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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Have the ship boards had their day?
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Rossweisse
High Church Valkyrie
# 2349
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
And mine....
And mine.
I'd also like to vote for maintaining the archives.
Rossweisse // another of the Six
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I'm not dead yet.
Posts: 15117 | From: Valhalla | Registered: Feb 2002
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agingjb
Shipmate
# 16555
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Posted
I certainly hope the Ship continues to use the forum medium. Far too many forums have been dropped by their sponsors, the BBC being a prime example.
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Refraction Villanelles
Posts: 464 | From: Southern England | Registered: Jul 2011
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Wesley J
Silly Shipmate
# 6075
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Rossweisse:
[...] I'd also like to vote for maintaining the archives.
Rossweisse // another of the Six
Yes, please. There's some invaluable stuff in there which ought not to be lost. Safeguarding them if ever possible, preferably in their entirety, would seem a very wise thing to me. This is mostly about the boards, which are what I find the lifeblood of the Ship, but also the other parts, like Mystery Worshipper etc.
And - with all due respect - there could be Chat Café again, accessible to members, please? That'd be lovely. It really did help for more immediate interaction, if desired. (It would test my time management skills to the limit though! ![[Hot and Hormonal]](icon_redface.gif) )
Thank you to the Powers That Be.
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Be it as it may: Wesley J will stay. --- Euthanasia, that sounds good. An alpine neutral neighbourhood. Then back to Britain, all dressed in wood. Things were gonna get worse. (John Cooper Clarke)
Posts: 7354 | From: The Isles of Silly | Registered: May 2004
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Paul.
Shipmate
# 37
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Posted
Guess I am the only one who likes nested comments? By which I mean threaded conversation. By which I really mean usenet. Yeah I know that ship sailed long ago. I was one of the last wandering the lonely empty decks looking for others.
Good news about the new software. Prepare yourselves for the digital equivalent of taking out the pews and replacing them with chairs. ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
Posts: 3689 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2004
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Paul.:
Guess I am the only one who likes nested comments? By which I mean threaded conversation.
I was waiting for the thread Simon has mentioned to appear before addressing this, but Good Gods NO!!!!!!!
Nested threads are proof of the Anti-Christ and Cthulhu and are preferred by the same sort of people who jump queues.
They do nothing to facilitate community discussion.
I participate in a forum that uses them and they make following a thread tortuous.
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
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Posted
Threads, and threaded readers, were a necessity with usenet because of the asynchronous nature of the medium. When posts routinely arrive a day or more out of order, you require both threads, and a degree of discipline, to make sense of the conversation.
Failure to understand this was one of the big problems with the Eternal September.
Web forums are not asynchronous, so you don't need nested threads. I'm with lilBuddha.
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by lilBuddha:
Good Gods NO!!!!!!!
Nested threads are proof of the Anti-Christ and Cthulhu and are preferred by the same sort of people who jump queues.
They do nothing to facilitate community discussion.
I see that on this point our doctrines are perfectly aligned.
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Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Paul.
Shipmate
# 37
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Leorning Cniht:
Threads, and threaded readers, were a necessity with usenet because of the asynchronous nature of the medium. When posts routinely arrive a day or more out of order, you require both threads, and a degree of discipline, to make sense of the conversation.
Failure to understand this was one of the big problems with the Eternal September.
Web forums are not asynchronous, so you don't need nested threads. I'm with lilBuddha.
Of course web forums are asynchronous. Only live chat live the Cafe is synchronous. For a facile example it's now nearly 9 hours since my last post and I'm reading and responding to yours, itself 4 hours old. A lot of other posts could have come and gone by then.
What is true is that web forums handle asynchronous conversation by encouraging folks into a single joint conversation. If the topic has moved on since the last time you posted, well maybe you can get people to backtrack with you, maybe not. Usenet allowed a thousand flowers to bloom.
And I don't think Eternal September killed usenet. I was a heavy user of newsgroups after that, between 2001-2003 and there was plenty of traffic. What really killed it was spam and trolls. Both of which could be filtered out easily but the tools to do so weren't easy enough to use.
I'm not agitating for threads - sounds like the software decision's been made - but I do think if you've seen it work well then it is a beautiful thing. For example I could continue having this discussion about threads separate with those interested, whilst others could simultaneously discuss archiving or whatever.
