Ironing out the Board Problems.

[leakybucket]

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ziki wrote:
Don't blame yourself" Choisya.
It's just very unclear and we are like mice in a lab trying something out here.

If the board is up, it's up. What if a newcomer registers he/she would think it's open.
One can have questions also prior to reading...what do I know.

ziki

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Actually, it is a case of us Yanks forgetting that the rest of the world uses a more logical system for specifying dates.

This is our first "real" board and it is going to be a testing ground. There will be more confusion but it is I hard to foresee all the problems. But we are getting there and what is discovered by using this board will help establish a pattern for future boards. As a start, we should remember that people all over the world are participating and we should spell out dates fully.

I think the board should initially be set up with locked discussion threads but allow us to read the major header so we can see how the group is going to be organized. The start date (spelled out) should be right at the top of the board so all visitors know when it is going to begin without wading through posts. The book should be announced in advance in the upcoming section (the old format was great) indicating its start date. However, I think the Community Room and Introduce Yourself should be open threads. And maybe a pre-start thread for opening comments. Then on the start date they unlock the discussion threads and away we go. So something helpful has been learned from all this.

Bucky

[Choisya]

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ziki wrote:
This is not a book I want to read but I ordered it because I think I should read it and I think the discussion could help me to get through it (hark- oh my negative anticipations).

So presently I am waiting for the book to arrive in mail. Hopefully it'll be here before X-mas.

ziki

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It will be good to have you with us and I think you will enjoy it Ziki - the language and the humour are superb. If your edition doesn't arrive on time you can read in meanwhile online at:-

http://www.online-literature.com/melville/mobydick/

[Choisya]

Good ideas Bucky. Another useful BNU feature was that the Enroll Now feature triggered B&N to write to us to tell us when the starting date for our books were. We need something like that here. I will flag it up in the Help & Information section.

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leakybucket wrote:

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ziki wrote:
Don't blame yourself" Choisya.
It's just very unclear and we are like mice in a lab trying something out here.

If the board is up, it's up. What if a newcomer registers he/she would think it's open.
One can have questions also prior to reading...what do I know.

ziki

---

Actually, it is a case of us Yanks forgetting that the rest of the world uses a more logical system for specifying dates.

This is our first "real" board and it is going to be a testing ground. There will be more confusion but it is I hard to foresee all the problems. But we are getting there and what is discovered by using this board will help establish a pattern for future boards. As a start, we should remember that people all over the world are participating and we should spell out dates fully.

I think the board should initially be set up with locked discussion threads but allow us to read the major header so we can see how the group is going to be organized. The start date (spelled out) should be right at the top of the board so all visitors know when it is going to begin without wading through posts. The book should be announced in advance in the upcoming section (the old format was great) indicating its start date. However, I think the Community Room and Introduce Yourself should be open threads. And maybe a pre-start thread for opening comments. Then on the start date they unlock the discussion threads and away we go. So something helpful has been learned from all this.

Bucky

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[ziki]

TRADITIONAL INUIT WHALE HUNTING
Don C. Barnett
(edited)

Whale hunting amongst prehistoric Inuit hunting cultures illustrates the ingenuity of people without modern tools in a severe environment.

The Inuit legend of the giant bullhead whale is a mythological explanation for the creation of the heavy mists that characterize the spring climate of the Arctic coast.

This legend says that the giant bullhead whale was the Creator's favorite animal. However, the creator realized that the people needed this animal for survival, and decided to offer it to them provided they did not kill it for mere sport. The Creator created a special season -- spring -- in which the sea ice melted, leaving jagged cracks. The whales would swim amongst the ice cracks, making it easier for the Inuit to capture them. Although killing the whale was essential for survival, the Creator did not like to witness the hunt. Consequently, the thick mists of spring were created so the Creator could not see the killing of the great whale.

