[MUD-Dev] META: To flame or not to flame (was: Usability and ...)

[Ola Fosheim Grøstad <olag@ifi.uio.no>]

clawrenc at cup.hp.com wrote:
>Ola wrote:
>
>>I think it would be interesting if one could have not only
>>"listowners" or "newsgroup agendas", but thread-owners.  That is, the
>>person bringing up a topic could state some rules for replies to that
>>particular thread.  For instance if the intention is to get as many
>>ideas as possible, the thread-owner could state some brainstorming
>>rules.
>
>In a general sense, as a form of (attempting to) mandate concensus on
>the thread definition I'm not fond of this for the reasons stated
>above. 

Within the open email system on an unmoderated list you can only hope
for some respect for your intentions with bringing up the topic.  The
problem with no restrictions is that some topics become more or less
intractable, due to the massive flood of sterotypic viewpoints etc.
Interesting points drown in this mass of uninteresting details, 
discussions ends up in loops and summaries are hard to make.

Making multiple replies to a divided message, each covering one
particular issue, is a good idea.  I never do that though.  I guess
most people don't.

I think however it would be possible to include a little "intentions"
section in the heading of an email, stating some "rules" to be
followed for that particular thread, that is, offsprings should at
least change the "Subject" header entry.  One should also require that
that "intentions" section to be included in all replies within the
thread so people will know that it is limited in focus.

for instance:
================== start of message =========================
------------------------------------------------------------
PLEASE INCLUDE THIS SECTION IN ALL REPLIES:
I'll write a summary of this thread provided your reply is:
o brief
o focused
o non-critical

I've been wondering about how one could make a truly weird MUD,
turning all aspects of the real world up side down, while still
provding an entertaining environment.  Most of these ideas have
some serious usabilityproblems, but that is not the focus of
this thread. Let's see how many ideas we can come up with!
------------------------------------------------------------
Here are some of my ideas:
1. 1% chance of being assigned a random avatar at login
2. death is a reward and desirable, when you die you go to heaven
   or hell and are able to tune your skills.  You'll loose your
   identity and posessions though, the same happens to your killer,
   except he won't get the benefits.
3. etc
==================== end of message =========================

Ola.