The trouble is there are a lot of examples of threading done badly. Facebook, blog comment threads, reddit to some extent.
The real problem is the eternal one - the network effect - I loved usenet. It was an online space for discussion that worked really well for me. Maybe it could never have scaled to the size of FB but it didn't need to. There just needed to be enough people who also liked it to have a decent conversation with. And for a long time there were. Gradually that changed and now there aren't any more. Oh well. It was great while it lasted. Never mind.
And it seems like Schroedinger's Cat felt the same way about these boards. AT least that we were in the "gradually fading" stage. Hence this thread.
Interested to see how the next phase plays out.
Posts: 3689 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2004
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Jemima the 9th
Shipmate
# 15106
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Posted
I'm a very new poster here, and a heavy FB user too.
I agree with all of Alan Cresswell's points about the advantages of this board system over FB. One of the things I value above all else about the Ship is the archive, and the megathreads (ok, two things....and nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition) Reading the DH megathreads has been an invaluable insight into others' perspectives and experiences. I have learned so much from those threads - and they're discussions I would not have been able to have at my church, or with Christians I know IRL. So I suppose I am feeding, vampire-like, on others' wisdom, for which I shall be off to pay penance to the Floating Fund. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
The tone of conversation in those threads is also unlike anything I have read on FB, where things become very echo-chambery very quickly, and where requests for information or insight can be shut down with claims that it's not someone's job to educate someone else (which is true as far as it goes, but not always helpful).
Like Brenda, I can't log in anywhere but a laptop at home, but this may be a good thing for all concerned!
Posts: 801 | From: UK | Registered: Sep 2009
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Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Paul.:
Of course web forums are asynchronous.
No - web forms are not real time, but they are synchronous. If you and I look at the forum at the same time, we see the same state. If you post a message, then I am guaranteed to have it the next time I look.
With usenet, different readers will see messages arrive in different orders.
On a web forum, if you see a question and no answers, you know that nobody has answered it yet. On usenet, there may be a dozen answers that just haven't made it to you yet. Dealing with that lack of synchronization requires different tools.
quote:
And I don't think Eternal September killed usenet. I was a heavy user of newsgroups after that, between 2001-2003 and there was plenty of traffic. What really killed it was spam and trolls.
By about 2000 or so, I found the signal/noise ratio had dropped too far - and it had really been in a steady decline all through September.
Certainly part of the problem was the scale issue that you mention - just as in real life, communities find it easy to absorb and acclimatize small numbers of immigrants, but don't deal well with large waves of new arrivals.
I find the ship has a pretty good signal/noise ratio.
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
If anything, I find the Ship TOO active, in comparison to other boards. It's kind of hard to get into following threads here, because before you know it, a given thread is piled up with dozens of posts, some of them quite long, and my internet time-budget doesn't permit following all of the topics. And since I don't like just skimming threads, so I tend to stay away from most of them.
But I know what people mean about this particular format being on the decline. and it's certainly true that the Ship(along with most other message boards) is in a period of dwindling numbers. But I have no plans of switching over to Facebook(too many horror stories about privacy snafus etc), much less twitter. And since as far as I can tell there are no other message-boards dedicated to discussing Christianity from this particular perspective, I would sincerely mourn the demise of the Ship.
[ 27. August 2017, 20:12: Message edited by: Stetson ]
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I have the power...Lucifer is lord!
Posts: 6574 | From: back and forth between bible belts | Registered: Jun 2005
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Alan Cresswell
Mad Scientist 先生
# 31
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Stetson:
If anything, I find the Ship TOO active, in comparison to other boards.
That's interesting, because from my perspective the Ship is very quiet - the discussions we have are more about why the boards are a lot less active than they used to be.
For perspective, when I was hosting Purgatory I used to read the board before going to bed, by the time I got up the next morning it was not unusual for all the threads on p1 to have new posts on them. Now it's unusual for the thread at the bottom of p1 to have it's last post less than 8d old, let alone 8h.
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Don't cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it.
Posts: 32413 | From: East Kilbride (Scotland) or 福島 | Registered: May 2001
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
AC:
Yes, I was comparing the Ship to other boards at the current time, not to how the Ship used to in the past. Specifically, I was thinking about how long it takes a given thread to rack up posts.
