Bring KOEB Home?

[Catchawave]

I just feel the 2004 Election/Results Forum's current home base for our week-nightly live blogs are intrusive on that forum :dilemma:

I would love to bring our Countdown/Keef home to our DU Group, and would love to help posting to the DU GD/GD-pol/Lounge forums where to "meet-up" with us.

Hope that made sense....Yes or No.

[RevCheesehead]

1. I always hoped we'd move in here and make it feel more like home.

I also think it might be a courtesy to those in ERD. A nightly link to the group would probably be helpful (it should be kicked every 20 minutes).

Certainly, if we came over here, we would add to our group's collective post-count. We have a lot of catching up to do, if we're ever going to surpass the Kerry group! :)

[Nothing Without Hope]

2. I think we should come to the clubhouse

not only because it would be less intrusive in the ERD forum but because it would introduce visitors to the other nifty threads to be found in our Group. The only downside is that only donating DUers can post here, but that's essentially a nonissue because virtually all posters already are donating members.

We'd make sure understandinglife felt fully welcome. He was so sweet about welcoming us back to ERD after we were banished, and then the way he would drop by and make sweet comments was so endearing.

I feel the KOEB Group is a resource that a lot of DUers would like if they knew more about it. Moving the thread here, while putting up the headsups in the main forums, would invite visitors to explore the place.

Maybe we could even get one to write the next chapter in that novel!

[greenmutha]

3. I guess I always assumed we were going to move in here after the group was

"official." I think most of the ER&D posters would be appreciative of it... (did y'all ever see some of their comments even *after* we were welcomed back?)

By the way and while I'm here, :hi: everyone. My computer crashed big-time a week ago, and we're trying desperately to revive it. I am borrowing someone else's right now to pop my head into DU to see what's been going on!

[Berry Cool]

4. I think it makes sense to be here

and it doesn't have to cost all that much to donate.

It's counterintuitive to stay in the 2004 Election Results forum. May have made sense at the beginning, but now that there's a group, it seems to make sense to move it here.

[Nothing Without Hope]

9. Welcome to DU and to the KOEB Group, BerryBush!

Looking forward to hearing more from you!
:hi:

[WhirlyGirl]

5. Hi, greenie!

:hi:
People keep giving my husband computers that don't work. We have a ton of backup computers in case this one goes down. He also fixes them up and gives them to people -- cuz goodness knows we don't need any more!

He says you can probably pick up a used machine that's good enough to blog with for $50.

As for where we blog: my first thought was that as long as we have an empty thread over in ER that we keep kicking, it's still gonna stick out like a sore thumb; and that being the case, we might as well be blogging on it. Originally, I was concerned that if we held the nightly meetings in here, curious passersby wouldn't have the opportunity to venture onto the thread, see what was going on and join -- but it doesn't look like we've snagged that many new walk-in members. So those are the arguments for and against moving, as I see them.

[greenmutha]

11. Hi WG! I wish blogging was all I needed it for. This is a MAJOR disaster

for me. I run my own business, manufacturing aromatherapy bath & body products. I do everything by hand, (no big machinery), and that includes designing and printing all of my own labels and marketing materials. I am in the midst of preparations for my farmers market season that begins in about a month, but to make matters worse, I also help run market in Park City, and needless to say, I use the computer quite a bit for that, too!

People keep giving my husband computers that don't work. We have a ton of backup computers in case this one goes down. He also fixes them up and gives them to people... - WhirlyGirl

My SO, (not my husband, but might as well be - we've been "shacked up" for 9 years now!), is a computer nut and does the same thing. He built my computer from day one out of assorted parts, and has upgraded it along the way as my business grew. He thought the power supply had gone bad at first, and replaced that. Then he said it was the motherboard, and replaced that... but now he can't get the computer to boot up. I'm sure he will figure it out eventually... (and if not, I have a friend that is a computer programmer that we can turn to!)

Keep your fingers crossed for me! (Now where is that finger-crossing smiley, anyway?)

On edit, to gk below: :hi: Gina!

