Search found 14 matches

by Mills
Sun Nov 23, 2008 3:35 pm
Forum: phpBB Discussion
Topic: phpBB as a starting point for an open source democracy?
Replies: 31
Views: 3249

Re: phpBB as a starting point for an open source democracy?

Then I'm guilty of poor communication. I think I might have been too harsh, my point was essentially that I think about this project in terms of discussing important things which are happening in the "real world"; its harder for me to discuss it in terms of web development because (a) I'm...
by Mills
Sun Nov 23, 2008 12:22 am
Forum: phpBB Discussion
Topic: phpBB as a starting point for an open source democracy?
Replies: 31
Views: 3249

Re: phpBB as a starting point for an open source democracy?

Also as a MOD author myself I can say I downloaded that package linked somewhere here in this topic (not phpBB code) in order to read it at some point. ;) Nice one, if the only thing this topic achieved was to pique the interest of some people who are skilled in writing phpBB mods, I'd be happy wit...
by Mills
Sat Nov 22, 2008 10:36 pm
Forum: phpBB Discussion
Topic: phpBB as a starting point for an open source democracy?
Replies: 31
Views: 3249

Re: phpBB as a starting point for an open source democracy?

Regarding the "language issue"; yes, it is one of the more serious problems with the idea, and I don't imagine it would be fully solved until such times as the site had a massive international user-base. But how's this for the basis of an initial work-around... users can submit translation...
by Mills
Sat Nov 22, 2008 1:34 pm
Forum: phpBB Discussion
Topic: phpBB as a starting point for an open source democracy?
Replies: 31
Views: 3249

Re: phpBB as a starting point for an open source democracy?

I get what the original poster was going for, at least I think I do.
I think so too, well put drathbun!
by Mills
Fri Nov 21, 2008 9:28 pm
Forum: phpBB Discussion
Topic: phpBB as a starting point for an open source democracy?
Replies: 31
Views: 3249

Re: phpBB as a starting point for an open source democracy?

I guess part of my background is that I'm really interested in what adding all of the quantitative elements could do for interaction on the bulletin board platform. Cheers for the discussion points sam. Since phpBB.com isn't a place to recruit help even for the noblest of causes lol, I was unaware o...
by Mills
Fri Nov 21, 2008 7:52 pm
Forum: phpBB Discussion
Topic: phpBB as a starting point for an open source democracy?
Replies: 31
Views: 3249

Re: phpBB as a starting point for an open source democracy?

Suppose you were able, over time, to build a pool of social scientists from around the globe who were willing to host or sponsor regional bulletin boards. Suppose there were no strings attached; that is, the discussion could be fuuly localized in terms of participants, language, and culture. Suppos...
by Mills
Fri Nov 21, 2008 5:52 pm
Forum: phpBB Discussion
Topic: phpBB as a starting point for an open source democracy?
Replies: 31
Views: 3249

Re: phpBB as a starting point for an open source democracy?

My point certainly is to the effect that "a place where people can collaborate on solutions to social problems" already exists, is in active use, and has been for some time. I agree. What may be lacking is a single place for various collaborations to pool conclusions, Yes, this is in a se...
by Mills
Fri Nov 21, 2008 1:37 pm
Forum: phpBB Discussion
Topic: phpBB as a starting point for an open source democracy?
Replies: 31
Views: 3249

Re: phpBB as a starting point for an open source democracy?

A true democracy on any kind of a large scale, can never work, it never has. There has to be an ultimate decision maker that has the final say about things. I disagree with your post, on a number of levels... First off, I can't imagine how you would even attempt something like this without the inte...
by Mills
Thu Nov 20, 2008 8:52 pm
Forum: phpBB Discussion
Topic: phpBB as a starting point for an open source democracy?
Replies: 31
Views: 3249

Re: phpBB as a starting point for an open source democracy?

Consider the possibility that alternatives offered in existing models are even closer to Open Source, some of which I've already touched on: decentralization, distributed computing, localization, and freedom. As J.S. Mills (play on names intended :) ) observed, democracy can mean nothing better tha...
by Mills
Thu Nov 20, 2008 8:11 pm
Forum: phpBB Discussion
Topic: phpBB as a starting point for an open source democracy?
Replies: 31
Views: 3249

Re: phpBB as a starting point for an open source democracy?

You may be talking about something built on open source software, but you aren't talking about anything uniquely Open Source, I think. Anything about the site could be changed with approval through the explicitly democratic control panel I mentioned; including modifications to the code its running ...
by Mills
Thu Nov 20, 2008 7:17 pm
Forum: phpBB Discussion
Topic: phpBB as a starting point for an open source democracy?
Replies: 31
Views: 3249

Re: phpBB as a starting point for an open source democracy?

http://lussumo.com/addons/index.php?Pos ... ddOnID=412 Thanks for this, I was totally unaware of lussumo nevermind this addon, will try installing it on a test server tonight and having a play with it. There's actually a post-rating mod for phpBB already (PRS, by Alfatrion) which I've got working o...
by Mills
Wed Nov 19, 2008 11:42 pm
Forum: phpBB Discussion
Topic: phpBB as a starting point for an open source democracy?
Replies: 31
Views: 3249

Re: phpBB as a starting point for an open source democracy?

I agree that it would be a bad idea to have public "banning" votes. My ideal situation would be for no banning to be necessary on the site at all, instead users could individually choose to "bump down" a post or user (if they were a persistant nuisance) and this would have the ef...
by Mills
Wed Nov 19, 2008 9:55 pm
Forum: phpBB Discussion
Topic: Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Replies: 1949
Views: 1164059

Re: Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Many thanks to eveyone involved in producing such a useful piece of software and making it freely available to everyone.

Mills
by Mills
Wed Nov 19, 2008 6:38 pm
Forum: phpBB Discussion
Topic: phpBB as a starting point for an open source democracy?
Replies: 31
Views: 3249

phpBB as a starting point for an open source democracy?

Hi all, I am a social scientist with a strong interest in collaboration on the internet; and I believe that a new way for vast numbers of people to produce solutions to social problems collectively online (that has enormous potential) is within our reach. I also believe that we could produce a basic...

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