Roundtable Series: Experiment One:

Participants: Privately, mutually arranged through PM; drawn from former Roundtable members, now referred to as "Conservative" group, and their privately requested guests.

Participants, as they agree to participate, will be listed here:



This is a closed discussion. Please do not attempt to participate unless through mutual communication, your name is found above. This method of discussion is completely owing to the desire to maintain a certain style of conversation, and is in no way reflective of a desire to exclude.

It is likely the discussion will be opened to the wider membership after the goal of the beginning participants has been achieved.

Participants may be added during the progression of this thread for fresh ideas, another viewpoint, or to replace a member. These participants will be added through a mutually favorable contact between former Roundtable members.

Style of participation: Ordered. To be described below.

1) Former Roundtable members PM this member (Facilitating Member) if interested in participation. FR members offer suggestions on number of participants, topic, initial questions, possible guest participants.

2) Participants are listed above in this post.

3) Topic is inserted in to thread title.

4) Initial questions to begin discussion are inserted at the end of this post.

5) Members will post answers ( as brief or as detailed as they wish ) to the questions at the end of the initial thread post.

6) The Facilitating Member will post a notice at the end of each round as a courtesy. Directions for the next round will be shared in these informational posts. These rounds are not established as competitive, though they may be, but are designed for functionality and organization.

7) The second round is characterized by members' directed or general questions or challenges. They may specifically challenge other members by name, or ask general questions related to the topic. Three is the number of questions allowable by each member in any given round. The goal of the questions will be to examine views and sources for other participant's views.

8) Members are required to answer all questions to the best of their ability, or acknowledge the question and defer due to lack of knowledge about the answer to continue to the next round. It is also equally acceptable to ask for a reasonable amount of time to research the question. One week is considered a reasonable amount of time for this purpose. All members are subject to challenges by all other members, regarding a source or reasoning of an opinion. Close questioning is acceptable and expected.*

*Manner of Discourse: Former Roundtable members recall the successful environment constructed and maintained. Those standards will be maintained on this thread in deference to participants' expectations. These standards will be shared with participants' guests.

Point System: At the end of each round, the Facilitating Member will request issuance of points. Members may choose to issue one point to the member, whose body of work within the preceding round was most compelling to them. While eloquence is always valued, it is the validity of the material presented, and it's application to the issue, and possibly it's impact on your opinion that garners a point <1>.

Participation in this feature is optional.

Points are denoted as so: <1>. They can appear at the bottom of a post, explaining your choice, or alone with no explanation. It is also acceptable to use the quote feature to show the passage, which you are rewarding with a point. <1>.

Goal: To thoroughly examine a subject of interest undistracted by peripheral allegiances, to test our reasons for related opinions, to share conclusive or compelling material to gain and/or affect enhanced knowledge of said issue. To compare openly alterations in our opinions that existed at the beginning and the end of the experiment. To designate with a point system, those among us, who lead in thought and deliberative questions.

Time is not considered an issue for our purposes. Participants may take a week or so to respond.

Any errors or omissions will be repaired by consensus of participants.

Former Roundtable Members are welcomed to PM the Facilitating Member at any time to discuss participation and/or guest nominations.

Within a week, a message should be here as to whether or not this Experiment will proceed.

Thank you.