[SharonRB]

31. I can really sympathize with you, Green

We were without our computer for about a week. My husband (who also is a computer expert) was tinkering with ours for three weeks and just couldn't get it right. All kinds of weird things were happening. Just when he thought he had it all fixed, something else got strange. The last straw was when no matter what he did he couldn't get the sound card to work, even after he tried a couple of new ones. He finally broke down and took it in. Seems to be pretty much okay now, although a bit slower than it was before he took it in. They put in a second hard drive and now he's almost done copying everything over that we need and doing some tweaking.

Hope you're up and running soon. I went nuts the week ours was gone. Work was the only place I had access, so I had to catch up on the thread the next day.

[gkhouston]

6. Hi greenie!

I kind of wondered what was up with you. Glad to know it's nothing worse than a sick computer although that's bad enough. :-(

I think the group's been here long enough that most of the regular nightly thread visitors are aware of its existence and I do think we're wearing on the nerves of some of the ERD crowd, largely because the volume there has dropped so much. (Which is natural -- people are doing things, but not necessarily things that bring them to ERD every day and some of the discussions there feel like re-hashes of re-hashes to me. Your mileage may vary.)

If we decided to move, perhaps we could choose a moving date, announce it in the first post of the thread every night for a week or two in advance of the moving date, and then just move. No annoying pointer threads to kick. Anybody who really wants to find the KOEB nightly thread usually looks in on us at least once every week or so, and almost all of our regulars are members, so they could use the search function, find the most recent thread, up pops the most recent thread in ERD which has a "MOVED TO" notice in the first message, and they'd know where we'd gone.

If we're looking for a lot of drop-in traffic for the nightly thread, we should post a pointer in GD, not ERD. Considering how big the thread sometimes gets when we're all here (including Keith), let's think twice about doing that, eh? :7

[WhirlyGirl]

7. I'd choose to put the pointer in the Lounge, before I'd put it in GD. =:-O

[RevCheesehead]

8. You make some excellent points.

1. ERD will eventually either merge into another group, or begin focusing on election reform/voting issues. I suspect that if we leave, they will have a substantial drop-off in traffic.

2. It doesn't cost much to join DU - $5 will get you a star. I think this is a good way to reinforce the value of DU as a whole: if you want to participate in the KOEB, you must pay homage to Grovelbot first.

3. Moving Date: I suggest Cinco de Mayo (5-5-05). It's a Thursday night (near the weekend), it's a holiday, a good excuse to have Margaritas and Sangria (and chips and salsa), and another grand excuse to have a party with Keith.

I'll bring the Bean-O. :7

[Nothing Without Hope]

10. I agree with everything you say except that I think we should move sooner

I don't want to wait for another 2-3 weeks before moving. I think we should just wait a few more days for more votesin the poll, mention the poll again on the Monday night blog thread, and - after everyone can feel they've had their say - move sometime next week. Maybe Wednesday or so. We can post headsups in the ERD for the rest of the week and part of the following week - one week total should do it. And headsups in the GD and Lounge would be good too, maybe for as long as 2 weeks. We can share the responsibility for those by taking turns, one person per night depending on who is present each night of liveblogging and can do it.

[gkhouston]

12. I think that 2 weeks of pointer threads might be more annoying

to the non-KOEB ERD crowd than 2-3 more weeks of us in ERD with them knowing that we're leaving soon. A nightly blog thread there is at least serving an active purpose, although perhaps not one that is entirely approved of; a pointer thread is IMHO more likely to be seen as a useless intrusion, along the lines of, "they're so &%($#! important that they have to tell everyone where they went for 2 WEEKS?!?" A "we're moving" as the first post in an active thread might be less irritating.

I would also counsel against putting public invites in GD or the Lounge every night for 2 solid weeks; perhaps we could do it once per month, on a regular basis? That would probably be seldom enough to not get up anyone's nose.

on edit: and by once per month, I mean one *night* per month. Two at the very most. I'm not into spamming DU for Keef. It's antisocial and ultimately counterproductive.

[WhirlyGirl]

13. Why not blog in ER in the interim & put a "MOVING to the CLUBHOUSE" banner

. . . containing MOVING DATE -- and Clubhouse link -- at the top of each night's blog?

Would CC be willing to modify one of her lovely KO banners to reflect the blog's relocation? That way, there won't be a useless thread in ER that we have to keep kicking.

