A Public Petition...

[Corno Dolce]

Hi Folks,

I hereby petition and beseech our wonderful and most honorable site administrator Sir Frederik Magle to reinstate the word game and compound/hyphenated word game to the regular forums instead of as a sub-forum in which the postings don't count.

Anybody and everybody was free to participate in it and increase their post count. It was in no way a conspiratorial clicque of individuals who secretly banned or made unwelcome anybody else who wanted to join in. Sometimes there was witty repartee amongst the participants and new bridges to friendships and understanding were formed. Is that not part of what MIMF is all about?

Please, Sir Frederik, please rescind the sub-forum for the word games. I most humbly and respectfully petition you to revisit your decision.

Most sincerely yours,

Corno Dolce

[NEB]

seconded!

I would add that game playing and bonding with other members is an important part of forum life, and is a very usful distraction for the busy person, helping to keep them sane!

[Corno Dolce]

Hi NEB,

In all channels of this forum everyone should know that they are freely and warmly welcomed to participate in any and all games and increase the fun quotient. No-one should have to feel that they are left out in the cold and no concern shown for them.

Humbly and Respectfully,

Corno Dolce

[Frederik Magle]

Dear Corno Dolce,

In no way was it my intention to imply that any conspiration of any sort was taking place in the word threads. Anyone was of course always free to participate or not, and I sincerely apologize if my remarks about the post count being raised by the forum game threads gave any other impression or sounded disapproving in any way.

Let me make one thing very clear: Everybody on this forum has earned their post count by being an active member and no one is going to take that post count away! it is well deserved!

The games will stay unchanged, only they will not increase post count directly. However, I will be looking into other possible ways in which participants in the word games can be acknowledged, because the games are indeed important in the way they provide relaxation to the forum.

NEB, You are absolutely right, and the games will not go away.

[Corno Dolce]

Dear Most Highly Honorable Sir Frederik,

May I humbly submit that no such thought had crossed my mind. My intention was to let the many feel welcomed here and that they should be afforded the opportunity to increase the post count directly through anywhich game they choose to play.

Please don't feel that I am trying to cause you unnecessary brow furrowing since that is not and will never be my intent. I am but a servant of all the wonderful people on this forum and my hope is that you still will consider revisiting your decision.

Most Humbly and Respectfully yours,

Corno Dolce

[Frederik Magle]

Dear Corno Dolce,

I promise you that I am taking your petition most seriously into consideration in this matter. Whatever action I take I only have the community's long term best in mind, but sometimes things are complex and different (though all valid) approaches to that collide, like in this case. I will over the coming days consider this matter most carefully, looking at it from as many angles as possible. I will weigh every pro and con, but I also hope for your understanding and forgiveness for any inconvenience should I reach the conclusion that the forum games must remain where they are.

Kind regards,
Frederik

[Corno Dolce]

Most Highly Honorable Sir Frederik,

I have nothing but the most profound and utmost respect for your artistry and musicianship as evidenced by the sound files you so graciously have shared with the MIMF community. Through those sound files plus the numerous well thought and written posts which you have submitted, I envision you as a renaissance man of a very high quality and caliber.

I fully realise that you have many things to think about and that things are not so simple as they might seem on this forum and that much soul-searching is done by those who pull levers, push buttons, and slide doors - all to make MIMF the wonderful place that it is.

I understand that you can't employ every concern or wish of every member in running this forum - if that were the case then this site would come to a screeching halt. It is always a careful balancing act, a redistribution of resources from one group to another while at the same time sharing with everyone else - surely a job for a politician.

Much blessing goes out to you for keeping this site humming with so many varied groups here - quite breathtaking sometimes...

In humble gratitude,

Corno Dolce

[musicalis]

Dear Sir F. Magle.

Please, explain me. Do you mean that when we write a long text as a tutorial or we publish a music that took hours of work in "Electronic/Digital Organs" that is a sub forum, we do not increase our points of active members ?
If it is true, it would be a great injustice to increase the post count of people who only write a word in a game and not do the same for real members who give a lot of their time to share aknowlege and original scores.

