I don't really see the connection.  The lack of membership and activity has nothing to do with the number of forums. It has to do with lack of promotion and awareness of the site. 

"Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living." - Mary Harris "Mother" Jones

I'm weighing the pros and cons of your idea, which I like very much, but Lynn's objection does ring true to me. Can I get a community consensus on this? Or at least more people weighing in?

The more the merrier, IMO.  I can see how it might get cluttered, but as long as titles and subject matter are clear, I can't see why it'd be that bad.

"If you follow the advice of the average person, you will undoubtedly become average"

I think it would make it easier to find news articles if they're all put into one place.

I'm with Rory--the more the merrier!

In addition to Welcome Center, Soapbox, All in the Family, Chit Chat, Spread the Knowledge, Personal Projects and Think about Ishthink (a very clever title), I think we should add Regional Groups and In The News. Good Suggestion.

Take Care.

We now have a "story" opition when creating a post. This will automatically be placed at the front of the home page. It's reserved for news articles.

We also have a new forum subject "Regional & Local Groups". This is for info pertaining to local groups.

Any questions?

Take Care and have fun.

People weighed in and it seems like the majority would like some new forums added.  The news one especially would be good, since we have people posting the same articles in different forums, which causes unneccessary confusion. 

"Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living." - Mary Harris "Mother" Jones

The news if tenatively reserved for the "story" posts. I apologize for posting the same story you did.

Take Care.

It's that people looking at forums look for forum activity.  If there are a lot of inactive forums, it makes the board look inactive.  People don't like to visit and post on inactive boards.

So, who isn't promoting this board?  tsk tsk

I promoted it once and got 2 people to join. Sorry I've been too lazy to do more. How about you? 

"Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living." - Mary Harris "Mother" Jones

I personally would like to see a forum specifically for talking about Daniel Quinn's writings.

There are some old hands at this. Many know their stuff inside and out. They take these things for granted and are talking/debating points that are often the level or two on again. While it all makes perfect sense to the half dozen/dozen, the level of conversation can be intimidating to newcomers. I don't mind looking daft, but I'd suggest many would, putting their more basic questions in amongst the higher-level chat.

I never mind admitting how little I know, and don't mind admitting I read these forums scratching my head more often than not. Mother Culture's story is ...was...deeply ingrained in me until rather recently. My philosophy as to what it's all about has been disassembled. I need help reassembling it which is why I'm here. I need to start from the basics again, though. Rightly or wrongly, I just don't perceive much that's relevent to me at my current level of understanding.  I would suggest I'm not alone.

So spare a thought for the newbies. We come to these forums having read all the books. We wanna discuss them. I'll go out on a limb and say we might get more posting here if there is somewhere we can start the new generation Ishthinkers thinking together.

I don't know about the "levels" you mention....maybe if you posted the topics you want to discuss, folks would discuss them, whether newbies or oldsters.....?

Thanks for the suggestion. Could you elaborate more on what you had in mind? We could start topics on more general issues if you'd like. I don't mind heading this off. Just give me the word.

Take Care.

I like that idea, Nick! I think usually the first reaction of a new Quinn reader is to walk to talk about the books themselves, and they need a place to do that.

We should also remember that not every Quinn reader starts off with Ishmael.  We had a woman join our Houston group who had only read After Dachau, so she was joining in with completely different needs and expectations.

"Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living." - Mary Harris "Mother" Jones

Righto, back again.

Where am I coming from?...lets see...

I had read all the books 2 or 3 times each and came here on the kind invitation on Adam Hintz. I was really excited to do so, and really excited to be amongst such an active community. I stopped short a little when I saw the nature of the posts, however, because I felt they were mostly at a level I felt unready for.

What do I mean by levels? I guess I thought I had the Daniel Quinn message down pat. I thought I had an understanding of all his main points, and having read Write sideways, I felt I could have an attempt at any points thrown at me. I soon realised  after a day or 2 here that many people here were perhaps at my stage many years ago (by whichever method). These same people have since progressed the arguements to a further stage having agreed on certain basics. I'm feel I'm trying to converse with you on this higher level of debate without feeling confident on these basics first.

And sometimes it shows.  It doesn't worry me that I'm seen as lacking certain knowledge, because that's why I'm here - to help me see for myself what I actually know and what I don't, and to move on from there.

My main point is that not all people are alike (duh!), and don't approach these forums having read all the books; don't arrive with the same level of knowledge; don't arrive with the same level of understanding. What we do have in common though is that we have all (I think) arrived aware of Daniel Quinn and his writings. It seems like a good starting point that all people arriving (and existing members) can contribute to a forum of this sort. They build up confidence in posting; confidence that they are listened to; Confidence that they are arriving at an understanding that may help put them in tune with the other posts on these forums. Of course, at any stage, they are able to post anywhere, but I would suggest the basics we might learn here will help us see the relevence, and the importance of the other threads elsewhere.

Again, I am cool with looking dumb, but I would suggest others may be less so, and this might just prevent them posting in amongst our normal forums. This might be a nice breaking-in ground for peeps with a common interest.

What did I have in mind? I have a ton of questions. I can save 'em for later , but they are of basic sort such as:

Daniel Quinn has himself acknowledged that (Totalitarian) Agriculture (TA) started in a few places in the world at a similar time, but that the fertile cresent was the legendary birthplace. As such, he has gone to great pains to describe how our culture has spread outward from there - East and West - so that we are twins of a common birth. Now, if TA started at different places at the same time, how does this reconcile with his theory above. Could we not, in fact, have a few different TA cultures meeting in the middle several thousand years on? If so, perhaps we are not twins of a common birth at all and perhaps one or two of his theories might look a little shaky? Or am I making a mountain out of a molehill?

Another is...

If DQ's interpretation of Genesis to give his account of the Fall is derived from Semitic Herders tales, how did they survive to make it into written form? If TA was first invented approx 10,000 years ago, I guess it would have taken approx 1,000 years for our Cultural founders to expand to a stage where they were encroaching upon the Semites' lands. I would think DQ's idea would be that the tales would have started around this time. I guess the assimilation of the Semites would take another 1000 years. With writing being invented - what was it? - 5,000 years ago, how could these stories have survived orally for another 3-4 thousand years when the Semites had eventually became Takers with a Taker mentality? The Taker mentality being that the birth of TA was a blessing, not a curse.

 ...and so on. I have loads. I'm sore others have some too. And if this forum ever looks like drying up, I'm sure one of the cleverer types could come up with one or two to keep our minds ticking.

Nick,

Thanks for the clarification. It's great to hear you perspective. It's been a decade since I was new to the ideas expressed in Ishmael and a fresh pair of eyes is very healthy for this forum. If you don't mind could we separate these questions into two separate threads? Then we can tackle them one at a time.

I would also like to take this farther and farther until you feel like you have a firm grasp of the vision.

Take Care.

Of Course!

I only really gave these questions here as examples - though they're certainly questions I'd love to find an answer to. V happy to post elsehere to get there.

I'd love to work with anyone who's interested to help them remember what it's like to be new to DQ's writings again. I would think this knowledge would be useful in keeping the new blood coming - and posting!

More people posting = more perspectives = more variety  = more interest = more impetus to the Ishthinkers!

I hope you'll post your  questions and ideas in threads where we can discuss them!