I'm still averse to drawing people from Gen. Discussion.

Lounge: yes!
GD: :scared:

[gkhouston]

14. I don't think we should try to "recruit" from anywhere until

we're settled here. Although I like the idea of a "MOVING to the CLUBHOUSE" banner, I think it would be a good idea if it didn't look too much like CC's usual banner because we don't want anyone to glance at it without really looking closely. It needn't be elaborate, and it doesn't even have to be the same every night; all it has to do is catch the eye and convey information.

[sparky_in_ma]

15. How about

putting that we'd move in the regular post body for a week, and then move. For a week after, just post the heading in EDV, "KOEB (date insert) and put the clickable link in the body. (I think that's what you were saying, could be wrong):)

I wouldn't put anything in the other forums, everyone looks for it in EDV, and since we've been able to post there, there shouldn't be a problem with just posting a link for a week. People who can't find something they're looking for usually post a question. I've spotted a few of those and pointed them to the thread, so it wouldn't be hard for people to look us up.

[Nothing Without Hope]

16. Sounds good to me, Sparky. And a simple, clear banner in the OP

for that week before we move will help reduce the confusion. I like your plan. :hi:

[gkhouston]

26. Sparky, I agree with your suggestion but...

you do realize that "EDV" is not a forum?

I know you meant "ERD" but somehow the Freudian slip of "EDV" is, well, :rofl:

I think the dark part of your brain must be speaking again. :7

[RevCheesehead]

36. Good catch, Gina!

:rofl: "He's thinking of us!!!" :7

[sparky_in_ma]

60. My bad

I MEANT to type ERD.:rofl: (I have been throughly corrupted, my mom might not let me hang out with you anymore.)

[gkhouston]

62. if your mom knew anything at all about me

she would definitely not let you play at my house.

[WhirlyGirl]

18. I agree the banner should look way different than the present one. Mainly-

. . . I really like CC's treatment on Keith's portrait.

The tie-inspired lettering and the background colors could be played around with, to make the banner excruciatingly legible even to the casualest visitor.

However, IMO, the FLOATIES MUST STAY because:
:loveya: "By this sign shall ye know us"! :loveya:

PS - I thought recruitment had always been passive, so that aspect wouldn't change very much if we continued to blog in ER until the move.

[CC]

17. A banner would be

easy enough. Just get a date. And making it different enough they will look at it.

[WhirlyGirl]

19. Exactly.

. . . Thanks for not minding my having "volunteered" you, CC! :-)

[Catchawave]

20. Do we have a Quorum yet?

I'm a little concerned about the reasons for the two 'no' votes, and the fact we haven't heard from Patsy, Crispi, Shop and other charter/Tie donor members :loveya:

I just don't want to lose any KOEB friends, moving isn't that important to me, BUT, I do agree with all the reasons to bring him home up thread :)

[crispini]

21. Hm! Well, I think most of the voters have voted yes,

so I'd say that's a majority, but how on earth do you tell on the internet whether or not you have a quorum? :7 Sorry, just being persnickety here. Yeah, let's move and I vote for sooner rather than later. :)

[Catchawave]

24. LOL...quorum of KOEB members

I'm all for starting tonight. I'll help keep the change of venue kicked in whatever forums we decide to announce it in :)

[gkhouston]

27. let's give some of the regulars a chance to pipe up. We haven't

even had a nightly thread yet and it's not as if we're going miss out on the set of Ginsu knives if we don't order before midnight. I suspect we'll move to the clubhouse sooner or later, but if a lot of people aren't ready to do that yet, I can wait for "later".

[WhirlyGirl]

22. If I'd had to be a donor to blog COUNTDOWN, I probably never would've ...

. . . joined the group and DU, ironically. This is what troubles me about moving the blog to the clubhouse.

IF I CAME ALONG TWO MONTHS FROM NOW, NOT KNOWING A SOUL, I'D NEVER FIND YOU. :cry:

I always wanted to keep the blog out in public so people could find us the way I found you all the night of KO's birthday party.

Yesterday, with everyone so stoked about blogging here, I started thinking it would be a good thing to do. Now I wish we wouldn't move.

The Lounge would be okay, if mods want us out of ER.