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I have the power...Lucifer is lord!
Posts: 6574 | From: back and forth between bible belts | Registered: Jun 2005
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Paul.
Shipmate
# 37
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Leorning Cniht:
quote:
Originally posted by Paul.:
Of course web forums are asynchronous.
No - web forms are not real time, but they are synchronous. If you and I look at the forum at the same time, we see the same state. If you post a message, then I am guaranteed to have it the next time I look.
With usenet, different readers will see messages arrive in different orders.
That may have been true in the early days, but when I was using it it wasn't. Are you talking about pre-internet? When news servers were communicating via uucp?
quote:
On a web forum, if you see a question and no answers, you know that nobody has answered it yet. On usenet, there may be a dozen answers that just haven't made it to you yet. Dealing with that lack of synchronization requires different tools.
On usenet, as I used it, if there were no answers to a question it meant they hadn't hit my news server yet. If they had hit someone else's then yes we were out of sync but it didn't have a practical effect. Technically it would be possible to see a reply-to-a-post where I hadn't seen the original yet - but I don't remember that happening really. Maybe it did and I forget. Even then that would really only have happened during the times when I was sitting hitting the new posts button obsessively and trying to treat it like it was real time.
I more remember those sorts of issues later when people would cancel posts after they'd been replied to. Of course that sort of thing never happened on web forums. ![[Biased]](wink.gif)
quote:
quote:
And I don't think Eternal September killed usenet. I was a heavy user of newsgroups after that, between 2001-2003 and there was plenty of traffic. What really killed it was spam and trolls.
By about 2000 or so, I found the signal/noise ratio had dropped too far - and it had really been in a steady decline all through September.
Fair enough. I can't argue with your subjective experience. Which sounds like goes back farther than mine. I first used it in the mid-90s but sporadically. Funnily enough I went back to usenet to find more in depth discussion than was happening on web forums. By the time I was using it a lot I had learnt how to filter out most of what I would consider real noise. What remained was on topic if not necessarily interesting to me - but that's true anywhere.
quote:
I find the ship has a pretty good signal/noise ratio.
Well it is moderated, and that done well usually. If you define signal as on-topic, non-spam, non-troll, non-flameworthy - as I do - then the discussion outside hell pretty much ought to be signal.
Posts: 3689 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2004
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
A thread on SOF is one path, start to finish. A nested thread can be many paths, some of them parallel, some of the tangents. The other one I mentioned can be viewed flat or nested. Though one can view flat, many don't use it that way and what results is many posts and sidebars on the same topic instead of one conversation about it.
[ 27. August 2017, 23:55: Message edited by: lilBuddha ]
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Paul.:
That may have been true in the early days, but when I was using it it wasn't. Are you talking about pre-internet? When news servers were communicating via uucp?
I was routinely seeing messages out-of-order by a day in the late 90s. Not really from people on well-connected core systems, I suppose.
quote:
I more remember those sorts of issues later when people would cancel posts after they'd been replied to. Of course that sort of thing never happened on web forums.
Given that a good chunk of the servers decided on principle not to honour cancel messages...
I'm agreeing with lB on the desirability of "flat" organization. Even though sometimes we get threads on the ship that are really two or three parallel conversations interwoven, the flat presentation gives you the best chance of recombining the loose threads.
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013
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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
It was possible from about 1980 to view newsgroups on usenet (via Netnorth in Canada) as either sequential in time or nested. We connected via telephone modem at 300 baud. I usually had newsgroups going in one of 2 or 4 ASCII windows in Emacs while I ran multiple regressions. Before that it was computer cards, tape drives and printer terminals. Which did allow for connection but because most of the users were from universities and government institutions and were in science (yes it was originated in military), it did pretty well at self-regulating. When the general ignorant public started into the internet with home computers and phone modems, it became troubled as you note.
I was on rec.arts.episcopal a lot. (I might be scrambling "rec.arts" into it from rec.arts.startrek; there was no decent Anglican newsgroup) One of the big controversial threads I recall just before it completely imploded was "Here comes Harry Potter" with debates about the possible satanic overlay. No one had any idea about the future we're living with Voldy running a country.
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
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Paul.
