HotForWords Forums » Tag: topic

HotForWords Forums » Tag: topic - Recent Posts http://www.hotforwords.com/forums/ A place to discuss all kinds of stuff! en Sun, 22 Nov 2009 04:48:58 +0000 Greatest Potential on "Cute Adorable Kitten Videos" http://www.hotforwords.com/forums/topic/cute-adorable-kitten-videos#post-9677 Fri, 21 Aug 2009 23:48:45 +0000 Greatest Potential 9677@http://www.hotforwords.com/forums/ Here's another winner! <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBO2U7SZ5qs&feature=related"><img src="http://i2.ytimg.com/vi/qBO2U7SZ5qs/default.jpg"></a> Munchkin Cat star magic on "Cute Adorable Kitten Videos" http://www.hotforwords.com/forums/topic/cute-adorable-kitten-videos#post-9645 Fri, 21 Aug 2009 10:53:55 +0000 star magic 9645@http://www.hotforwords.com/forums/ loved both Vids! 5 Stars each! leonard on "Cute Adorable Kitten Videos" http://www.hotforwords.com/forums/topic/cute-adorable-kitten-videos#post-9638 Fri, 21 Aug 2009 07:22:16 +0000 leonard 9638@http://www.hotforwords.com/forums/ Hello}}}{{{----The bubonic plague, leprosy and polio are thought of as diseases of the past -- things that might have had a part in history, but aren't around to infect us any longer. Infectious influenza (H1N1) caused millions of deaths as a pandemic in 1918, but is also the source of the current swine flu pandemic. (/ABC News)But a recent incident in China, where a town was quarantined for 10 days after three people died of a variant of bubonic plague, was just one of many reminders that these diseases have not vanished from the face of the earth. While many think of these diseases as completely eradicated -- and they occur far less frequently than they used to in the United States -- they have managed to hang on. "The microbes have hopes, dreams and aspirations just like human beings. In their case, it's to infect other people," said Dr. Howard Markel, a pediatrician and medical historian at the University of Michigan. )))))))))))echoe(((((((((((( Greatest Potential on "Cute Adorable Kitten Videos" http://www.hotforwords.com/forums/topic/cute-adorable-kitten-videos#post-9104 Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:33:29 +0000 Greatest Potential 9104@http://www.hotforwords.com/forums/ <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNv74rvkAw8&feature=related"><img src="http://i4.ytimg.com/vi/wNv74rvkAw8/default.jpg"></a> Kittens at Lunch !!! leonard on "Cute Adorable Kitten Videos" http://www.hotforwords.com/forums/topic/cute-adorable-kitten-videos#post-9102 Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:33:59 +0000 leonard 9102@http://www.hotforwords.com/forums/ hear K*I*T*T*Y, ciddy kiddie...here have not any but the months blood... <img src="http://www.hotforwords.com/forums/bb-plugins/bb-smilies/default/icon_razz.gif" title=":P" class="bb_smilies" /> leonard on "Cute Adorable Kitten Videos" http://www.hotforwords.com/forums/topic/cute-adorable-kitten-videos#post-9064 Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:41:55 +0000 leonard 9064@http://www.hotforwords.com/forums/ Rules WILL rule! <img src="http://www.hotforwords.com/forums/bb-plugins/bb-smilies/default/icon_confused.gif" title=":?" class="bb_smilies" /> Greatest Potential on "Cute Adorable Kitten Videos" http://www.hotforwords.com/forums/topic/cute-adorable-kitten-videos#post-9038 Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:38:50 +0000 Greatest Potential 9038@http://www.hotforwords.com/forums/ If you post "Cute Adorable Kitten Videos" from YouTube on this thread please follow these guidelines <img src="http://www.hotforwords.com/forums/bb-plugins/bb-smilies/default/icon_arrow.gif" title=":arrow:" class="bb_smilies" /> 1. Video must have at least reached 1 million views 2. Kittens not cats 3. Adorable, Cute, Funny or all of the above <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmsV9R8FsDA&feature=related"><img src="http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/xmsV9R8FsDA/default.jpg"></a> スコティッシュ・フォールド Scottish Fold Bob on "Forum Organization" http://www.hotforwords.com/forums/topic/forum-organization#post-419 Sun, 14 Dec 2008 11:12:22 +0000 Bob 419@http://www.hotforwords.com/forums/ A very scholarly, as well as entertaining post, CK. I agree with all you say, but would like to add a suggestion that there be a category called "YouTube" with sub-categories "Video Making Tech-talk" and "YT General". I don't know if the software will allow that, but it's what I would try to do if I were organising it. Perhaps another idea would be to have a Bar/Lounge Room category for people to gather to play chess and crack jokes or to have discussions that have no relevance to the current word/lesson on the main site. CampKohler - Sacramento CA on "Forum Organization" http://www.hotforwords.com/forums/topic/forum-organization#post-316 Sat, 13 Dec 2008 04:06:13 +0000 CampKohler - Sacramento CA 316@http://www.hotforwords.com/forums/ I have just started exploring the forum. I have concerns. <ol type="1"><li> The tag line at the top is "HFW Forum." One. Not plural. Yet, the list at the bottom of <a href="http://bb.hotforwords.com/" rel="nofollow">http://bb.hotforwords.com/</a> (the forum home page) shows four forums. As you see, this is an inconsistancy. Those are always annoying, but especially since the forum is brand new and should start out in a state of virtual perfection (and then go down hill, I suppose, as things get beat up, worn out and dust bunnies collect in the corners). So which is it, one forum or several forums? Or should it be subforums? Gad, that's awful, isn't it? . Let me just give my opinion on this and let you comment. The entire structure should be, as the tag line suggests, one forum. When Wikipedia talks about forums, they relate it to a BB system or site; the whole thing is a forum. The home page section entitled Forums should be relabeled Categories. Within the categories, then, are the topics. Within the topics are messages. (For clarity, for the remainder of the msg, I will assume that this terminology stands.) .