Just had to say that, cuz it's what I really feel. :-(

[Catchawave]

23. My concerns are the huge amount of KOEB posts on ERD

we create, which knocks one of their threads to page 2.

I just feel more comfy being "silly" here :) No mods have complained as far as I know, nor have I seen complaints from ERD in the ATA, so that wasn't my motivation for the move "home" :)

Also, whenever I see an Olbermann thread in the public forums, I usually invite them to check out our group! I mean, we're not Skull and Bones here...lol.

[crispini]

25. We're NOT?

You mean Patsy and gkhouston made me sleep in a coffin, go streaking through the quad, and tell them all about my sex life just for funzies?!!!! :cry:

[gkhouston]

28. yeah, and were we disappointed

your sex life was DULL

[crispini]

42. Hee! Sticks and stones may break my bones....

but whips and chains excite me... :evilgrin:

[gkhouston]

43. and the race is on...

who will post the first slavering reply... Botany, Sparks, or Bleever? :P

on edit: there seem to have been some interesting "omissions" in your "history"...

[sparky_in_ma]

59. *ears perk up*

(for gk):rofl: I'm not really bad, my keyboard is possessed.

[gkhouston]

61. yeah, I expected you to win the race

but I thought I'd give you the benefit of a doubt. Blaming it on your keyboard indicates a certain degree of denial, though. (Your keyboard, while possessed, is at least "safe" -- if I recall correctly, it has a condom }( .)

[sparky_in_ma]

64. LMAO

Yes, it has a condom. (I do have this psyhic gift for finding the one
"different" post out of hundreds.):evilgrin:

[gkhouston]

66. why, that's the most creative way of saying

"I'm a damned weirdo" that I've seen in long time. Congratulations. You may have a future in public relations.

[WhirlyGirl]

44. That's why I suggested the Lounge as an alternative - for the reasons ...

. . . described above, and in the add'l explanation downthread.

I've accepted the strong probability that my argument won't carry the day, but I wanted to express completely what I feel, based on my own experience.

[gkhouston]

29. you're a Keith junkie. You'd have looked around, discovered

there's a group dedicated to Keith Olbermann, started reading, found out that you needed to make a small donation to get a star so you can post in the group, and started talking. I'm pretty sure the minimum donation is $5. Even starving college students can manage that, which is probably why the figure is so modest.

on ed: a newbie to DU actually has a better chance of finding us in the Countdown group than they would in ERD.

[WhirlyGirl]

41. Not true, cuz I made the decision after lurking & getting to know y'all ..

. . . and bear in mind, I started lurking just before you launched into selecting THE TIE.

Let's face it, that was a unique phenomenon, and I knew I was dealing with a different type of people who weren't afraid of showing their silly, affectionate side in addition to being smart on issues. You all were so funny & fearless, my husband and I were reading the threads together and just gaping w/ surprise and laughing!

It took a while to put the whole picture of the KOEB together and ultimately make the decision to register and introduce myself. But even then, I wouldn't have become a donor if Grovelbot hadn't come around and I saw how you all received "him" -- inventing a pool pic for him & everything.

In short, it was *familiarity with the group* which moved me to donate -- and the KOEB had to be OUT IN THE OPEN for me to have the opportunity to become familiar with you.

This was my DU journey; others' might have been quite different, but this is how I came to join. No free blog, no WhirlyG.

[Nothing Without Hope]

45. I love your story of coming into the KOEB, WG!

It's sweet and funny and quite a compliment for us all. You were KOEB even before you joined us, you just didn't know it.
:hug:

[WhirlyGirl]

51. You can see why I'm so passionate about others having the same chance ...

. . . to "date" us for a while -- so they can find out how wonderful we are! They can't if we're hidden away from public view.

Who's gonna join us sight unseen? I wouldn't have. Getting married before the courtship isn't the normal order of events.

[gkhouston]

54. This group is NOT hidden from public view. Anyone can read us.

Only members can post, but anyone can read us and get to know us by lurking. As to the likelihood of finding the nightly thread here, a newcomer to DU is more likely to look for discussion of Countdown in the Countdown group than in a thread labeled "KOEB" in the ERD forum. As someone else said, threads pertinent to Countdown occasionally pop up in other forums and we usually throw breadcrumbs to the nightly thread and/or the clubhouse when they do. There's absolutely no reason why that practice should not continue.