The huge bowhead whale liked to spend time near or in the sea ice. Inuit hunters found points of land jutting into the sea that were close to the whale's migration route. In spring the hunters pulled their umiaks and kayaks to the edge of the ice and waited for the whales to surface near them. Sometimes days lasted into weeks. When a whale surfaced, a flurry of activity began as boats were quickly set afloat, and silently and swiftly the whale was pursued. When the whale was overtaken, the lead hunter hurled his harpoon into the animal. Attached to the leather harpoon lines were several seal skin bags inflated with air. These were used to slow down the whale and to mark its location for other hunting crews. When the whale was exhausted, it was killed with a long-handled stone tipped lance. It was towed to thick ice and pulled out of the sea by means of the seal skin ropes. The meat was cut up and hauled back to the shore on komatiks (sleds) and the muktuk or skin was eaten as a delicacy.

Smaller beluga whales were caught with strong nets as well as by harpooning. In western Alaska, long nets made of bearded seal straps were strung out from the beach to catch whales swimming close to shore. Once tangled in the nets, the whales were speared from kayaks (single man hunting boats) or umiaks (larger boats that carried several people).

The types of whales found along the coast of the western Arctic were the beluga, the Pacific killer whale, the grey whale, the fin back, and the hump-back whale. The most common Greenland whale was the bowhead. The whale hunters were most interested in the capture of beluga and bowhead whales.

Each spring in late March or early April the beluga and bowhead whales began to move north from their winter feeding grounds in the Bering Sea farther to the south. Their migration route followed the eastern coast of Siberia, through the Bering Strait, and then along the western and northern coast of Alaska and eastward toward the Beaufort Sea. (Check this route on a map). Normally the bowheads and belugas travelled together in early spring. Beluga moved northward until late June or early July. In autumn the whales migrated westward from the Beaufort Sea past Point Barrow, Alaska, and returned to the south in the Bering Sea.

--------
Nowadays weapons that explode inside the whale are used and they say it is the fastest way to kill the whale. That way of killing is debated, though.

Message Edited by ziki on 12-10-200611:40 PM

[Choisya]

This is one of the bits where I close my eyes Ziki I am interested in the philosophy and humour in Moby Dick - there are a lot of deep insights into human nature there but I am not able to cope with the gory hunting bits and will not read them for fear of becoming even more of an insomniac.

[fanuzzir]

This is not the use for the Community Room as I imagined it. First impressions and greetings, not process and planning, were more what I had in mind. So welcome everyone, and be prepared for some wonderful, in-over-our heads discussion. We'll be staying with Moby Dick with quite awhile, and hopefully we will give ourselves all the time we need to really hear each other.

The Moby Dick club is officially open! That means you should order your book now if you hope to be reading with us. The narrative section discussion threads will always be open, which means that if you come in "late," and want to pick up on a discussion from which others have moved on, you contribute and restart that thread; that's the beauty of asynchronic online communities. I hope that everyone who contributes to that page can let all of us read at our own pace, and according to our own interest. You can even stay here in this chit chat section while you wait for your book or work up the courage to begin reading; or you can skip the whole plot and wig out on whaling lore and illustrations, and confine yourself to the discussion of references and contexts. Again, at your own pace; the pleasure should be all yours. I have complete confidence that we'll find each other if we bear down on what we like and do best--remember that I love Whitman.

I would like to enjoy the first "land-lubber" phase of the novel myself, a great surprise to readers expected ponderous philosophy right off. So today being the 10th, I'm going to give myself at least a week, maybe 10 days to read and comment. I'll be checking other threads of course for those who are jackrabbits, but I won't be able to be as engaged for obvious reasons. We can also circle in the Melville bio and reference threads, to acquaint ourselves with what others are saying and really get to know each other. So at the earliest, about a week to work through the first 100 pages or so. Of course that shouldn't stop you from chiming in about Queeqeg and all the "queer" passages in those chapters throughout the week.

I hope this clarifies our timing and more importantly our philosophy for reading Moby Dick. Again, thank you all for the enthusiasm that lead you to select this book. Enjoy yourselves!

[Choisya]

Thanks Bob! I suppose Community Rooms get used for all sorts of things

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fanuzzir wrote:
This is not the use for the Community Room as I imagined it. First impressions and greetings, not process and planning, were more what I had in mind. So welcome everyone, and be prepared for some wonderful, in-over-our heads discussion. We'll be staying with Moby Dick with quite awhile, and hopefully we will give ourselves all the time we need to really hear each other.

