I know that every man, woman, child, circus animal and alien creature on the Web now has a forum, but my point here isn't to attempt to create some kind of "community". It's partly a way to help me connect without forcing me to write e-mail, which for some reason I find incredibly difficult. It's also a good place for questions/discussions about Italy, which I get a lot, and if it's hard for me to answer them once, it's even harder when it's the fourth or tenth person asking me the same thing. Which isn't really fair to the fourth or tenth person, who's asking for the first time. This way, it's all out there, and things can progress and get interesting.

I hope. Yes? No? Stupid? Useless? A fabulous idea? Tell me what you think.

-- Dawn (amgraffiti@superplin.com), August 10, 2000

Answers

I love boards and you are sure to have a good one - not inane chatter (well, except when inane chatter is called for, of course).

Bandwagons are good, they become familiar and people use them casually and frequently and viola! communication is born.

Have fun.

Catherine

-- Catherine (catherine@cmjcom.com), August 10, 2000.

Oh, yippee, I've already had a post!
This is very exciting. Catherine, I also find it very encouraging that someone doesn't expect (too much) inane chatter here, especially considering the tone of my latest entries... I'm not feeling very highbrow or intellectual these days. But I am wanting to connect, and feeling frustrated by regular channels. So I'm hoping this will be a step in the right direction.

-- Dawn (dawn@superplin.com), August 10, 2000.

So, Dawn, tell me why "jumping a bandwagon" and "good idea" can't co- exist?

I think it's cool, as I'm sure it won't disintegrate into my pet hate, which is one of the "I'm so fabulous, come to my forum and tell me so" extravaganza, because you're not that kind of person. Or if you are, you're good at hiding it :-)

enjoy, enjoy.

cheers

(ps Hi Catherine!)

-- anna (anna@lucidity.au.com), August 10, 2000.

Anna, you're right, they're not necessarily mutually exclusive. I guess the main difference lies in whether someone jumps on the bandwagon just to follow the crowd, or with a specific purpose in mind... I like to think I'm doing this for a "real" reason, and not just to be like every other journal in creation. And, hey, if people do feel inspired to come here and say how fabulous I am, well, I'm not going to complain!
But it would get embarrassing, not to mention extremely boring. We should instead talk about how darling your puppy is, doncha think? :-)

-- Dawn (dawn@superplin.com), August 10, 2000.

Oh, and one more thing: I'd rather the focus of this forum be more on questions/topics posted by readers, rather than ones I put up myself.

I fear I'm not very good at the "ask a topical question that somehow vaguely ties in with the latest entry" game.

Maybe that's shifting responsibility or whatever, but I also think it's more interesting that way than if I try to force topics on people. Of course, if I have something I really want to discuss, I will, but that's not where I hope most of the posts will come from.

-- Dawn (dawn@superplin.com), August 10, 2000.

What Anna and Catherine said! ;-)

I think for you, especially, it's a great idea. Your living situation alone is going to provide plenty of fodder for topics, and I'm personally willing to start a thread entitled "Why we think Dawn needs to tell Mario to get stuffed."

Hmm... wait a minute... you tried to steal someone else's man, you now have a forum just like hers... Admit it, you want to be a "Mighty Hedgehog" when you grow up. ;-D

Jen

-- Jennifer (jennifer@callrsi.com), August 10, 2000.

Ooh, Jennifer, now that could be a hot forum topic... especially once September rolls around (or, to be more precise, 28 August), I'm sure I'll have plenty of wonderful serving suggestions for a chestnut-and-chicken-liver-stuffed Mario.

Right now, I'm feeling pretty mellow towards him.

And you really are trying to stir something up, aren't you? The truth is, I already am a hedgehog; Kymm just got there first with the name. As with several other things, alas...

-- Dawn (dario@superplin.com), August 10, 2000.

My experience with open forums is that they tend to, sooner or later, draw people who love to shoot off their mouths at great length, and they drive the rest of us away. This certainly happened with newsgroups.

Until this happens, though, they can be great. So give it a shot...

-- Steve Johnson (scj@transmeta.com), August 10, 2000.

In my very early days on the Internet, I had such a slow modem that I couldn't access anything but text-based interfaces, so I spent a lot of time on Usenet. You couldn't pay me to go there these days, for the very reason you mention, Steve (well, that plus all the spam).

But I don't really think that's much of a risk here, since a) I don't have that many readers, and b) from what I know of them, there aren't any obnoxious blowhards in the bunch. Or if there are, they certainly haven't made themselves known to me as such.

I'm pretty optimistic, I guess. We'll see what happens.

-- Dawn (dawn@superplin.com), August 10, 2000.