Suggestions for New Threads/Discussions/Forums

[polly_mer]

Umm... if you were asking me (not sure) it's a form of courtesy, like not bursting back into someone's office 6 times with "something you forgot to say," but thinking through your claims on others' time and attention and putting all your thoughts together before hitting "send," I think.

M.

Sometimes when I see a couple of posts in a thread that sort of go in different directions, and so I want to respond to both. Typically I'll quote both and respond to each within a single post, but I'm curious if two separate posts would be a valid exception to the "no double post" guideline.

Thoughts?

I prefer separate posts for separate thoughts.  Quoting multiple posts and making one response seems to me to make sense only if those posts are closely related.

Again, I think of written discussion as being different from spoken discussion so that I'm not worried at all if one of my colleagues writes me two or three times in response to my one letter/email back.

[downer]

There are different kinds of online discussion. In my online classes, I often have discussion boards where I reward very long posts. I also emphasize formatting to make it easier for readers to be able to discern the structure and main claims of posts. Other times, I suggest to long-winded posters that they would be more effective by being more concise.

I have had colleagues who regularly write lengthy missives in a faculty email discussion. Similarly in discussing academic blog posts. Sometimes it is effective, but more often most of the points made get lost.

I'd say that there's room for personal style variation on The Fora, but the norm is still closer to a verbal discussion or an interaction on Facebook than a formal online discussion.

Back to my original point: I see no substantive difference between writing many consecutive short posts and writing one long post.

[aside]

Umm... if you were asking me (not sure) it's a form of courtesy, like not bursting back into someone's office 6 times with "something you forgot to say," but thinking through your claims on others' time and attention and putting all your thoughts together before hitting "send," I think.

M.

Yes, I was asking you, because I started another thread for discussing the issue of apologizing for double posts, and you were the only one to reply to it, thinking I meant only posting the same thing twice.  On that thread I clarified that I also meant apologizing for posting twice in succession with different content.  I did not intend to be impertinent with my comments to you above; I'm just interested in why folks apologize for double posts when they contain different content, which is why I started the other thread, and why I posed the question to you here when you did not respond again on the other thread.  No malice or judgement intended!  So, the discussion I hoped to spark there is happening here instead, which is fine. 

[mamselle]

No problem.

I'm laughing in the library (trying not to do so too loudly...)

Complications from trying to be so polite not intended!!!

M.

[polly_mer]

I'd say that there's room for personal style variation on The Fora, but the norm is still closer to a verbal discussion or an interaction on Facebook than a formal online discussion.

I read as much as I write.  I see no consensus on that view to make it a true norm.

[spork]

A book club thread, to talk about books that many academics are reading and that have implications for work, public policy, or society in general? Or would a separate thread for each book be better, with moving them all to a child board at some point?

This would be different from the "What Have You Read Lately?" thread -- more of a debate on what authors are saying. I often read books on weighty topics that might be far outside my academic discipline. Sometimes what I read affects what or how I teach, so I like to hear what other people think of these books. For example, I'm part of a multi-campus group that is now reading White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo, in part because of administrators' interest in "diversity/inclusion initiatives." Past examples include Roy Scranton's Learning to Die in the Anthropocene and Matthew Desmond's Evicted.

[lucy]

I would suggest a health issues board. I am currently finding some of the threads there more informative than my doctor.

I encourage you to start a thread or two to bring over current discussions or get the ball rolling.

The numbers from the CHE Health Issues on the Job thread indicate 15 threads in the past year and a half.  They are important threads, but that's not a lot of active discussion to warrant starting with a designated board.

I agree the traffic was slow, sadly :(
Which kinda indicated to me how hard it is to have a major chronic illness and succeed in academia, and the overlap of the two categories must be small,
but it was the only place I could find where people were dealing with chronic illness issues in the academic setting and the only people who could help me when my back was against the wall in getting my needs met.

With that said, if there will be no "Health Issues Board", maybe a "balancing work and life board" where the "health issues board" was embedded. That board got a lot more traffic.

If not, where would you suggest to start "health threads", I don't really see a natural fit, but maybe you do...

thanks :)

[namazu]

With that said, if there will be no "Health Issues Board", maybe a "balancing work and life board" where the "health issues board" was embedded. That board got a lot more traffic.

If not, where would you suggest to start "health threads", I don't really see a natural fit, but maybe you do...

Lucy, I think a health issues thread would be a valuable addition.

For now, maybe try the "General Discussion" board: https://thefora.org/index.php?board=1.0

(Other life-situation-support threads, like "Caring for Elderly Parents", are there.)

[polly_mer]

With that said, if there will be no "Health Issues Board", maybe a "balancing work and life board" where the "health issues board" was embedded. That board got a lot more traffic.

If not, where would you suggest to start "health threads", I don't really see a natural fit, but maybe you do...

Lucy, I think a health issues thread would be a valuable addition.

For now, maybe try the "General Discussion" board: https://thefora.org/index.php?board=1.0

(Other life-situation-support threads, like "Caring for Elderly Parents", are there.)

