Shall we migrate to Ning?

[Andy Wilson]

what do you think of the Ning Faust group so far?

[Ronny Wærnes]

A few thoughts about our faustningsofar:

First of all I like the way you have build this site. It is attractive, have interesting groups (with interesting members), it seems to have some useful applications for uploading music and videos etc, and it is possible to have personal look and contest to every members profile. It is open for all to see everything, even someone not being a member.

I am curious, and like to know what is going on. I feel connected to a lot of people from the list, and can relate to/be interested in lots of discussions, even though I may have no knowledge of a subject, or at first not be interested in a certain topic or band/style. On the mailing list, I was *forced* to read what was happening, and lots of times I learned a lot about something I might not have learned about if it wasn't for the list. Sun Ra, S/T, Dumitrescu, Trane, Circle, only to mention a few things I might not have picked up on if it wasn't for the list structure. At this moment I think I am a member of all groups here, but I don't get all the updates on mail, even though I have checked every box in my profile. I am not sure if it possible to do something about it, but if it is, it might work for me. Is it possible that a more extended use of the forume would help? It's easier to go to a forum to see if there are new topics or replies, I think.

I am also concerned for those who will have problems using this site because of some low internet-connection, or other access-problems. What of those with seeing problems? I only hope that we will not lose to many in the process, and that most people can adapt. It seems that the list is transferring to ning, the prosess has already started, and my Faustinbox is not filling up at the moment.

The spontaneity we sometimes had on the list is also something unique, that might dissapear with the ningsolution. A small reply to a mail with a thank you or even a fun remark that suddenly popped into someones heads, and came in the next mail, made me smile or simply burst out laughing a number of times. Lots of messageboards and forums will lack some of those things. So, how serious a place will this be? It might be up to the users, I think, so I hope that we can be openminded about *smaller* things as well.

I am not raising these questions to be critical. I hope this solution will mean less work for Andy, and that we all can adapt to whatever this will be in the end. I think I can overcome my need for less change in my life, I will certainly do my best.

[Nick M]

I think I would go along with most of what Ronny says, although hopefully this format won't lead to a loss of spontaneity or levity.

At the risk of repeating what I wrote upthread, I do agree about the possibilties for using the Forum more, and I wonder if Andy is coming to the same conclusion (I notice you started a new thread on the Disconnected CD here, Andy). The groups are fine but clearly there are a lot of topics, music and otherwise, that don't fit in the groups- one solution would be to make the General Announcements group simply a General group; another would be for people to use this Forum for general stuff and have the more specific topics, and maybe slightly weightier discussions, in the Groups.

[Ian Land]

I agree I think. What's nice about an email list is that it just arrives, you don't have to actively find it, it just plops into your inbox, and you read and think about it, even if its about Genesis. The ning thing is good, but it does rely on the users consciously hunting down discussions and joining groups. A default general discussion type group is probably a good idea to simplify this. My experience of online forums to date suggests that the best ones are those with the loosest categorisation, It's good that we have the option to put discussions into specific areas/groups, but the unexpectedness of a general discussion can get lost.

[Andy Wilson]

That's the MTV generation speaking - just bring everything to me when I turn on and press this button. Would sir like me to bring him something to drink with that email? ;-)

[Ian Land]

I'm a bit old to be regarded as the MTV generation :-)

[Nick M]

Ah, but you iz down wiv da kidz innit LOL.

[Andy Wilson]

yes - I've changed 'General Announcements' to 'General' at your suggetsion

[ann matthews]

I think it will be fine once ning has ironed out it's glitches, it is slow, I have trouble with 'scripts' since Andy made it all look nice... and the privacy settings don't seem to work well. For all that I think it will suit Faust enthusiasts well. I like to investigate and all that..and an inbox that I doesn't just overflow and drive me mental will be coooolll

[Andy Wilson]

Note that you can start a discussion in the 'Forum' area (or you should be able to - let me know if you have problems) and this will appear on the home page. More accurately, the 20 most popular, or 20 most recently contributed to - i haven't decided yet - will be listed on the home page, so this would be a good way of starting a 'cross group / general' discussion.

[Nick M]

OK, well now I have indeed started a discussion in the Forum, let's see how that goes. I possibly should have put it in the Downloads group but, as I said above, the *only* thing I can find to complain about with this Ning-thing is that new discussions in the Groups don't appear in the "latest activity" list, so are easy to miss.

[Andy Wilson]

yeah - this seems like an obvious thing to have announced automatically, but i can find a way to do that. i'll dig around, though.

[Nick M]

"but i can find a way to do that. i'll dig around, though."

Confused- or did you mean "can't"?