Topic theme awareness!!!

I've just looked over quite a few messages in quite a few topics, and... MESSAGES RELEVANT TO THE THEME OF THE TOPIC CURRENTLY SEEM TO BE HARD TO FIND!

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PEOPLE - LOOK AT THE TOPIC TITLE!

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YOUR MESSAGES SHOULD HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE THEME OF THE TOPIC!You need to do self moderation. The admin staff can't do person by person guidance on this.By the way - There's also been some pretty crappy topic titles recently.AdminnemooseusTo staff and others - Feel free to liberally bump this topic.

Too many new topics. Too many coffee house topics. Some of these topics are frivolous.And can we minimize the ridiculous religious topics, for God's sake?That one about the Jehovah's Witness's inner peace is a total absurdity. And then there's the one about "hyper-evolution." That one takes the cake.What I'm really interested in is learning more TOE science. Just leave out the esoteric terms. I'm beginning to believe that any idea worth its salt can be expressed in plain language. I don't care how scientific it is or how philosophic it is. It can be expressed without using esoteric terms. If it can't, then there's something wrong with it.One of the main problems in our world--I mean the Western world--is a decline in the use of language.

I agree that there have been too many lightweight topics over the last few days.On the "ridiculuous religious topics", I just ignore most of those threads. I try to keep in mind that there may be people posting in those threads who object to what they consider to be ridiculuous evolution topics.It you want a ToE thread that you can get your teeth into, why not propose one, and then start the discussion with your questions.On language -- sometimes we do need to introduce new concepts, and thus new terminology, into scientific discussions. But it is good to keep that to a minimum where possible.

Hi,Rob, but in an age of specialisation (and flood of information), isn`t the use of esotericism * leading to a refinment in our descriptions? Rather than use ten words to describe technicalities, doesn`t one word create more exactitude? Giving a vague generalisation leads to confusion. Shorthand for a lengthy process packs more info into a sentence and lets one cover more ground. True, one must Google up an explanation, but that`s how the world seems to be going.
* or should it be esoterrorism?

This business about language is very important, my friend. If you are a scientist and start throwing out a bunch of exotic terms, who's going to believe what you say? Other scientists might, but we want to convince the man in the street, and obviously we have failed miserably.

No, it's not a refinement at all: it's a crudity.

And I will tell you why it's a crudity.Everyone has their field. The postal clerk has his field. The auto mechanic has his field. I have my field. You have your field. But if we cannot communicate across these fields, we are in trouble. It closes the field off to only those "elites" who are in the field.This is not good. I realize that everyone likes the idea of being an "elite." That's why they use this language. It shows that they are on the inside of some group. That's fine, but what it means is that we are sectioned off into various clans.But if one is "cosmopolitan," not only in terms of country but in terms of field, he will be able to overcome these clans.The use of esoteric terms is a provincial habit.

Bumping original topic.If we can't listen to Moose, we're all done for. Don't go off-topic in a thread ABOUT STAYING ON TOPIC! Take all this chatter somewhere else.For goodness sake. And please don't make me bump this again.This message has been edited by AdminBen, Thursday, 2005/08/25 11:21 PM

I felt I was making an important point.

If you read over my words, I think you will find them rather profound.Just a suggestion.I don't want to interfere with your authority of course.

Respect is much more important than any "important point." That's why "God" invented Forum Rules.Feel free to open a new thread, or use an appropriate existing thread, to make your point.If you have comments about admin procedures, please direct comments to the appropriate links below.Thanks.

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We should stay on topic.OK, now that I've done that, here's a little aside: I agree with Robin. I think that the way language is used is definitely a factor in topic drift. If someone uses obscure language, or vague terms, or vacuous statements, the topic is guaranteed to drift first to the meaning of what is said, then to the way in which it is said, and finally people start bickering about the definition of words.Language is important. It is the one thing that allows us to do what we love to do most here, which is argue our position. A good argument rests on good use of language. And good language is language that is understood by all.That is not to say that you can't use Long Words, we're not all bears of little brain, but clarity is much more important than showing off your vocabulary.And we should also stay on topic. {edited to correct spelling}This message has been edited by Parasomnium, 26-Aug-2005 09:24 AM

While I respect your authority, God knows, I would like to argue that if an important point comes up, even if vicariously off-topic, such is the purpose of this overall forum: to encourage new ideas.I had a point to make about esoteric vocabulary, and I feel that my summation was eloquent. You may of course disagree, and I respect that.However, I have some serious matters to discuss here. I'm not interested in all these rules and regulations.I'm interested in the truth. That's all that concerns me. And this esoteric vocabulary will not do. No. If you can't tell me what you believe in non-esoteric terms, than I won't believe you.This message has been edited by robinrohan, 08-26-2005 02:01 AMThis message has been edited by robinrohan, 08-26-2005 02:02 AM

to Faith's new language topic.This message has been edited by berberry, 08-26-2005 02:23 AM

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"I think younger workers first of all, younger workers have been promised benefits the government promises that have been promised, benefits that we can't keep. That's just the way it is." George W. Bush, May 4, 2005

Robin, just because you want to learn more science, which I consider boring and unimportant in the bigger scheme of things, it is OK as long as you realize that to some of us, religion and philosophy are far more meaningful. Give equal ground, here. Meaningless topics never make it past the first five posts. If they do, they are obviously meaningful to someone!