Shipmate
# 37
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Leorning Cniht:
quote:
I more remember those sorts of issues later when people would cancel posts after they'd been replied to. Of course that sort of thing never happened on web forums.
Given that a good chunk of the servers decided on principle not to honour cancel messages...
Which it was why it wasn't really problem early on (my early) but later when people were using Google Groups (what had been DejaNews) to post and it was possible to get Google to remove messages at any point. And I was using Google to read least some of the time, nntp being blocked at work by then. (Probably talking 2006 by now).
quote:
I'm agreeing with lB on the desirability of "flat" organization. Even though sometimes we get threads on the ship that are really two or three parallel conversations interwoven, the flat presentation gives you the best chance of recombining the loose threads.
Yes and this is where I came in, because I genuinely don't see 'flat' as more desirable but I am apparently alone in this.
I've been thinking about why. Someone earlier mentioned 'community' and I wonder if that has something to do with it? If the discussion is there to serve the sense of community then I can see why people would value a single conversation that everyone experiences together. That might explain why I'm different because I value a thread based on how interesting it is, for the discussion itself. Lots of tangents, providing they are interesting are fine therefore. Also, I wouldn't say I've felt part of a Ship community for years. And that was based around the cafe not the boards.
Posts: 3689 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2004
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Moo
Ship's tough old bird
# 107
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Paul
I more remember those sorts of issues later when people would cancel posts after they'd been replied to. Of course that sort of thing never happened on web forums.
This is why the ship gives posters only a few minutes to alter or delete what they've just posted.
Moo
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Kerygmania host
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See you later, alligator.
Posts: 20365 | From: Alleghany Mountains of Virginia | Registered: May 2001
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Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Paul.:
Yes and this is where I came in, because I genuinely don't see 'flat' as more desirable but I am apparently alone in this.
For me, it's because "flat" encourages reintegration of threads.
Threading tools all imagine the conversation as a tree. You begin with the trunk, and then branch off into all kinds of different directions. Branches can die off, but there's no sensible way of reconnecting branches.
Real conversations might well split off sidebars to analyze particular points, but tend to reintegrate the conclusions into the main thread.
"Flat" encourages this to happen; threaded discourages it.
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Paul.:
Yes and this is where I came in, because I genuinely don't see 'flat' as more desirable but I am apparently alone in this.
I've been thinking about why. Someone earlier mentioned 'community' and I wonder if that has something to do with it? If the discussion is there to serve the sense of community then I can see why people would value a single conversation that everyone experiences together.
Community is the name of the forum section of SOF. And we are discussing your suggestion as a community.
quote:
That might explain why I'm different because I value a thread based on how interesting it is, for the discussion itself.
Nested doesn't facilitate conversation. It isolates interactions. Unless one wishes to wander down each branch, something that would be a nightmare on the longer threads. And, if a comment on one branch related to another, tying them together would be horrific and clunky as the different participants might then need read multiple branches to comprehend.
quote:
Lots of tangents, providing they are interesting are fine therefore.
'Cause we don't have enough now?
quote:
Also, I wouldn't say I've felt part of a Ship community for years. And that was based around the cafe not the boards.
This is sad. Truly. But your suggestion would break the community that many of the rest of us feel. How is that a good idea?
[ 28. August 2017, 14:54: Message edited by: lilBuddha ]
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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Robert Armin
All licens'd fool
# 182
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Posted
One of the reasons I don't use the Ship as much as I used to, is that I can't read threads on my phone. If Simon has a way round that I would expect to pop in here more frequently.
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Keeping fit was an obsession with Fr Moity .... He did chin ups in the vestry, calisthenics in the pulpit, and had developed a series of Tai-Chi exercises to correspond with ritual movements of the Mass. The Antipope Robert Rankin
Posts: 8927 | From: In the pack | Registered: May 2001
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Alan Cresswell
Mad Scientist 先生
# 31
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Posted
The new software does, indeed, work better on phones. You're still stuck with a tiny screen and touch keyboard - but, we can't do anything about that.
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Don't cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it.
Posts: 32413 | From: East Kilbride (Scotland) or 福島 | Registered: May 2001
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
I can biggify to read the text, but I can't log in. Hopefully the redo will fix that.
