Alternative/additional Forum

Many left A.E.D. and have come to degreeinfo.com, and although that meets a specific need and provides a forum for contributions within a specific context, not everyone is completely happy. A review of past posts over 2-3 months clearly reveals this.

This is not a reflection on the moderators - this is simply a natural occurence.

There appears to be a need for a balance between a.e.d and degreeinfo - moderation to a degree, a fair and reasonable treatment of contributors and inquirers, no bias for or against RA, DETC, unaccredited degrees, no 'outing', a more balanced global perspective, and so on.

Several people writing in here have literally followed the recommendations of the past promoted heavilly by John bear, and have been treated unfairly here. I do not intend to defend that statement and get into any arguments over it. This group has been adversely criticised on a.e.d recently, and I humbly submit that much of what has been said there is factual, and we in a sense asked for what happened.

Currently, the idea for another forum is being taken to the next step, and an appropriate medium will be available shortly. It is not to be in competition with either degreeinfo.com or a.e.d. but alternative and complimentary. It will be very plain and simple and easy to navigate.

At this point in time comments and expressions of interest are sought. It will not be my site, but I am interested having followed and been involved in DE/DL since 1961 as a student, course developer/writer and teacher, witnessed the ups and downs of a.e.d. and been horrified by the unacceptable attitudes and heavy handed actions by some on this group.

Peter French

[email protected]

 

If another board is needed, how about taking over the one at distancelearn.about.com (since Kristin resigned)?

To my mind, running a distance learning board would be a horrible task since so many people have hidden agendas.

 

I looked into distancelearn.about.com, but

* it is not totally user driven

* there is no control over advertising, and it is a bit stupid running a site where less-than-wonderful and out-and-out 'institutions' can advertise - Kirsten had NO control over that

Gert, your other point is taken, but most things have some 'horrible' aspect to them don't they? However, there are what some regard as 'horrible' aspects of this site, and, yes, it possibly does arise from

* 'hidden agendas',

but also consider:

* cultural differences,
* forced opinions,
* 'blind' agreement
* an almost 'fundamentalist attitude' to anyone who thinks differently
*ethnocentricity
* xenophobia
* a form of judgement, retribution or victimisation of several without even thinking about the reason for their inquiry
* an eagerness to 'out' without any consideration for the party involved - at time no vsetage of the basic tennets of him=man decency and respect.

Even if the disciminatory and judgmental attitude is not permitted, it must be positive, mustn't it?

And, it is not being run by me which should please some people here

 

You might be interested in the ICDL web forum; it's low volume, but international in scope. I've posted a few messages to it myself.

Some complementary forums would, I think, be a nice idea; but I would recommend email lists rather than web forums because they're faster, cheaper, and easier to moderate. The advantages of a web forum are that (a) it's searchable and (b) it can be better tied in to other features of a site.

I thought at one point it could be useful to propose an AED.moderated, but I'm coming to believe that Usenet is simply dead and not worth recovering. Email lists and web forums are the wave of the future.

For my part, I think that specialized email lists--like DEOS, AEDNET, dldc (Distance Learning in Developing Countries), ChristchurchFellowship, et. al.--could do a world of good, especially if they're tightly moderated. If you wanted to fire up a list on Australian distance education, for example, I'd join it.


Cheers,

 

1. Usenet lives. Don't like the verbiage, but it is still ticking.

2. On the issue of a complementary group . . . to be accessible to the average punter who may have an interest in distance learning, a web based board is the only option, I think. Suspect putative group would evolve to be alternative rather than complementary. Nothing wrong with that.

Key issue is who would moderate such a group - for that will dictate the agenda.

So, who, specifically would control output?

Lawrie Miller
http://geocities.com/BA_in_4_Weeks

.

 

1. It won't be usenet, but will be web based.

2. It will be moderated but not absolutely controlled.

3. There will not be one moderator and who they are will be decided and revealed later I presume.

4. Users will dictate whether it is complimentary or alternative, but it will not be a meduim for having a go at anyone. or any opinion, or a support base for such an endeavour.

The bottom line is that quite a number of persons don't like the heavy handed attitude of many here on degreeinfo. Nor do they like the bias, the unreasonable attitude that prevails at times, and I am not going down the 'censorship route' with this comment, or the cult like attitude that evidences itself regularly.

