2010 - A New Year to Improve

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

Namasté

what then have we decided?
1. we pursue that of siddhānta vāk ( the final word). ( or siddhānta vicāra or 'vivAda nirNayam as saidevo offers) ?

2. Reputation points - they have been dis-engaged. For me it makes no difference either way. Yet is this the decision we wish to go with?

3. What of the mentoring program?

4. Better posts via:
a. Cut 'n paste rules apply
b. Define your terms
c. Avoid excessively long posts

5. Courtesy rules

I also suggest a welcome letter that goes to new HDF members stating expectations . I think this is done today? I think the introductory letter would outline:
a. Guidelines
b. What is expected in terms of HDF post quality
c. What is not expected
d. etc. etc.

6. Starting a 'best of HDF' folder - this would have copies or pointers to the best posts we think have occurred on HDF - this would be used as an example in the Guidelines intro letter ( point 5 above) as a good place to start reading i.e. orientation on quality.

That said, if we count the people that responded to this request ~ 7 people responded out of a potential 1,346 total members or 0.05%.
Being more realistic there are about 30 to 40 active members ( posting regularly) so the 7 people represent 20% of this total.

Doing nothing is also a vote suggesting what ever people decide I (we) are okay with it , until it craps our style , then we will take issue ans say ' nobody asked me'. There is even action in inaction!

So, we move forward, modify or change any of the recommendations?

praṇām

[smaranam]

Namaste Yajvanji

I liked all the ideas you had proposed. Siddhanta VAk, the mentoring program and interactive Sanskrt learning seem like great ideas.

I shall keep in mind that posts should stay short and define terms as much as possible. I do this along with the word sentence (in brackets) , and sometimes try to list terms in the end.

The format of your posts is a very good model.

PraNAm

[saidevo]

namaste Yajvan.

AUM to all the six points you have collected above. As for the Reputation Points, I don't mind Satay restoring its display and sanction, if he feels that it could be an incentive to the junior members and give them confidence about sharing their knowledge, and even if one member wants it restored. Since the vidyA saMkhya can't be implemented, I have no reservations now about the RP and its restoration.

I would like to add one more point: Members who have read well in the Hindu texts, may give a synopsis about each text they are familiar with, so this thread can serve as an introduction to Hindu texts and also introudce texts that are read rarely by the average Hindu, such as the Tantra works, minor upanishads, classical six darshanams and so on.

[satay]

namaste Yajvan,
Thank you for the post.

I like all of the points listed here. I can definitely improve the welcome letter that goes out to new members. Currently, it points them to a post you had written long back. I can add more content to the welcome letter based on the suggestion given on this thread.

I need to understand a bit more about point 1, 3 and 6.

What exactly is expected from adiminstration point of view?

For the "best Posts", a new thread can be created where members can post links to the posts that they think are 'best'. ? I can then create this thread into a sticky i.e. it will show up at the top of the forum? Or are you guys thinking of a 'new' forum and I will have to copy/move the 'best' posts? I think that would not be a good idea because the best posts should stay in the thread they originally belong to so moving them won't work as it will take them out of context if we move them to the 'best posts' folder/forum.

There are a lot of new members here now, who wants to become their mentor? Is this based on volunteer basis? Should we ask the new members if they need a mentor? Who among the senior members have time to do this activity?

Please advise.
Thanks,

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

Namast�

what then have we decided?
1. we pursue that of siddhānta vāk ( the final word). ( or siddhānta vicāra or 'vivAda nirNayam as saidevo offers) ?

2. Reputation points - they have been dis-engaged. For me it makes no difference either way. Yet is this the decision we wish to go with?

3. What of the mentoring program?

4. Better posts via:
a. Cut 'n paste rules apply
b. Define your terms
c. Avoid excessively long posts

5. Courtesy rules

I also suggest a welcome letter that goes to new HDF members stating expectations . I think this is done today? I think the introductory letter would outline:
a. Guidelines
b. What is expected in terms of HDF post quality
c. What is not expected
d. etc. etc.

6. Starting a 'best of HDF' folder - this would have copies or pointers to the best posts we think have occurred on HDF - this would be used as an example in the Guidelines intro letter ( point 5 above) as a good place to start reading i.e. orientation on quality.

That said, if we count the people that responded to this request ~ 7 people responded out of a potential 1,346 total members or 0.05%.
Being more realistic there are about 30 to 40 active members ( posting regularly) so the 7 people represent 20% of this total.

Doing nothing is also a vote suggesting what ever people decide I (we) are okay with it , until it craps our style , then we will take issue ans say ' nobody asked me'. There is even action in inaction!

So, we move forward, modify or change any of the recommendations?

praṇām