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
I can use the Ship on my phone and could on the previous phone too, so it's not the Ship software that is the problem. Previous phone was Android, current phone is Windows. This post comes care of the Windows phone.
The Ship cafe is still there, I checked last night, but I like my tablet too much to load faverolle on it.
The Ship is much quieter than in the past, and I've noticed the fewer meets too. As someone who used to organise some of the London meets and turn up to the Yorkshire meets, the combination of pressure of work, taking a long time to recover from shingles and other things going on have meant that I've either been in Yorkshire for a flying visit and a purpose, not getting to half the stuff I plan in London and not wanting to set something up and not be able to go.
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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Paul.
Shipmate
# 37
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by lilBuddha:
quote:
Originally posted by Paul.:
Yes and this is where I came in, because I genuinely don't see 'flat' as more desirable but I am apparently alone in this.
I've been thinking about why. Someone earlier mentioned 'community' and I wonder if that has something to do with it? If the discussion is there to serve the sense of community then I can see why people would value a single conversation that everyone experiences together.
Community is the name of the forum section of SOF. And we are discussing your suggestion as a community.
I haven't made a suggestion.
But what is "discussing ... as a community."? How does it differ from simply interested parties on this website discussing this?
quote:
quote:
That might explain why I'm different because I value a thread based on how interesting it is, for the discussion itself.
Nested doesn't facilitate conversation. It isolates interactions. Unless one wishes to wander down each branch, something that would be a nightmare on the longer threads. And, if a comment on one branch related to another, tying them together would be horrific and clunky as the different participants might then need read multiple branches to comprehend.
And yet it worked for me and several thousand others for years. My experience was there really wasn't a need to re-integrate branches, and what tended to happen was a few branches grew strongly. And in any case you went down the branches you cared about/were interested in.
quote:
quote:
Lots of tangents, providing they are interesting are fine therefore.
'Cause we don't have enough now?
I neither want nor don't want more tangents. I just don't think they're inherently bad. More so where the software supports it properly.
quote:
quote:
Also, I wouldn't say I've felt part of a Ship community for years. And that was based around the cafe not the boards.
This is sad. Truly.
I wasn't saying it to make you feel sorry for me. I was wondering aloud at a possible reason why my perspective is different.
quote:
But your suggestion would break the community that many of the rest of us feel. How is that a good idea?
Check again, I didn't make a suggestion. I specifically said I wasn't looking to influence change. If I was I'd be too late. If I wasn't too late this is not a democracy. If it were a democracy I'm clearly in the minority. So I think you can relax.
At least on my account. If it turns out the new software has nested threads that's on Simon.
Posts: 3689 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2004
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Paul.:
I haven't made a suggestion.
Perhaps not intentionally or directly. But functionally you did.
quote:
But what is "discussing ... as a community."? How does it differ from simply interested parties on this website discussing this?
All Saints and Shipmeets should be answer enough to that.
quote:
And yet it worked for me and several thousand others for years. My experience was there really wasn't a need to re-integrate branches, and what tended to happen was a few branches grew strongly. And in any case you went down the branches you cared about/were interested in.
Many things work. Doesn't mean they are truly fit for purpose. Or not every purpose at least.
quote:
If it turns out the new software has nested threads that's on Simon.
Nested v. flat was the first thought that occurred to me and why I jumped so quickly when you mentioned it. As I doubt we are getting bespoke software, I wanted to address my concerns early in hopes that was not an option or it was one that could be turned off.
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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Ian Climacus
Liturgical Slattern
# 944
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by lilBuddha:
I was waiting for the thread Simon has mentioned to appear before addressing this, but Good Gods NO!!!!!!!
Nested threads are proof of the Anti-Christ and Cthulhu and are preferred by the same sort of people who jump queues.
Maybe the new Hell alone can have nested threads...just to make it that slightly more...hellish.
Posts: 7800 | From: On the border | Registered: Jul 2001
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ian Climacus:
quote:
Originally posted by lilBuddha:
I was waiting for the thread Simon has mentioned to appear before addressing this, but Good Gods NO!!!!!!!
Nested threads are proof of the Anti-Christ and Cthulhu and are preferred by the same sort of people who jump queues.
Maybe the new Hell alone can have nested threads...just to make it that slightly more...hellish.
