Author Topic: Introduction to the Topic of the Week feature/revised version 09/01/08  (Read 14233 times)

Offline Penthesilea

  • Town Administration
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 14,745
Howdy BetterMostians,

after more than a year it's about time for a revised version of the Topic of the Week introduction :).



Katherine and I would like to introduce you to our feature in the Open Forum: The Topic of the Week (TOTW).

The Topic of the Week is a a question Katherine and I will put in focus for one week on this board. It's always Brokeback related and can refer to different aspects:
  • movie-specific aspects
  • story-specific aspects
  • questions on symbolism in movie and story
  • questions on Ang Lee's implementation of Proulx' words
  • questions on the acting
  • and of course: questions evolved from the plot itself, for example development and motivations of characters, which have their origins in both, movie and book

On (most) Mondays there will be a new Topic of the Week, which doesn't mean the discussions about the former TOTW have to end. We encourage everybody to continue discussions as long as you're interested in them.

Sometimes a topic will run for two weeks, if it peaks high interest. Or I may just skip one week every now and then, when real life rears its ugly busy head ;).


The TOTW will often be phrased as a closed question, meaning it can be answered by a simple yes or no. It's perfectly fine to reply to it with just that; just a short "Yes" or "No" in your message, if you don't want to elaborate your position further. This will give us a wide basis to see the general opinion.

Although it's not necessary to elaborate your opinion, we encourage everybody to do so. If you haven't participated in the Open Forum discussions yet, why not give it a try with a short explanation of your answer? Don't hesitate because you think your answer might be "wrong". There is no such thing like a wrong answer (or THE one, correct answer), because what makes this movie and story so outstanding is, among other things, its ambiguousness.

Also don't get discouraged when someone else already said something similar to what you want to express. Often it's the small aspects, the side notes, that can bring new cognitions. So just jump in with your thoughts, we want to read them :) .


The TOTW feature lives through your participation! We love to set up topics suggested by BetterMost residents. Do you have a question you have long meant to ask? Is there a question that has already been discussed long ago, but you would like to take it up again? Do you notice a specific aspect which continues to come up repeatedly in different threads, but never has been discussed as its own topic? - Here is the place to put it in focus! Just send your question as PM to Katherine or me. We're looking forward to your suggestions!


Archive:

I will create an archive where all TsOTW will be listed chronologically. The list will include number, Topic, date and link to the respective TOTW.

The thread where the topics are collected will be locked and made sticky on top of the forum. I think it will be a great addition to our TOTW feature and make it be easy to get an overview of topics we already had, as well as quick and convenient to find a specific topic.
All TOTW discussions are still open, you're welcome to take up an older one and revive it :).

Here's the link to the archive thread:
http://bettermost.net/forum/index.php/topic,22374.msg401750.html#msg401750


Thank you to everybody who contributed to our TOTW discussions over the last year! We hope  things will stay lively here in the Open Forum and that the TOTW feature will continue to be a notable part of it.


Your moderators
Penthesilea and Seriouscrayons
« Last Edit: September 13, 2008, 02:36:05 pm by Penthesilea »

Marge_Innavera

  • Guest
Re: Introduction to the Topic of the Week feature/revised version 09/01/08
« Reply #1 on: September 13, 2008, 01:44:05 pm »

I will create an archive where all TsOTW will be listed chronologically. The list will include number, Topic, date and link to the respective TOTW.

The archive thread will be locked and made sticky on top of the forum. I think it will be a great addition to our TOTW feature and make it be easy to get an overview of topics we already had, as well as quick and convenient to find a specific topic.

I have a question about the archive thread.

Both the introduction t this thread and the archive itself emphasize that these threads are locked and we can't add anything to them. Does that mean that these topics are no longer permitted as topics of discussion, or would we would have to start a brand-new thread somewhere else and just give a link to the archive? 

Offline Penthesilea

  • Town Administration
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 14,745
Re: Introduction to the Topic of the Week feature/revised version 09/01/08
« Reply #2 on: September 13, 2008, 01:57:24 pm »
I have a question about the archive thread.

Both the introduction t this thread and the archive itself emphasize that these threads are locked and we can't add anything to them. Does that mean that these topics are no longer permitted as topics of discussion, or would we would have to start a brand-new thread somewhere else and just give a link to the archive? 



 :o Jeeez! Nooooo, those (older) TOTW threads aren't locked at all! On contrary, everybody is welcome to take up an older discussion again. That's what the archive thread is for: if you see something you're interested in, just click it and you get to the respective thread and you can add to it.

The only thing that is locked is the archive itself (to keep it easy to overview).

Gotta reread what I wrote. Did I phrase it so mistakable?


Offline Penthesilea

  • Town Administration
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 14,745
Re: Introduction to the Topic of the Week feature/revised version 09/01/08
« Reply #3 on: September 13, 2008, 02:44:50 pm »
I went through my posts in the archive and through my introduction post right here.
I rephrased parts about the archive and the locking and hope it's clearer now.

The whole purpose of the archive is first to give people an overview of the topics we already had, and second to make it easy to find an older TOTW discussion, if you want to reread or add something new. So you don't have to scroll through pages of Open Forum threads in order to find a specific topic.


Thanks Marge for bringing this up :).