[Nothing Without Hope]

55. Your point is well-taken, of course, but I don't see a way to address it

After the election theft, it was quite natural to put the KOEB in the election forum because he was the only reporter covering what was really going on. People who wanted to know would come to that forum and we would be there too.

The work on the election threft exposure is still going on, of course, but for now Keith has moved on to other things. There is no obvious reason why someone browsing around DU would find us in that forum. (And there are regulars there who for good reason dislike our nightly threads hogging the headspace.)

Added to this is the fact that "KOEB" isn't going to mean anything to someone new to us - perhaps we should add the word "Olbermann" to our thread titles and headsups?

If we went to the lounge, well, that has its own problems: there are so many threads that our liveblogs would quickly disappear once the active posting was over. And many people have their DU preferences set to not show Lounge threads on their Latest Forums Threads page at all - I don't, because they're a nuisance. The fact is, there is a serious side to our meeting threads which doesn't really fit in the Lounge either. And then there are those sticky floors and bad bathrooms...

You found us in part because we were finding ourselves at that time and we were in a place where people came to see what was going on with daily updates on the election fraud.

I voted for moving to the clubhouse and still feel that's the best solution, though it is not perfect. I think it might be helpful to potential new members to include the world "Olbermann" in our headsup, which can be posted in GD-P so that they don't disappear as fast as they would in GD (and it IS a political program often enough to fit there). Posts from Groups do NOT appear on the Latest page, so this would be a courtesy to people wanting to find the thread as well as a way for new people to find out about us.

If this plan looks good - perhaps we might ask Skinner whether he would object to the GD-P headsup; he might see it as spam unless we do this carefully.

[WhirlyGirl]

57. deleted (I misread the previous post)

[greenmutha]

82. Pssst... WG!

You would have been able to come in here even if you hadn't donated. Remember how amazed you were that you got your star so fast? :evilgrin: (I did it for somebody else, too...)

[Clark2008]

77. For the record, I agree with you WG

I think being 'out there' somewhere and being seen is important to both our cause and Keith's ratings.

However, majority rules and, while I haven't voted yet, it still would only be three to 16 or whatever.

I like the clubhouse - :loveya: - but I think that newbies who might know the first thing about getting stars and finding their way in DU Groups would have some difficulty. Granted, I think some of that "newbie rush" has dropped, but it WILL pick up again as we move closer to the 2006 elections.

The Lounge is fine with me (although, it was lovely that Skinner let us stay in ERD - not EVD SPARKY! :7 - which is where we all met), but I think there should be some VERY PUBLIC presence for the KOEB and the KO of the namesake.

Just a thought. But, as they say, I'll be here, come hell or high water, so it's not an issue of "me," personally. I'm just thinking of the newbies. :)

[gkhouston]

83. I have mixed feelings about the "newbie" issue, largely

because we're dealing with unknowns here. We think that moving the nightly thread here may reduce the influx of newbies, but we don't know how significant the reduction will be. If we blog in the Lounge occasionally, we might draw in newbies, but as Cheese rightly points out down-thread, we're going to have to muzzle ourselves to keep from getting locked and we'll also probably have to put up with some drive-by weirdos; the Lounge isn't usually as hostile as GD, but it still attracts its share of disruptive behavior. So, basically, the people who are already members of the KOEB are going to inconvenience themselves for the sake of hypothetical future members who may or may not be out there? We may reach a point where the membership becomes stagnant enough (or the Lounge becomes less cliquish) that that option becomes more attractive, but I'm not too eager to do that right now.

*IF* and when the group as a whole does decide to go down that road, instead of going to a fixed schedule (one day per week), I think it would make more sense to "take a road trip" for three or four days back-to-back. That way, newbies could get a sense of continuity within the KOEB: they'd see us night after night, asking after the health of Gizmo, or your job search, or Cheese's mom, or they'd see a joke that someone makes on Monday referred to on Tuesday. It might make them feel like less of an outsider to read something in a thread on the second on third night that they had a context for because of what they'd read on the first night. To make it easier for us to keep track of where the hell we're blogging, no matter where we hold the nightly meeting, we should always come to the clubhouse first. There should always be a nightly thread here, and on the nights we're road-tripping, the thread would be nothing more than a pointer to the thread in the Lounge. That way, folks could find the thread the next day with no difficulty.