You are Evil
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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Alan Cresswell
Mad Scientist 先生
# 31
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Posted
Nested threads are intended to allow large threads to deal with tangents. Our approach on the Ship has always been to deal with tangents by starting new threads, rather than try and nest them within the thread they started.
IMO, the advantages of our approach are several. Top of the list for me is that it allows tangents to be taken to a different board if appropriate (which includes taking tangential personal spats to Hell), and it allows people who may be interested in the tangent to contribute if they weren't interested in the original thread.
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Don't cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it.
Posts: 32413 | From: East Kilbride (Scotland) or 福島 | Registered: May 2001
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Dafyd
Shipmate
# 5549
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Posted
I used to use usenet. The single-line unnested thread format of the Ship put me off for a while.
Now I'm used to the single line format I don't know whether going back to the nested format would be equally offputting (aagh change bad).
The chief advantage of the nested format it seems to me was that it made the shape of a conversation more obvious. And if one branch of a conversation consisted entirely of two unintelligible bores having at each other it could be entirely ignored instead of having to scroll through it looking for anything more accessible to pick out.
As I say I might feel differently if I move back to the nested format.
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we remain, thanks to original sin, much in love with talking about, rather than with, one another. Rowan Williams
Posts: 10567 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Feb 2004
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Dafyd:
I used to use usenet. The single-line unnested thread format of the Ship put me off for a while.
Now I'm used to the single line format I don't know whether going back to the nested format would be equally offputting (aagh change bad).
As I said earlier, I currently use both. Flat is better.
quote:
The chief advantage of the nested format it seems to me was that it made the shape of a conversation more obvious. And if one branch of a conversation consisted entirely of two unintelligible bores
Yeah, that happens. But you assume they will not also be on the tangent you like. Yes, you could start yet another tangent, but that further fragments and isolates.
Otherwise, why not just have a series of limited participation chat rooms?
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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Pyx_e
Quixotic Tilter
# 57
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Posted
When you come to pull the plug, give me a weeks notice so I can splurge 222 post in the Circus. Thank you.
Also: The ship is the only form of internet communication I have ever come across that does not suck dingo balls. Most other forms seem to be a direct result of Satan's plan to conquer the world.
Looking forward to "NEW SHIP" "Ship 3.0" "FRIEND_SHIP" ..... whatever.
Pyx_e
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It is better to be Kind than right.
Posts: 9778 | From: The Dark Tower | Registered: May 2001
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Lothlorien
Ship's Grandma
# 4927
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Pyx_e:
When you come to pull the plug, give me a weeks notice so I can splurge 222 post in the Circus. Thank you.
Also: The ship is the only form of internet communication I have ever come across that does not suck dingo balls. Most other forms seem to be a direct result of Satan's plan to conquer the world.
Looking forward to "NEW SHIP" "Ship 3.0" "FRIEND_SHIP" ..... whatever.
Pyx_e
So glad we do not have massive flashing GIFS all over pages as signatures etc.
[ 30. August 2017, 22:26: Message edited by: Lothlorien ]
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Buy a bale. Help our Aussie rural communities and farmers. Another great cause needing support The High Country Patrol.
Posts: 9745 | From: girt by sea | Registered: Aug 2003
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Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Pyx_e:
Also: The ship is the only form of internet communication I have ever come across that does not suck dingo balls. Most other forms seem to be a direct result of Satan's plan to conquer the world.
Pyx_e
I think you are right here. And that aspect I think is so valuable to us.
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Blog
Music for your enjoyment
Lord may all my hard times be healing times
take out this broken heart and renew my mind.
Posts: 18859 | From: At the bottom of a deep dark well. | Registered: May 2001
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
I've had another Ursula Le Guin quote floating round in my head following this discussion, from her short story The New Atlantis (and thanks again to Huia for my copy!): quote:
it's too hard to get books; all you can buy is bestsellers.
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Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
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welsh dragon
Shipmate
# 3249
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Posted
I would hate for the boards to close.
However I can't really expand on this because I have to get up and go off to a farm with some children who would probably not exist if it was not for the Ship.
Posts: 5352 | From: ebay | Registered: Aug 2002
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Patdys
Iron Wannabe
RooK-Annoyer
# 9397
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Pyx_e:
When you come to pull the plug, give me a weeks notice so I can splurge 222 post in the Circus. Thank you.