People have expressed this recently, and are not free to do so on degreeinfo. I understand that, and I respect it. Soemone else who has nothing to do with degreeinfo became aware of thsi purely by accident, and the ball started rolling.

It is as simple as that. There is no hidden agenda. There are questions that people want asnwered and ther are opinions they need to feel free to express. If I can help in any way in that arena, I surely will.

 

"Low volume" is too polite a description. That forum is essentially moribund. The About forum, US News forum, and Telecampus forum are also sparse.

 

I'm unclear how this will work.

If it is an open forum then it may begin with a preset crowd of "nice" people, but eventually a wide group of people with diverse and sometimes strong opinions will find their way there. Trolls will arrive who care nothing about DL but love upset. So to keep your nice neighborhood you will be required to constantly boot and re-boot people off the forum.

IMHO, if you only want to serve the occasional one-question DL tourist without rancor, then you'll have to restrict the body of contributors essentially to a small, trusted panel. However, if you want a forum that delves into DL deeply then you'll have to open the forum to debate among a larger body of contributors and, ultimately, to some distress.

 

Agreed. It's hard to imagine that someone could do a better job of moderating a web forum than has been done here, but if you think there's someone who can do it--well, the more, the merrier.


Cheers,

 

It is not for a the 'occasional one-question DL tourist' Maybe it is a refuge from the '...one eyed, one answer, biased, cult member people eater...'

So far there is strong interest, and it isn't all US or Oz.

Maybe if someone wants to debate something to death, repeat something 999 times, give answers to matters they know .01% or less about, gloat over their own importance and someone else's ignorance, they should stay where they are.

People have been booted off this forum - so what is new?

Maybe on the new forum there will be less wannabes

 

I have been wondering how the moderators of the new forum could prevent this. The only suggestion I can come up with is this: no anonymity.

 

No! Oh the Horror!

Huh? No!

Very well written.

This debate calls for a poll! (Coming soon to a thread near you).

 

I am sure it was simple oversight on Tom's part, but for the sake of full disclosure it should be noted that until fairly recently, Tom was a moderator here, and his difficulty in imagining anyone doing a better job moderating a web forum than has been done here, should be viewed in that light.

No indictment of his position, merely providing context.

.

 

If one had a reliable way to ensure that people really are whom they say they are (no pseudonyms), then one could suspend egregiously abusive posters without the fear that they would simply reappear under a different nom de plume. I don't think that this would be perfect, but I do believe that it would help. Of course, there would probably be only one poster on such a board (the moderator him/herself), so the issue of anonymity would be moot.

Hubert Dreyfus, in the book mentioned in a recent thread, discusses the barriers that anonymity places in the path of interaction. Dreyfus argues that meaningful discussion requires commitment (which in turn introduces risks). The safety of online anonymity takes away the need for commitment and takes away the risks, thus diluting the ability of the board to sustain reasonable discussion without flame wars, etc. Of course, Dreyfus's book received rather negative reviews here and so is not particularly useful as support for my position!

In any case, if someone comes up with a separate board that has a reasonable way to avoid anonymity, I shall be there! Perhaps alone?

 

Difficult problem. I think everyone should somehow verify themselves to the moderators but then have the ability to use pseudonyms. There are unfortunately nuts out there. Those from the old aed remember the case of Max Jackson who suffered at the hands of just such a nut case.

North

 

Good point. Your proposal is a reasonable one. But if we were to have degreeinfo.com as currently constituted and an additional alternative forum without anonymity, then perhaps we could have our cake and eat it too. People whose professional positions preclude open discussion on certain topics could post here; people without those constraints could also post on the other forum.

 

Like Tom I find it very hard to imagine a forum better run than this one. I certainly have no problem with the idea of competition but I wonder what the ultimate effect would be. If all that comes of it is diluting the posts here it would not be a positive. I am personally amazed at the diverse opinions that have been expressed here. I think the only real issues I have seen involve those with very strong opinions and pehaps "thin skins". I definately think we all owe a thanks to Chip for creating this forum and Dr. John Bear for helping to attract the diverse people and opinions here. Many thanks!