It won't have escaped anyone's attention, I'm sure, that activity on the OK Forum as of late has been "lite" at the very best.

I don't think that it takes too much commitment to OK to realize that this is not a particularly good situation. The question is begged, therefore, of what one ought to go about doing to rectify this most unfortunate of situations.

We could, for example, rely on the good will of OK Forum participants to realize the situation and come to the conclusion that their best contribution towards solving the situation would be to start new discussion topics, answer questions (particularly the new questions), etc. This can work to some extent, but relies on individual consciouses and can't be dictated or controlled by those who see it as their self-appointed duty to increase participation.

We could make a push for someone like Snorkel, for instance, to increase his presence. Snorkel has been a bit out of touch lately. Perhaps he could boost his figures. I'm sure Snorkel has some valuable things to add to the OK mission.

We could purposely start a few discussions concerning things that we believe everyone has a (different) response to. For instance, we could each describe a week of our training (or some period) and then tell why we are doing this and what it will mean for OK's greater purpose.

We could increase the number of people who contribute to the Forum. Perhaps some beginning orienteers would like to write in. There could be some discussion of particular interest to them.

Any thoughts?

-- Mook (everett@psi.edu), June 30, 2000

Answers

We could purposely start a few discussions concerning things that we believe everyone has a (different) response to. For instance, we could each describe a week of our training (or some period) and then tell why we are doing this and what it will mean for OK's greater purpose.

I think that is an excellent idea.

We could increase the number of people who contribute to the Forum. Perhaps some beginning orienteers would like to write in. There could be some discussion of particular interest to them.

This is an excellent idea, too. I think it is a bit tougher to get new people to post. I think there are people who read the forum but don't post (or don't post often). That is true of any internet forum. We should make an effort to make new-comers feel welcome. One possible problem is we sometimes have "inside jokes" that might make new-comers feel a bit like they are on the outside.

Another way to increase postings is to broaden the base. But, I we need to be careful about that. We want to keep an OK-focus. The OK forum would be, in my mind, a failure if it ends up being a discussion of various complaints about control placement at meets in the UK (look what has happened to the ONET).

Finally, I think event reports are always good. I enjoy reading event reports from any OKer. I would encourage OKers to report on the events they participate in (even if they are the one and only OKer there). I'd like, for example, to read Mook's write ups of local events in Tucson, or Peggy's descriptions of local meets in Quantico-land.

-- Michael (meglin@juno.com), June 30, 2000.

Inside jokes are exactly what SLOC was pulling 15 years ago.

-- Snorkel (danielmeenhan@oal.com), July 03, 2000.