I don't think we should do this right away. I'm not entirely convinced we should do it at all. But if we do it, this is how I think it might best be done.

[WhirlyGirl]

85. Once again: I found you all *IN THE LOUNGE.*

. . .

Recall: the tie selection, KO's virtual birthday party and TIE NIGHT itself took place in the Lounge -- and I don't recall anyone holding back or feeling hemmed in by the mods and the rules. In fact, I don't think the group has ever been more bubbly, madcap and joyous than it was during that week!

A romantic novel is being serialized ad hoc, and sometimes additional references are made to it in the nightly blogs; however, while they're suggestive and heavily laced with sexual overtones they don't seem like the kind of material likely to get the thread locked -- particularly as they compare with other threads dedicated SPECIFICALLY to suggestive topics (the Hello Kitty vibrator, for example) which haven't been locked.

All this is guesswork, of course, and I could be wrong. But in the world of 2005, I really think most people would consider our romantic musings, even at their most explicit, to be softcore and unobjectionable.

I'm prepared to accede to the will of the majority, but this lack of visibility issue continues to give me some concern. Thanks for "kicking" it for me, Clark!

--WhirlyG

[SharonRB]

30. I didn't vote because I'm a bit torn

It would be great to move to the clubhouse if we could be sure that everyone has donated or would be willing to do so. On the other hand, if moving would prevent some people from posting, then I don't think it's a good idea. That being said, there are probably more advantages than disadvantages, though, and I'll be happy to go along wherever we wind up.

[gkhouston]

32. so for you the question becomes: how many of the nightly

regulars are non-members unable to afford a star? Why don't you use the search function to pull up last week's nightly threads to get a feel for that? My impression is that Grovelbot did a pretty good job of rifling our pockets last quarter. :P

on edit: last week was a bit low, with Keith gone W-F. Why don't you look at Monday, and I'll look at Tuesday and we'll compare notes?

[gkhouston]

33. last Tuesday

every poster in the thread had a star.

[SharonRB]

78. Okay, GK, I did my job last night

Everyone posting had a star, including BerryBush, who is a very new newbie. I say let's put one post up each night with our typical "KOEB day/date" with a link to our new home and a statement that we've moved, etc. I'm not against occasionally blogging on another forum to keep us visible to the broader community, as Whirly has suggested elsewhere in this thread. I agree with others that once a week may be too regimented, though.

[SharonRB]

34. Sounds like a plan.

I'm pretty sure most, if not all, of the nightly regulars have stars. However, would being in the clubhouse keep potential new members out? Or, don't we care?

[gkhouston]

35. Since the minimum donation is $5, I don't see that as much of a

barrier, especially since anyone can read what's said in the clubhouse. That means potential new members can wander through and get a feel for the place before they have to pony up money for a star. We're not asking anyone to buy a pig in a poke. If they don't think joining the group is worth a small donation, they don't have to join. I know some people are on very tight budgets, but even for them, $5 can be planned for. Frankly, given how big some of the nightly threads get, it might be nice if we did put them in a place where the folks who post to them are donors, to ensure that we're paying our way; heavens knows we're making ample use of DU resources! :D

[RevCheesehead]

37. DU is a fabulous website, and it needs our $$ to keep it going.

One of the nifty things Skinner did this year was to ADD the groups. And we asked, and got permission, to have our own group. So, what's the problem? Some people might not get to post in the group? Well, that's their decision to make. It's not like we're charging an additional fee for OUR group.

And, for heaven's sake, $5 is about the cost of a drive-thru lunch.

We've also had "patrons" who have sponsored stars for others. I would be willing to do that (especially if he were male :) ).

[gkhouston]

38. hmm, Rev, is that kind of "patronage"

legal in Wisconsin? I know it is in Nevada. B-)

[RevCheesehead]

39. Call me Mrs. Robinson.

[gkhouston]

40. have you anagrammed that? :-)

[SharonRB]

47. Please don't get me wrong, Rev -- I wasn't advocating for not

moving. I'm all for it. See my post downthread -- just playing a bit of Devil's advocate!

