SWC Reachback? Tuesday Noon (eastern)

[Norfolk]

Showing volume in a short term turn-around will require the questions to be something that people have already done some thinking on - which could lead to just posting hyper-links to existing threads, cut-n-paste, or articulating existing positions.

An alternative would be to make sure that SWC members and lurkers are encouraged to post - I still feel like there are guys/gals out there who have unique and fresh thoughts, but have declined from posting.

Since this will be covered by the media - it will add another difference. While we are all aware that some of the lurkers/non-posting members are media we've largely been free to ignore it in terms of the sense of purpose to which we discuss things.

All of this is OK - it just changes the nature of the conversation some . I bring it up because its about managing expectations. It will be difficult to appreciate the quality of an ongoing, evolving conversation in a small period of time. People use various combinations and proportions of reading, thinking, writing as they consider things then reply.

If the questions are thread quality - meaning they evolve beyond a page in responses and generate a lot of views with a reasonably diverse set of opinions weighing in with thoughtful replies which generate further thought, etc - it might be interesting to see where that goes over time - a day, a week, a month? The challenge would be finding questions that are both thought provoking intellectually and emotionally to draw quick responses across the diverse membership while at the same time being of sufficient depth to sustain a longer conversation of greater substance.

I'm interested to see how this will go.

Best Regards Rob

Very good points Rob. Just as long as people already posting on the board (we're pretty safe there so far) and those who subsequently join in, do not do so to play to an audience. If board posters become self-conscious, the quality of the discussions may be adversely impacted as some may be tempted to play to an audience rather than to learn.