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What happened to this forum

Charmed_quark - Sat Oct 09 2004, 12:20PM

This website had a long shut down during summer and since then I can't help but notice that much of the momentum that started has been lost. To those remaining: what happened? How I see it:

I joined the forum based the idea of developing practical ideas into real creations. I was drawn by the notion that a diverse number of people could contribute and at least a small percentage of people would be in a position to implement. A grassroots movement for invation or an open-source community for reality. A half bakery with a filter for application.

I think the direction that the site/organization took was the wrong one. As I glance through the forum topics, the most active one are either

• a)abstract and obscure, some to the point where specialized knowledge is necessary for participation. These are worthy topics, but there are already better, more specialized forums for these discussions
• b) oversized, Maglevs and Space elevators are interesting, but are they within the scope of a small unfunded group's ability to contribute development?

I propose that in order to revitalize the da Vinci Concept, we begin to concentrate on a few reasonable and achievable goals.

Things like:

• I. Devices to solve overlooked problems. Things like the MoneyMaker Pump or low-tech refrigeration
• II. Proof of concept demonstrations. Are there incremental steps to some of these "big" projects the could be developed and implemented by da Vinci concept members?
• III. Political grassroots. Are there important topics (local, national,global) that are being ignored? I have had some experience in grassroots movements and with a starting base of thirty people, they can be effective.

This important thing is that these efforts need to be genuinely overlooked by other groups or even better, unique. There is no point to copying what other people are already doing, unless we can do it better.

Note: I am not advocating abandoning other subjects. But evenly dividing our effort when there are more projects than partipants will result in a net loss of manpower.

The next step would be to collect ideas for consideration and have method to determine which will be pursued. --Charmed_quark - Sat Oct 09 2004, 12:20PM

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Sunny - Mon Nov 08 2004, 07:54PM - Washington, D.C.

I agree with your observerations and apologize for letting the reins slip during the last few months. Part of the problem is the website-merging of two related, but very different collaboration concepts: daVinci Concept and Poetic Publishing. This site is not meant, built, or focused around problem solving or idea conception. The attempt at integrating the two systems was a short-term solution and a bit short-sighted of me because it confuses the purpose of this website.

I am going to put a substantial effort into reworking the organizational structure of this website, moving most of the material related to daVinci Concept into its own web-space, divorcing it from Poetic Publishing, but similar tools to hold it all together. The daVinci Concept website will be a sister-site to this one, related only in that it may have some common members. Current discussion threads will be moved to the new site as soon as it is up and a cleaner organizational layout will be used.

Regarding daVinci Concept suggestions for improving the quality of concept and coordination of purpose: yes. We need a few quality ideas that can come to fuition without a huge monetary or time commitment. But we also need a much larger membership pool that we currently have. A coordinated membership drive and site solicitation through advertisement and word of mouth will be started within the next couple of months. I personally feel that Google has done an incredibly intelligent thing by using the process of person-to-person referral for the creation of new accounts. This same method will be used for Poetic Publishing and the daVinci Concept organization.

In the long term, this site, Poetic Publishing, will have a focus on writing, writing method, quality of content, peer review, and publication.

Please bear with me while I create the daVinci Concept website which will hold all of our daVinci Concept discussions.

--Sunny - Mon Nov 08 2004, 07:54PM - Washington, D.C.