The Moby Dick club is officially open! That means you should order your book now if you hope to be reading with us. The narrative section discussion threads will always be open, which means that if you come in "late," and want to pick up on a discussion from which others have moved on, you contribute and restart that thread; that's the beauty of asynchronic online communities. I hope that everyone who contributes to that page can let all of us read at our own pace, and according to our own interest. You can even stay here in this chit chat section while you wait for your book or work up the courage to begin reading; or you can skip the whole plot and wig out on whaling lore and illustrations, and confine yourself to the discussion of references and contexts. Again, at your own pace; the pleasure should be all yours. I have complete confidence that we'll find each other if we bear down on what we like and do best--remember that I love Whitman.

I would like to enjoy the first "land-lubber" phase of the novel myself, a great surprise to readers expected ponderous philosophy right off. So today being the 10th, I'm going to give myself at least a week, maybe 10 days to read and comment. I'll be checking other threads of course for those who are jackrabbits, but I won't be able to be as engaged for obvious reasons. We can also circle in the Melville bio and reference threads, to acquaint ourselves with what others are saying and really get to know each other. So at the earliest, about a week to work through the first 100 pages or so. Of course that shouldn't stop you from chiming in about Queeqeg and all the "queer" passages in those chapters throughout the week.

I hope this clarifies our timing and more importantly our philosophy for reading Moby Dick. Again, thank you all for the enthusiasm that lead you to select this book. Enjoy yourselves!

---

[Choisya]

I was sent this heart-warming little video from Holland/Netherlands today about the rescue of 100 horses:-

http://video.google.nl/videoplay?docid=-4584913278289860160

A nice Xmas story!

[leakybucket]

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fanuzzir wrote:
The Moby Dick club is officially open! That means you should order your book now if you hope to be reading with us. The narrative section discussion threads will always be open, which means that if you come in "late," and want to pick up on a discussion from which others have moved on, you contribute and restart that thread; that's the beauty of asynchronic online communities. I hope that everyone who contributes to that page can let all of us read at our own pace, and according to our own interest. You can even stay here in this chit chat section while you wait for your book or work up the courage to begin reading; or you can skip the whole plot and wig out on whaling lore and illustrations, and confine yourself to the discussion of references and contexts. Again, at your own pace; the pleasure should be all yours. I have complete confidence that we'll find each other if we bear down on what we like and do best--remember that I love Whitman.

---

I'm afraid I have a synchronic brain, Bob, so I will follow along on your schedule.

Bucky

------------------------------

Bob's schedule

So today being the 10th, I'm going to give myself at least a week, maybe 10 days to read and comment.... We can also circle in the Melville bio and reference threads, to acquaint ourselves with what others are saying and really get to know each other. So at the earliest, about a week to work through the first 100 pages or so.

[ziki]

Now....please allow me to express myself clearly once more:

You said Rob we start on 26th December and thus 26th it should remain.
People plan and adjust so for this time even if the board is open now, the 12/26 should be the main "discussion starts date". Period.

You B&N guys have to work out the frames better and stop giving us double messages.

Now it is us participants trying to run the place. It can work but it can also backfire.
See U after X-mas. I wish to take your words for real so so please keep them! OK?

ziki
Why does it have to be so bl---y complicated? It's beyond my understanding.

Message Edited by ziki on 12-11-200607:23 PM

[ziki]

Hi Bob,

community room as we are used to it is a space where we can post anything off topic, slightly related or not related to the main subject, a chat space, a free space not to clutter the threads. We can talk about Bush or Discovery on the orbit...whatever. We need such thread.

Previously we had introductions for saying hi but nowadays that can be done as I was informed (when trying to determine who you were) by posting info under one's profile, so intros are off.

You may think that we are incredibly inflexible and that you can't teach old dogs how to sit but that is not the case.

