adding content - the configuration of this site still mystifies me.

[bert louis]

At http://uncivilisation.ning.com/   I read: ... 'here are a few options you can do right now: Invite friend, Customize you page, or Add content.

So I added content, just to see where it would end up. Now I can't find it anymore.

I assume that others also click on "Add content," and I would like to have a clear overview of what others post, but such an overview is not there.

On the right site there is a narrow and long list called "latest activity," but that's not very useful if I want to seek out ideas or subject that interest me. It's a mix of status updates, someone joined a group announcements, profile updates, someone left a comment for someone, someone posted a blog, ... It's a complete mess I you want to seek out, follow and comment on peoples ideas.

I'm wondering ... the two owners of this site .. what really drives them these days? They are good journalistic writers, but since they have made open discussion impossible on their site (with the argument that they lack the time to monitor) I'm starting to wonder what they are realy driven by. Pure self interest comes to mind, maybe it's ignorance of how the human mind - by the  power of the individual to express his or her thoughts in open contest - really evolves.

I'm not the only one who is confused about this site, and about the decision  of the owners to make open discussion or conversation impossible.

This is what Sten Ryason said on Saturday 11 august : "Saying goodbye. I don't see this evolving further, and will pursue my own ends as best I can. Good luck to everyone."

[Graham Hill]

Is this 'dead in the water?' Only if we say so. Look we have just killed it because we can. Joe public can chat amongst themselves but don't try to develop any ideas. These ideas are ours and ours alone.

[bert louis]

Hi :)

at the moment there is really no way to engage in open topic discussions. You can however still see and post to the old forum, if you know the address, but there's no link to it anymore on the main page, so hardly anybody will find it. I used that possibility to post a thanks to the DM team and to download some discussions I found interesting.

The owners of the site 'killed' the discussion forum for a reason. I was one of the people who advocated structuring the often wild and chaotic thought processes on the forum by implying some basic rules of engagement, like staying on topic, like presenting arguments for a position and reflecting on critique - willing to let go of and argument or even a position.  This calls for moderation, and at some point the DM realized that too. Than 'they' (Paul, Sophie and Dougald) simply send out an email to inform the users of the forum that they have no time (money, interest, ect.) to keep the forum on the servers. 

I understand their decision to shut down the forum section. They learned that there can be no open structured (on-topic) discussion about the Manifesto without basic rules of engagement and adequate policing (moderation, monitoring)  of those rules by knowledgeable moderators.

[bert louis]

Hmm. It seems that I cannot edit my comment. I would like to edit this: ... who advocated structuring the often wild and chaotic thought processes on the forum by implementing some basic rules..

[Angela Noelle]

. . . bert, I have been busy with the de-mystifying for over 24 hours now and I have invested a goodly time preparing a post for the discussion forum which I have now added.  Thanks.  Your postings have filled me in just a tad.  I'm also really sad about the Feral Forum.  How about a group named, "untamed" - was just playing around with the word 'feral' - it, the word, has different connotations for me other than the standard dictionary definition and those which came to be associated with it via the group which was opened here.  Other than all of that, I'd really want to be able to see what is actually going on.  Without having to flush.  I just don't have the temperament for it.  And my online-time is so governed that I really need to make sure it is focused on actual interchanges of import, that I can implement, in my head and in the world I have to survive in.  It appears so much time is spent in discovering that one is NOT on the same page as the other.  It's essential for me to acquire the channel to page-exchanging.  angela noelle

[bert louis]

Hi Angela :) Thanks for your response!

Allan was a bit negative, but now I'm also beginning to wonder if this site is really a place for conversation as the caption under the Dark Mountain Network states:  

A space for conversations in a time of global disruption. 

For one I don't get any email notifications anymore, so finding this response of yours was a matter of luck and perseverance - I had to search for it.  For two, the entire discussion forum has been removed. For three the two discussion groups "the Feral Forum" and "the Moderation Forum" have been removed.

So where is exactly is that space for conversation in time of global disruption now??

I fear that if I started a new group with the purpose to discuss stuff, possibly even the Manifesto itself, or commenting on the rather arbitrary way of removing sections of this site, or on something philosophical, political, arty, religious, ..  or what ever people can have different opinions about .... will shortly result in it's removal.

I looked you up, and I like :)

I'm Dutch by the way, so some of my wordings may be strange.