[gkhouston]

49. there's nothing wrong with playing the devil

Cheese does it all the time. :evilgrin:

on edit: at least she says she's pretending...

[RevCheesehead]

68. I can't tell - is that supposed to be a devil?

Or just a very evil red sperm?

[SharonRB]

72. LOL -- no, it's a devil!

[SharonRB]

46. I hear you -- and I'm fine with moving to the clubhouse.

Just wanted to be sure we weren't excluding anyone unnecessarily -- playing a little bit of Devil's advocate. I'll check tonight's thread for anyone without a star. I probably won't find anyone.

[gkhouston]

48. oh, my... that's a new smiley to me.

We really will have to have a cage match between you and Seito sometime. First one to giggle helplessly loses. :D

[SharonRB]

50. It's really not brain surgery ---

anyone who can figure out how to download Smiley Central can do it. Seito's look like they come from the same place as mine. We can do a workshop in the clubhouse sometime so everyone can join in!

[gkhouston]

52. ah, but to quote Gilbert & Sullivan

"when everyone is somebody then no one's anybody". I don't mind being a rank amateur.

[WhirlyGirl]

53. 'would being in the clubhouse keep potential new members out?' - Sharon

. . . It's an issue I've been taking up in my other replies on this thread.

Among the points I've been making is that I didn't have a star until quite a ways into my association with this group.

Without new members, the KOEB will almost certainly become moribund.

Therefore, I'm going to propose a COMPROMISE ...

[WhirlyGirl]

56. Proposed MODIFICATION of current plan:

. . . WHEREAS:

In the interest of the group's longevity, new people need to find us;

And WHEREAS it generally doesn't occur to newcomers to DU to become donors until Grovelbot hits them over the head with his little metallic fist, making it unlikely that newcomers will find us in the Clubhouse;

THEREFORE, the following MODIFICATION of the current plan is proposed:

Let us resolve to move the nightly meeting to the Clubhouse as planned, but leave our inner sanctum ONCE A WEEK to blog publicly in ER or in the Lounge, where nonmembers can see us.

Respectfully submitted for your consideration
by WhirlyG.

*PS: Please chime in, everyone! Since there's no question in my mind that if this proposal is defeated and, subsequently, new members fail to materalize, our group wouldn't hesitate to come up with a new plan, I'm not irrevocably wedded to this idea. :-) /WG

[gkhouston]

58. this sounds like

a cumbersome solution to a problem that does not yet exist and may not arise for some time, if at all. Wouldn't it make more sense to have irregularly scheduled "parties" in the Lounge when we feel membership needs a boost, assuming Skinner has no objections? After all, newcomers to DU can read our words here, even if they can't respond to them.

It's not like newbies can't get pointed this way when the subject of Keith/Countdown naturally arises in threads in other forums, as happens from time to time. And there are other reasons to cough up for GrovelBot, so it's not like we should feel compelled to grab newbies their first five minutes on DU. Different people come here for different reasons and most of them seem to find their donations well spent.

[sparky_in_ma]

63. Regarding stars

and new members. I would have no problem helping someone who needed one in order to post here. I like the idea of posting a thread in the lounge from time to time, that would give people who hadn't been able to post a chance to jump in, and if they needed help obtaining a star.

[gkhouston]

65. agreed.

A lot of us expressed a willingness to sponsor star-less KOEBers when the clubhouse was built, myself included, and I'm still willing to sponsor new members who don't have the scratch.

There's nothing wrong with the idea of taking the thread to the Lounge from time to time, I'm just reluctant to nail it down to once per week. I think that may be too often and get to be a pain in the ass rather quickly. We might be better served by having a "vacation week" where we go over there a couple of nights in a row once in a blue moon, rather than go there once per week, every week.

[Greylyn58]

67. I will post wherever the KOEB goes

Here, there and everywhere. :)

[WhirlyGirl]

71. Aww, what a sweet face! (Reminds me of the look guys get sometimes ;-)

. . . Me too, Greylyn. I'm wherever everyone else -- and Keith -- is!