The BNU structure as we knew it worked very well and therefore we are reluctant to let it go completely. Will we ever be heard? It is not due to any stern habits but to pure functionality. When a better lay out comes along we will soon recognize it. Alas community room is off limit, here we tolerate the chaos provided order is kept in the remaining threads.

my POV in plural form
ziki

Message Edited by ziki on 12-11-200607:19 PM

[Choisya]

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ziki wrote:

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Ziki - your post has gone AWOL again!!! Whatever did you say??

Message Edited by Choisya on 12-11-200601:11 PM

[Laurel]

It just occurred to me that it would be a good idea to mark complaint posts as COMPLAINT.
Then the BN people could read it, and the rest of us could skip it.

Message Edited by Laurel on 12-11-200610:41 AM

[Choisya]

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Laurel wrote:
It just occurred to me that it would be a good idea to mark complaint posts as COMPLAINT.
Then the BN people could read it, and the rest of us could skip it.

Message Edited by Laurel on 12-11-200610:41 AM

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Good idea Laurel although perhaps we should be putting Complaints in the Help and Information Section and not on discussion boards?

[Laurel]

Amen, and Amen!

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Choisya wrote:

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Laurel wrote:
It just occurred to me that it would be a good idea to mark complaint posts as COMPLAINT.
Then the BN people could read it, and the rest of us could skip it.

Message Edited by Laurel on 12-11-200610:41 AM

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Good idea Laurel although perhaps we should be putting Complaints in the Help and Information Section and not on discussion boards?

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[Laurel]

We need someone who can do that with these groups!

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Choisya wrote:
I was sent this heart-warming little video from Holland/Netherlands today about the rescue of 100 horses:-

http://video.google.nl/videoplay?docid=-4584913278289860160

A nice Xmas story!

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[Choisya]

Yes, they certainly need reining in - you're the horsewoman!!

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Laurel wrote:
We need someone who can do that with these groups!

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Choisya wrote:
I was sent this heart-warming little video from Holland/Netherlands today about the rescue of 100 horses:-

http://video.google.nl/videoplay?docid=-4584913278289860160

A nice Xmas story!

---

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[willowy]

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Choisya wrote:
Even though Bob Fanuzzir has gone to a great deal of trouble to put up Moby Dick for us (not a B&N scheduled book) and to offer some structured chapter headings, only 3 people have posted so far. Where are they? Why! On other boards suggesting and discussing books for the future and deciding who will become Moderators, whilst ignoring the work of the good Moderators they have! This is not fair folks and it is as I forecast - too much choice on these boards is not a good thing, doing our own thing is not a good thing - much as it might be 'the American way'. We have come from BN U where our books were chosen by B&N people and we stuck with those throughout the four week period offered, just as if we were in a classroom reading books chosen by our lecturers or the college. I thought it was this university/studious aspect of BNU that we appreciated and that we did not want a free-for-all school playground environment? I find this very disappointing and very unfair to Fanuzzir I hope everyone comes in from the playground soon and gets down to some serious reading instead of continually 'flicking channels'!

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I also thought the start date wasn't till the 26th! I'm off to a bit of a slow start, I've had some family issues I had to sort out and took some time, but now I'm ready to start on Moby Dick with you all!

[willowy]

I think the ideas you guys suggested would be great! I'd rather not read the complaints anymore too, and I think it would help to flag down BN toward them, rather than congesting the boards and making them HARDER to navigate. Then again as Choisya said that is the purpose of the Help and Information Section, to house our complaints. Thanks Ladies, great ideas for us to think about!

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Laurel wrote:
Amen, and Amen!

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Choisya wrote:

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Laurel wrote:
It just occurred to me that it would be a good idea to mark complaint posts as COMPLAINT.
Then the BN people could read it, and the rest of us could skip it.

Message Edited by Laurel on 12-11-200610:41 AM

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Good idea Laurel although perhaps we should be putting Complaints in the Help and Information Section and not on discussion boards?

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[Everyman]

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fanuzzir wrote:
...The Moby Dick club is officially open!

Does that mean we're not waiting until the 26th to start? That will be a problem for some who ordered their books but don't have them yet.