Community Wiki Content Ideas

Chuck Kasmire, modified 15 Years ago at 2/15/09 8:08 AM
Created 15 Years ago at 2/15/09 8:08 AM

Community Wiki Content Ideas

Posts: 560 Join Date: 8/22/09 Recent Posts
Forum: Dharma Overground Discussion Forum

I created this thread in order to separate ideas about content from technology issues (Community Wiki software thread) so the two don't get tangled up.

Some content already mentioned:
-Josh0: “take the text of Daniel's book and just drop it into a wiki as a sort of seed “
-Tracy: “database of peoples' own meditation breakthroughs.”
-Daniel: “deep treasure trove of dharma, good maps, good correlations between traditions, good resources for further information “
-Gozen: “a women's area of the website”

I would like to add to these:

-local group resource center
A resource center for local groups to use. Most local groups have their own websites but putting together and maintaining a good set of meditation instructions for example is a great deal of work and may not be within the capacity of the group. DhO has, spread through the forum, some of the best instructions out there. I think over time these will naturally get pulled together. I would like to see an area on the site that local groups could link and subscribe to (as a feed) for this content.

-Tracy's idea of a “database of peoples' own meditation breakthroughs” - it would be nice to have sections like this available as separate feeds.

-a directory of local like-minded groups
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Wet Paint, modified 15 Years ago at 2/16/09 3:35 PM
Created 15 Years ago at 2/16/09 3:35 PM

RE: Community Wiki Content Ideas

Posts: 22924 Join Date: 8/6/09 Recent Posts
Author: Tracy.

I was writing a long and careful reply to this, and then there was a power cut in my office and I lost it.
So what I was going to say is that I think an expanded forum that allows off-topic posts would do a lot to increase participation, especially by women. This community may be built around sharing practical dharma information, but that doesn't mean that ALL interactions within the community need to stay within those narrow boundaries. I think that women especially like to know who they're talking to when they're asking questions, and having a broader forum for interaction would allow that kind of social context to be added to what's already here.

I don't like the idea of a women's ghetto either.

I was talking to Jill about this, and she made the excellent point that the new site will be more flexible than wetpaint, and so can evolve over time as people think of new ways to improve it.
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Wet Paint, modified 15 Years ago at 2/16/09 5:13 PM
Created 15 Years ago at 2/16/09 5:13 PM

RE: Community Wiki Content Ideas

Posts: 22924 Join Date: 8/6/09 Recent Posts
Author: -Jill-

I second that. How about something like a DRAMA, NOT DHARMA!! section, where people might post threads like:

-has anybody tried the dog whisperer's tips?
-my son is getting bullied at school
-going to LA, anybody in the area?
-best veggie recipe ever!!!

Even if the conversations have nothing to do with practice, I think there are quite a few reasons why such a section would be valuable, including:

1) making friends with people with similar interests, such as people interested in meditation+music, meditation+healthy cooking, meditation+art, etc. as this network gets bigger and bigger, it would become more likely for you to bump into a Dh.O friend who frequents the same public basketball court as you do, but never knew all along, for instance.
2) it would make the experience of reading and posting in the dharma section feel more personal--some people might appreciate the feeling that they're talking to friends instead of strangers or dharma encyclopedias.
3) as most people here are active meditators or at least plan to be, the conversations would be filled with insightful perspectives and be helpful and supportive of people's life issues and fun interests.
4) number 3 is really hard to find in everyday life. The only other "social" setting where I can find a big group of meditators chatting about everything and anything at all with an underlying current of insight into dharma is at meditation courses at centers where everyone starts and ends their retreat on the same schedule.
5) Since it would be a separate section or page, people who are only interested in practice issues can ignore it completely.

can anybody think of any other reasons?
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Daniel M Ingram, modified 15 Years ago at 2/16/09 6:07 PM
Created 15 Years ago at 2/16/09 6:07 PM

RE: Community Wiki Content Ideas

Posts: 3268 Join Date: 4/20/09 Recent Posts
All great ideas. I hope the new site can accommodate them all. I agree: it is more fun when we are all friends beyond just the practical, technical points.
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John Finley, modified 15 Years ago at 2/17/09 1:12 AM
Created 15 Years ago at 2/17/09 1:12 AM

RE: Community Wiki Content Ideas

Posts: 11 Join Date: 8/24/09 Recent Posts
I love this idea, and it would be great if we could perhaps add a section that provides concrete examples of what meditators should be on the look out for in each stage. For example, Kenneth posted this in the thread on meditating on impermanence: "Roll your eyes up into your head and let your eyelids flutter. See that vibrating, strobing light? That's one way of understanding the visual component..."
That's really great information for me because I have a difficult time conceptualizing some of the descriptions of what one experiences at different points along the path.
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Wet Paint, modified 15 Years ago at 2/21/09 1:00 PM
Created 15 Years ago at 2/21/09 1:00 PM

RE: Community Wiki Content Ideas

Posts: 22924 Join Date: 8/6/09 Recent Posts
Author: Tracy.

theprisonergreco just posted a thread (http://dharmaoverground.wetpaint.com/thread/2443022/simple+instructions+for+attaining+(as+opposed+to+mastering)+jhana) with instructions for attaining jhanas, and asked others to add their own experiences. I think this would be a good model for part of the new site; pages with instructions and info on the maps could have space for people to add their own subjective experiences. It would be sort of like reviews on a site like amazon.com. Even better if other users can add comments to these experience nodes. I think it's a good idea, because it's valuable to see the range of possible experience and understanding within a particular territory, but if people added their subjective stuff to the main text of the articles it could mess up the articles' integrity.

It might also be neat to have space for textual quotes and references on each page. And links. The more structure there is (even if it's empty at first), the more people will be encouraged to contribute what they know.
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triple think, modified 15 Years ago at 2/21/09 11:05 PM
Created 15 Years ago at 2/21/09 11:05 PM

RE: Community Wiki Content Ideas

Posts: 362 Join Date: 8/22/09 Recent Posts
Plan for future growth for flexible external integrations, linking and accessibility to off site resources and communities.
This is a difficult comment to place because it spans both threads.
eg. Integration with a future scholastic wiki which integrates the entire Pali Tipitaka, commentaries, word indexes, dictionaries, concordances, translations, transliterations, grammars, articles, etc. Next cannon, rinse, repeat. These and the scholastic, devoted and accomplished practitioners.
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Abingdon , modified 15 Years ago at 2/22/09 2:06 AM
Created 15 Years ago at 2/22/09 2:06 AM

RE: Community Wiki Content Ideas

Posts: 53 Join Date: 8/22/09 Recent Posts
I second this idea! I would find different ways of explaining the experience of the states/stages to be very helpful.

RE: off-topic area. Probably a good idea, but I think there would still need to be limits. I've been on fora that were friendly and welcoming (like this one) that later added an (almost) anything-goes OT area, and were destroyed or nearly so when the OT area became nothing more than political flamefests. Friendships were damaged and respect was lost. I'd hate to see the same sort of thing happen here. There has to be a balance between allowing the free exchange of ideas and shaping the discussions in order to preserve the mission and goals of the site....

Thanks for listening!

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