:loveya:

[RevCheesehead]

69. Personally, I think posting in the Lounge would be disastrous.

The Lounge has changed a lot since I first joined (in July). Now it's more cliquish, and I think we'd be seen as just another clique. We'd also be WAY open to disruptors, deleted posts, and - of course - LOCKED THREADS.

Face it, folks, what we post here is relatively safe. But the lounge is ZERO TOLERANCE for anything that even MIGHT be a "sex thread." That means no Gull Bay installments, no trips to the boiler room, no blatant drooling over Keith, etc...

I don't know about you, but I just don't want that kind of censorship hanging over my snark.

[WhirlyGirl]

70. Yeah, the mods even put a note - "Okay, fun's over" - in the Lounge about-

. . . sexually-oriented material (altho I noticed they're letting more things slide recently -- some newer threads have been racy AND really funny!).
Nevertheless, it's a consideration -- be just our luck to push the envelope and get locked. :scared:

(But I can't help feeling nostalgic about meeting in the Lounge because that's where I first found you guys -- 'round the middle of January this year. :loveya::grouphug::loveya:)

[Nothing Without Hope]

74. I don't like the idea of posting in the Lounge

My preference would be to move the blog to the clubhouse, with at least temporary nightly headsup forwarding threads with Keith's full name in them (for the benefit of newbies) being posted in GD-P. We could post one thank-you-and-goodbye thread in the ERD thread and keep it kicked for a week or so at meeting time.

[Catchawave]

75. Hope, that's a wonderful plan....

I'll help with the DU-PR in the GD-P. It's also a nice place to share the Countdown newsletter :) Those are always good icebreakers.:loveya:

[Nothing Without Hope]

76. Excellent idea, using the headsup for the Countdown newsletter

That means it isn't spam by any measure

[Nothing Without Hope]

84. So true! What would life be if deprived of Gull Bay, boiler room frolics,

busloads of marooned and willing (if politically primitive) Norwegian XC skiers, and Keef droolfests?

I don't wanna think about it...:scared:

[Patsy Stone]

73. I voted to move it here

I just didn't want to be in GD, but that was before we had this wonderful place. Also, I think that we didn't want to lose the newcomers and lurkers.

Now that we have the group, it seems like the perfect place. And this way we could at least give the John Kerry Group a run for the money post-wise. :hi:

[RevCheesehead]

79. Not to play "devil's advocate" here -

(because I know that's Sharon's job :evilgrin: )
but the fact that this poll is in this group means that those without stars CANNOT VOTE. So if there are lurkers out there who need to let us know, it's time to come out and tell us - in the nightly thread.

I just felt it was necessary to point that out.

[CC]

80. don't you

have to be a registered user to vote in any poll?

Though could have a well organized person keep track of unregistered votes. (Leaves me out allergic to organization)

[gkhouston]

81. you have to be a registered user, but not a member

there are degrees of "lurking". I was registered user for a while before I noticed the stars and realized what they meant. Then I got my star and a while after that Grovel came around and damn if he didn't pick my pocket again. Greedy little cuss. ;-)

[Catchawave]

86. 86% want to move.....

As this thread's getting too long for my dial-up, should we start another poll to pick a day/date? :bounce:

I'll pass the baton to someone else at this point, that is, whether to start another discussion thread or start a poll.

:loveya:

[gkhouston]

87. agreed that this thread is getting too long.

I don't think it matters one way or the other as to whether the new thread starts with a poll, as the poll will probably have a discussion beneath it. A few moving options:

next Monday (25 April) for the "time's-a-wastin'" crowd
next Friday (29 April) so we could post moving notices for full week
5 May (a Thursday) Cheese's original suggestion

[WhirlyGirl]

88. New thread: I suggest a link back to this one, for review of pros & cons.

[Catchawave]

90. Why?

LOL, filibuster?

[Catchawave]

89. I nominate GK to do the moving poll !

And I highly recommend you add a deadline time.

Funny, those were all the choices I was thinking of, so put'em up, and make sure your deadline is Sunday (for your earliest date).

I don't think posting moving notices a full week in advance is necessary, just put a blurb in our old clubhouse at 8 p.m. every night after the move for a few days.