[pcplantdb] needing direction - users, comments

John Schinnerer john at eco-living.net
Wed Mar 30 16:46:12 EST 2005


Aloha,

 > In the mean time I can think of a number of other
> things to do but I also need some guidance.

I'd really *really* like to see user creation/management implemented 
ASAP so that we can create our own...that seems to me more fundamental 
than anything else at this point.

It's also better for testing whatever else you're working on in future, 
since we'll shake out bugs in user creation and permissions as well as 
any assumptions that might have been made about "the" user elsewhere in 
code.

I'm also not very supportive, per Rich's comments, about a threaded 
conversation type of comment system/interface.

When I find "information" stored that way, I generally bail on that 
site/situation and go looking elsewhere unless I have absolutely no choice.
It's just too much overhead - usually - to actually find what I'm 
looking for amidst all the yak-yak and "me too" and "you moron" and so on.

In other words, usually a poor signal-to-noise ratio IMO.

In particular the comment-on-this-comment structure IMO encourages (or 
at least enables more so than other structures) endless rebuttals of 
rebuttals, etc. (e.g. pissing contests).  After all, why would I comment 
on a comment except to either say some form of "me too" (which I assume 
our moderation system will provide for) or some form of "you moron" 
(which I assume our moderation system will also provide for)?

If I have something more distinct and significant to say than "ditto" or 
"nonsense", I would be inclined to put it in a "new" comment of my 
own...and would prefer others did likewise.

So, I was assuming we were thinking of more of a "state your piece" type 
of comment - as in, here's what I know about this plant, with relevant 
references and resources and experiences, period.

Then moderation kicks in to determine where that comment floats to 
relative to other info on that plant.

That would be my strong preference.

John S.



-- 

John Schinnerer - MA, Whole Systems Design
------------------------------------------
- Eco-Living -
Whole Systems Design Services
People - Place - Learning - Integration
john at eco-living.net
http://eco-living.net



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