Post Scriptum
Please, Sir Magle, Have you heard my Toccata Negra and others organ works ?
http://musicalis.monespace.net/pages/11.html

Cordialy
J-Paul Verpeaux

[Frederik Magle]

Dear Corno Dolce,

Thank you. It is I who wish to express my gratitude for your great contributions to this community and for your understanding of the complex nature of such a diversified site. The complexities of our world which are reflected in a forum like ours are are at one time fascinatingly wonderful but also extremely perplexing and reason for many concerns and sleepless nights (at least it is to me). But what a great place it is, this world of ours.

Best regards,
Frederik

Dear J-Paul Verpeaux,

Only the Forum Games are affected by the change in post count settings, not any other forums - subforums or not.

Best regards,
Frederik

PS: I have not yet had the time to listen other than very shortly to your organ works but I will be looking forward to it.

With that said I am closing this thread. As I said in my response to Corno Dolce and NEB's concerns, I will consider the issue seriously over the next days after which I will make a final decision.

[Frederik Magle]

I'm reopening this thread as I have two announcements to make:

First, and this is my final decision: Post count increase will remain off for forum games.

But then secondly, and this is good news to the gamers as well as all other members I hope: I intend to partly replace the post count system with a much more detailed system. A points system where additional points are given based on the word/character count within each post as well as other custom definable variables. This will mean that f.ex. an article size post will count higher than a two-word game post. But, the game posts will count, just not as much as some other posts.

If at all technically possible I will make it so that all current posts are counted when it is installed, and that would include the game posts. I will most likely keep the regular post count as well, but the points system will be the one that matters the most. The more specific details are of course to early to speculate about as it very much depends on the software options.

I cannot make any guarantees or promises, other than I would very much like to implement such a system and will be looking seriously in to the options. It is , however, a major project which will also cost me money as all the best solutions requires one to pay for the software, but I would never compromise the forum by installing subpar software. It will also use up more processing power on the server, so there are many things to consider and so it may take a while before it can be up and running (careful planning is required).

In any case, now you know my plans. And finally, please don't forget that both the current post count system and a possible future points system are all just meant to be taken as good fun

Kind regards,
Frederik

[Corno Dolce]

Hi Sir Frederik,

After reading your reopened thread posting my first thought was: Are you seriously going to do that much work in deciding and assigning extra posting credit based on word/character count? Theoretically, I think it would be possible. A conversation with a forum friend noted that such a system change and workload after the changeover would become unwieldy. You'd probably need the assistance of extra regulators who might be somewhat leery of assigning posting credit.

Now, in an excellent situation there theoretically would exist a software program that would take care of assigning such credit without human intervention. Of course, code can be arbitrarily rewritten to reflect new paradigms and, as such, does entail human intervention, which, in turn, might reflect some unfairness.

That would probably, in the end, make one pine for the former system with one credit per posting. The end users, namely the forum members, would tailor their postings to reflect how much they wish to share with their global MIMF *family* and receive credit for their posting. It is all voluntary how much we all feel safe in divulging for the world to see. So, with that in mind, are you ready to take on such a Herculean and Sisyphean labor in keeping such a system afloat?

As an aside mentioning: Whenever one opens GoogleNews, at the bottom there is a notice that the choice and placement of news articles is done by a computer program. Theoretically, that is true, but it is dependent on who wrote the algorithmic code, and that code can easily be subject to the whims of this and that staff of programmers and their wants and desires.

Sorry for this long posting.

Cheers,

Corno Dolce

[Frederik Magle]

Hi Corno Dolce,

The solutions I am looking into are mostly automated systems. Though they will require some maintenance and manual operation from time to time, the biggest issues will be installation, initial setup and CPU load, but I'm sure I will figure out a way. In any case most of the issues you mention are indeed on my checklist when researching the best possible solution.

Please don't be sorry for the long posting. I thank you for your concern and thoughts on the subject.

Kind regards,
Frederik

[Muza]

I thought this thread was locked yesterday??? Anyhow, whatever you decide to do Frederick, I am sure it will come out good.

[Contratrombone64]

Sure beats "polishing up the handles on the big front door" (getting to Commanding officer in the Navy that is). Think H.M.S Pinafore.

[NEB]

He polished up the handles so carefully that now he is the ruler of the queen's navy.