement that was displayed at the top of every forum, and posted what information I had available in the Forum Announcements section of Philforum.
Obviously, not everyone frequents a forum each and every day not everyone pays attention to announcements. Imagine their surprise, then, when they logged into Philforum and found a2k instead!!!!!!!!!!!

Major changes are always upsetting, and sudden ones even more so. But once we figure out how the software works and how we can use it to further our philosophical (and other) discussions, don't be surprised that we will wander outside of our little box and join in all sorts of threads.

1 Reply

@jgweed,

jgWeed, you can't begin to imagine how happy I'll be to see the philosophers around and about the site

It seems like quite a wonderful, lively crew

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@ehBeth,

I have had the pleasure of meeting an Alabama boy that is now on the other side of the world from me. Love that Philforum is here...

Amazing how this big ol' world manages to find a way to get smaller just by meeting a new friend.

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@Khethil,

Khethil wrote:

djjd62 wrote:

could there be a link to the board a few days before, so we can see what the forum looked like

This is a capital idea! You end up with less shell-shock, less resentment for having content hijacked and so on. Some of the negativity can't be avoided, for sure, but any kind of transition wherein folks can *see* what's going to happen gives them time to adjust to the idea.

I realize that the circumstances of this move necessitated some urgency of action; even so, if you want to actually keep the users you've purchased - and wherein it is at all workable - it's money in the bank for the future of your user base.

Good idea

Oh Khethil,
I feel so dirty now that I have beem purchased

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@Victor Eremita,

Thanks for the look, Victor. Since I'm used to a2k, that layout just looks kind of uninviting to me, but if I were there for a few weeks, I'm sure it would feel like home.

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we knew a bit late that the board was sold of course-and were constantly reassured that things would be better if any changes and the new owner would be caring etc...and after some time (very little participation did i notice by any of the new owner admin people), mainly as a sort of evasion for addressing any issues it seems now in retrospect, there began to be talk about 'new software'. i read the announcements and we spoke about things and as far as i can tell there was about a week's advance notice that we were going to merge. by the time i saw it (my internet connection had been down for a week) it was too late to even copy anything i wanted to save. it feels like a trick, sorry, there is no other way to put it. burn me once, shame on you-burn me twice-shame on me. i wont be blogging any more without backup...in fact i probably wont be blogging any more.

hey, everyone is free to buy and sell whatever forum they want-but you cant sell people any more these days. also, i find it was such an american thing to do-like the government that goes out and decides it doesnt like another country's government, so it assassinates the leaders. i really dont see any advantage to buying a smaller forum and merging into a bigger one other than to totally eclipse it out of existence. are we heading towards there being only one forum in the whole world of cyberspace? i believe in being a global citizen...i have no allegiance to political states-but i wanted to choose which neighborhood i would live in. if i want to join a forum, i scope it out first and listen as a guest, then i register. we were not given a choice.

i have only been on that board for a year, but i invested a lot of time in it. it was a major thing for me to learn to step out of my shell, that's putting it mildly. it was like when i went to sixth grade-there was only one sixth grade class there in the whole school, and in that class of about 28-35 kids there were two exclusive girls' cliques-i was in both. he following year i had to go to a school that encompassed children from the ages of 12 to 18 and totaled 2400. i couldnt even find my way from one class to another...there was a huge traffic jam in the halls one time and if there had been a fire we would have all died, we were packed in like sardines. i think that place scarred me for life...to this day, i get lost in walmarts and k-marts...

people interested in philosophy to the point that these issues are core centers in their existence tend to be a little bit off the wall i think...now we have been dumped into a huge tank of normal guys...there are even females here...

so there you have it, my entire dysfunctional story...

3 Replies

@salima,

we are a lot of things here, but normal really isn't one of them...

good luck.

1 Reply

@salima,

Quote:

people interested in philosophy to the point that these issues are core centers in their existence tend to be a little bit off the wall i think...now we have been dumped into a huge tank of normal guys...there are even females here...

Why not give it a whirl? You may even find that you enjoy discussions with females... Smile

Cycloptichorn

1 Reply

@Cycloptichorn,

Yes, why not hang in here, Salima? See what happens.
Many of your old forum members will be here & posting.
And if you prefer not to have any communication with us A2Kers .. well, hey, that's OK, too! Smile

1 Reply

@msolga,

msolga wrote:

Yes, why not hang in here, Salima? See what happens.
Many of your old forum members will be here & posting.
And if you prefer not to have any communication with us A2Kers .. well, hey, that's OK, too!

I enjoy simply reading the threads of the new philosophy forum members. Now, A2Kers can keep up with current events and breaking news in the field of philosophy. Smile

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@salima,

Quote:

people interested in philosophy to the point that these issues are core centers in their existence tend to be a little bit off the wall i think...now we have been dumped into a huge tank of normal guys...there are even females here...

You'll find those same quirks in many of the niches here. Politics, gardening, cooking, trivia and word games, poetry, music, relationships, water softeners, and religion are just some of the common points of interests here that have attracted people for whom those subjects are core centers in their existence.

It makes for a great synergy between those who know and those who want to know more about the subject.

Welcome to the insanity!

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