"General Discussion" is where the couple other health-related threads have gone as well as the life-situation-support threads.  That is the natural place for now for something that isn't clearly one of the three work categories or job searching.

[mahagonny]

When someone posts 2, 3, 4, 5 or more posts in a row, they are dominating the discussion, and stopping it from being a discussion at all.

One might say the same thing about extremely long posts.

Of course, others have the ability to reply as much as they want, so these forms of postings don't really exclude others. But it is more like a real discussion if people limit themselves to a post at a time, of no more than moderate length.

As one who tends to post a lot at length, I am frustrated by people who treat a written discussion as though it should follow the rules of a spoken discussion.  Yes, face-to-face with a handful of people, we should all take turns because we should use our skills to read the room.

'Frustrated' is a bullying tone.

I am also amused by the idea that one should obey a tiny word limit when the goal is productive discussion in areas where many words might be needed to explain a complete thought.  250 words is a double-spaced page of writing.  Are we really as a community of people who think deeply and then want to discuss going to limit individual contributions to less than one page of writing?  Sure, I can tell you about my dinner/pet/kid/joke in under 50 words, but what about something that really matters?

You didn't have to say 'I am also amused.' You could have just said "I disagree."

[marshwiggle]

As one who tends to post a lot at length, I am frustrated by people who treat a written discussion as though it should follow the rules of a spoken discussion.  Yes, face-to-face with a handful of people, we should all take turns because we should use our skills to read the room.

'Frustrated' is a bullying tone.

I am also amused by the idea that one should obey a tiny word limit when the goal is productive discussion in areas where many words might be needed to explain a complete thought.  250 words is a double-spaced page of writing.  Are we really as a community of people who think deeply and then want to discuss going to limit individual contributions to less than one page of writing?  Sure, I can tell you about my dinner/pet/kid/joke in under 50 words, but what about something that really matters?

You didn't have to say 'I am also amused.' You could have just said "I disagree."

You seem to be overly invested in peoples' perceived "tone", (which is notoriously hard to read in electronic communication), rather than on their arguments.

[mahagonny]

As one who tends to post a lot at length, I am frustrated by people who treat a written discussion as though it should follow the rules of a spoken discussion.  Yes, face-to-face with a handful of people, we should all take turns because we should use our skills to read the room.

'Frustrated' is a bullying tone.

I am also amused by the idea that one should obey a tiny word limit when the goal is productive discussion in areas where many words might be needed to explain a complete thought.  250 words is a double-spaced page of writing.  Are we really as a community of people who think deeply and then want to discuss going to limit individual contributions to less than one page of writing?  Sure, I can tell you about my dinner/pet/kid/joke in under 50 words, but what about something that really matters?

You didn't have to say 'I am also amused.' You could have just said "I disagree."

You seem to be overly invested in peoples' perceived "tone", (which is notoriously hard to read in electronic communication), rather than on their arguments.

What I've been reading lately is the members here who have contracted and moderated the venue are hoping that more posters are going to be attracted to the place. I think they have a problem.

[polly_mer]

The problem most recently identified was lack of content in some areas. 

One way that someone who wanted to help make these fora a success could help is by participating in ongoing discussions and sharing additional perspective on why SPADFY and other takes on situations being outlined in the original post.  Additional valuable content by a seasoned professional will help retain forumites, especially on some of the support threads where people are kind to each other and write encouraging posts during tough times.  Joining an ongoing support discussion thread is one way that people make friends here and often become friends who share concerns and very personal details out of public view.  The public discussions are only one way that forumites support each other.  For those who only interact publicly, try sending a personal message to someone who is giving good advice and thank them or ask your related question.  Many well established forumites respond positively to those PMs because they want to help.

A second way a person who wanted these fora to succeed could help would be to start new threads on topics not yet covered.  Perhaps those discussions would be related to work to give advice to lurkers who perhaps aren't ready to post yet.  Those new posts could be in the form of asking advice as a public service to prompt discussion because experienced professionals know what newbies in several areas should be asking, but may not know to ask.  For example, Zharkov used to be the expert on negotiating good job conditions; that's a niche that remains open and in need of a seasoned professional.  As we go into the fall term, starting threads on prepping for the classroom and preparing to say no to additional unpaid tasks could be very useful to the newcomers.

A third way a person who wanted these fora to succeed could help is by being the friendly voice of reason on a variety of threads, even when harsh truths must be shared.  We could always use another someone with a friendly tone who points out positive, concrete actions to take to ameliorate unforeseen current situations, not just listing the walls that will be faced in the current harsh US higher ed employment landscape.

We have many active forumites making these new fora interesting and productive; I look forward to seeing even more of our newer forumites taking positive actions to engage with the community.

[mahagonny]

When someone posts 2, 3, 4, 5 or more posts in a row, they are dominating the discussion, and stopping it from being a discussion at all.

One might say the same thing about extremely long posts.

Agree. Unnecessarily wordy posting is tiring to read.

[notmycircus]

About a month ago I started skipping over that person’s comments.  Less is more and life is too short to feed someone else’s needs.