Also: The ship is the only form of internet communication I have ever come across that does not suck dingo balls. Most other forms seem to be a direct result of Satan's plan to conquer the world.
Looking forward to "NEW SHIP" "Ship 3.0" "FRIEND_SHIP" ..... whatever.
Pyx_e
Surely 'Shiphead'
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Marathon run. Next Dream. Australian this time.
Posts: 3511 | Registered: Apr 2005
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Amorya
Ship's tame galoot
# 2652
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Curiosity killed ...:
I can use the Ship on my phone and could on the previous phone too, so it's not the Ship software that is the problem.
The current software is hardly a pleasant experience on a phone, though. You have to keep scrolling horizontally or else have the writing too small to read. I can just about get by browsing, but I wouldn't want to post anything.
A design that is actually adapted for mobile would make the experience much smoother.
Posts: 2383 | From: Coventry | Registered: Apr 2002
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Gracious rebel
Rainbow warrior
# 3523
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Posted
I find turning the phone sideways helps a bit, saves the horizontal scrolling, you just need to do a lot more scrolling down to read, as there are fewer lines of text on each screen.
But I have never tried posting from the phone ... in fact I can't as I've forgotten my password to log in!
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Fancy a break beside the sea in Suffolk? Visit my website
Posts: 4413 | From: Suffolk UK | Registered: Nov 2002
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Erroneous Monk
Shipmate
# 10858
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Pyx_e:
Also: The ship is the only form of internet communication I have ever come across that does not suck dingo balls. Most other forms seem to be a direct result of Satan's plan to conquer the world.
Yes.
This is the only internet discussion forum I have stuck with - for more than 11 years now. It's also one of the few places I can be relaxed and relatively open in my posting. I'm identifiable everywhere else I go on the internet.
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And I shot a man in Tesco, just to watch him die.
Posts: 2950 | From: I cannot tell you, for you are not a friar | Registered: Jan 2006
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barrea
Shipmate
# 3211
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Posted
The thing that puts me off SOF is the bad language and blasphemy which should never be allowed on a Christian discussion board.
I would be ashamed to introduce anyone that I know to it. That is a pity as I have met some very nice people on here.
I have tried to get my name off but apparently once you are on there is no getting off.
I like the some of the debates very much but feel I should not be part of it. If it closed down I think it would be a good thing, some people just cant seem to discuss anything without swearing and spoiling things for others.
Posts: 1050 | From: england | Registered: Aug 2002
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
I would argue that if swearing puts one off interactions, there might not be much substance in one's beliefs.
I would rather rudeness and love than civility and none.
ETA: It is not that I do not understand those who do not care for swearing, but that this should not be the most important issue.
[ 14. September 2017, 19:25: Message edited by: lilBuddha ]
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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Nicolemr
Shipmate
# 28
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Posted
Good to see you back, Barrea.
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On pilgrimage in the endless realms of Cyberia, currently traveling by ship. Now with live journal!
Posts: 11803 | From: New York City "The City Carries On" | Registered: May 2001
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Alan Cresswell
Mad Scientist 先生
# 31
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by barrea:
I have tried to get my name off but apparently once you are on there is no getting off.
There's always a way off the Ship. It's called "stop posting". The record of your 15 years of posting will survive as long as the threads still exist.
quote:
If it closed down I think it would be a good thing, some people just cant seem to discuss anything without swearing and spoiling things for others.
And, others can't seem to stop spoiling things for others by focussing on trivia when the rest of us want to discuss important issues, often things that we are passionate about which is reflected in the passion of the language we use.
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Don't cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it.
Posts: 32413 | From: East Kilbride (Scotland) or 福島 | Registered: May 2001
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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
I learned to swear here. Bunch of crazy pirates.
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
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Stercus Tauri
Shipmate
# 16668
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Posted
It's actually a good test. I reckon that if the faith is stronger than my language, I'll probably get by. Which is a good thing, because there are days when my language would melt solid granite.
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Thay haif said. Quhat say thay, Lat thame say (George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal)
Posts: 905 | From: On the traditional lands of the Six Nations. | Registered: Sep 2011
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