</li><li> The Latest Discussions section of the home page is a possible source of confusion. If there is a reason for dividing the forum into categories, then this section conflicts with it, because it lists topics without regard to categories. What is a user to think when he sees all these topics in one list and there is no differentiation by category? He is to think the the topics are all peers and there are no categories! He may not see the Categories list until later, because the L.D. list is the prominent item on the page. Thus the L.D. list serves to un-catagorizes topics. . A possible solution could be to add a category column that would mitigate the damage by informing the user of the forum organization of categories, or if he knows of it, by reinforcing the knowledge. However I have seen it done in a better way, namely, by not mixing topics from different categories. Mixing topics downgrades the importance of the organization in the minds of the users. If that is OK, and users can put topics on anything anywhere, and then you have to ask why even have an organization? Just have one big pot and anything goes. Well, obviously, by virtue of the existance of the four categories, the decision has been made that that is not desired, and I agree with it. Therefore things that defeat or work against that organization are to be avoided, like the L.D. list as it stands. . The best way to fix it is to scrupulously keep topics segregated by categories. The L.D. list should be eliminated and the Category section moved up to take its place. After entering the forum, the first step the user should take is to enter a desired category and then he sees an L.D. list, but only of the topics in that category. Thus the topics remain segregated in the minds of the users (such as they are). . Let me give you an example to justify this. Say that you have categories called Cooking and Autos. When you see the L.D. list for either category and you see a topic called "Temperatures are too hot," your mind immediately knows what is going on, because it remembers which category was entered and qualifies the topic with the category. With the organization as it now exists here, if you saw that topic, you couldn't really tell what the subject matter is. Will your radiator erupt or will the brownies "coalesce" (with the emphasis on coal)? And a very limited number of authors won't be clear-headed enough to call a topic "Auto temperatures too hot" so as to overcome the deficiency of the current L.D. list. You are not going to be that lucky, believe me. You will have topic titles like "A new idea" or "I need help" or "This is all wrong," all with no specificity because the author just will not look at it from the point of view of the other users. It is a deficiency in the organization of the authors' minds, and if you do not put some effort into overcoming it by use of the forum's organization, it will be worse than herding cats. Just participate in some forums with 10K members or so and see how badly it goes. I just hope the programming of the BB will allow for these "forks in the road" so as to keep categories separate, because as user growth increases it is only going to get worse. It's better to set things up right to start with than to try to put the toothpaste back into the can of worms. (If you don't know what a mixed metaphor is, you have just seen one.) </li><li> There is in the YT-General category a topic, "Pre-Production, Production & Post-Production Notes." I don't know how other users see this, but I think that topic clearly fits the in the YT-Video category, because it has to do with "Questions about making videos, uploading, etc." But, in defense of the author, the YT-General category is labeled, "Discussions about all things YouTube." So if all things about YT may go in there, then you can't go wrong by putting everything& about YT in there, can you? That category really should really have the description "Discussions about all things YouTube except that which belongs in YT-Videos." . There is in the YT-General category a topic, "HTML Sandbox for New Forum." This is a useful topic, but is has nothing to do with YT. Why was it not placed in the HFW-General category? Hmmm. . It is extremely important, if one wants to preserve the character of the categories, to almost play lawyer when writing the category descriptions. You cannot leave the slightest doubt about what belongs where or else people will sneak through those loopholes like crazy. Even if every single user is 100% in favor of the chosen categories, they will still put the topics in the wrong place if there is the slightest doubt left as to where they go. It is not that people want to do that, it's just what people do. Over and over and over again. Is it due to a vitamin deficiency? The onslaught of Alzeimers? It doesn't really matter, does it? You must be so clear in writing the category descriptions that author feels that he has no choice as to where it goes; it must go here or it must go there and there is no doubt. Only then is the problem solved as much as humanly possible. . Sometimes catgories can be technically different and have bullet-proof descriptions, yet the users still fail to grasp the destinction. It that case, no amount of instruction will overcome the user's confusion and you must combine the categories. You might look at that as defeat and it is. Get over it. An example here might just be the two YT categories. It it were one, would that be a problem. It would certainly put all the YT stuff in one place and leave absolutely no doubt where YT stuff should go. I recommend this. . The HFW-General category, in my opinion, is too broad. I have given no thought yet as to how it should be organized, but my "way too big" antenna is twitching. This will require some pondering. </li><li> Now there will be those that think all the above is much ado about nothing (to coin a phrase). What difference does it make if a topic goes into the wrong category? Get a life! Yadda, yadda. The simple answer, as stated above, is that someone (she, whose name shall not be spoken) has already made the decision in favor of categories. The more complicated answer is that the forum will fill with information. If successful, it will be useful information. And useful information, to be useful, must be located and extracted from that which is not useful. And thus there must be careful organization to allow for that extraction without bringing in that Numb3rs guy to perform magical mathematics to make the invisible visible. </li> <li> Have you noticed word requests in here, when clearly there is not a speck of instruction directing them to be placed here? In fact, there is a blog set up for word requests, but there is nothing here directing the cats to meander over yonder. When it starts raining really hard, that's when you notice whether or not the downspouts are pointed at your basement windows. Enough metaphors.</li> </ol> Please start thinking about this. And if it all hurts your head, I suppose you'd better start venting and get it over with.