sobriquet

I noticed tonight for the first time on the forum... 3 guests, 7 members, 2 anonymous members I'm assuming this has been set as a privileged feature.

It appears that when I use Firefox that I am able to register. There was no 'type in a code' requirement and the software seems to have been changed. http://ethnobotany-australia.net/phpBB2-2....opic.php?t=4420 So everyone can just register at the old forum I guess and start afresh? It appears people have been registering and posting for a while as already ovserved. Does anyone think it's a bad idea to join up there? Who modified the software anyhow and when? It appears that registrations started up again on the 12 Nov 2006, and at least 700 spam bots have registered on the forum bringing the member number up to 2800 or so.

Can you post the URL for it? The only thing I've noticed is that on your section where you are moderator "Vascular Plants"... http://ethnobotany-australia.net/phpBB2-2....ewforum.php?f=1 there are no sticky posts redirecting people at all that I can ascertain. Perhaps I'm seeing something else but it even appears that you replied to someone on the old forum regarding transplanting some plants only today. Maybe the forum software's date feature is corrupted?

Terrible stuff. Lost her 20 year old son to a drug cocktail some weeks ago I believe. With a new baby girl who is being contested by an ex boyfriend and the current husband for less than honorable reasons (money) it's really messy. She looked whacked out in footage of an interview she gave several days ago. And the video of her final moments have apparently been sold for an undisclosed sum to paparazzi vultures. Sickening stuff. I questioned the validity or worth of the post too and would have no issues at all with this post being put into the deletion queue if desired.

No need to be so defensive there evo. It wasn't as if anyone said you were a wino... you whiner ;)

I haven't had enough (or any for that matter) wine to understand exactly what you mean there evolutionNth, but I like your move of logging on while drunk. It seems to allow one some sort of leeway in terms of posting nonsense Maybe there has to be a new policy on drunk members; or perhaps you are taking a lead from my club analogy and you're close to doing a technicolour yawn on the new carpet that's been installed in this place. I hope you can keep your drink down.

I've never even seen that feature since my browser is almost always logged in automatically whenever I open it. Edit: Aha. I never even hit the log in button but have now spotted the feature. Nice touch and thanks for the tip.

Gomaos, perhaps you should have put a big STICKY post up in all the subforums telling people the new address and that it will be up in a few days. That may redirect the people to the new place.

I have to say that this forum has one of the most unusual policies on editing of posts that I've seen. Some forums restrict editing to a certain time period after a post for correction of elementary spelling or grammatical errors and some forums don't allow editing at all once the post goes through (but usually require a preview before hitting the final post button). I think integrity of the threads is important to be honest. It allows honest appraisal of a thread at some point in the future and does not give room to sanitisation or editing to create a false representation of events. I haven't seen that sort of malicious back editing on this forum, but to require that people go into threads after the event and delete or edit things distorts the flow of events and makes some subsequent posts appear to be nonsensical. The "Hot Asian Chick" thread was a case in point that turned thread integrity into a fiasco in what was basically an off topic joke thread. It's like asking the stenographer at court to go back and erase and modify certain things after the event; or for government Hansards to be edited. To me it is anathema. If a mistake was made and an apology offered there should be no need to modify the post since that means that no one who reads that thread later knows what transpired. Why must we revise history?

What's intriguing is that new member joinups appear to have been possible for a time? I tried joining up on the old forum but it has a database error so it's a no go. And the forum logo and masthead has changed??

I'm also an anarchist at heart but believe that in the real world anarcho-capitalism in a libertarian setting is what is achievable.

I also thought everything was OK. Perfect even. The informational content is and always has been fantastic in the 'serious' forums and there was some excellent banter in the community chill (off topic) areas which really are a take it or leave it thing as far as I am concerned. They're off topic for a reason and it seems so easy to me to just ignore what doesn't involve or interest you; and not take things in negative ways. Try to see the positive in everything. PS: I got one of those AAA Arc-Lights and they are fantastic. My most cherished personal item for the past 4 weeks at least

Nice post evolutionNth. Green_Osiris has a unique style that is surely going to be a love it or hate it thing, but for those who can read between the lines and understand some of the clever twists he brings then he is of great value. There is no place for grudges or animosity I believe. I think that your points about the apology offered and it being snubbed are also valid; especially in the context you framed it ie. it would indeed be offensive if the person personally knows the other. Where there is incomplete information about the other person and circumstantial evidence then mistakes of judgement are possible. We're only human and make mistakes. I too see beyond personality clashes and find tremedous value in everyone, even those who post contrary to my ideals. Like I pointed out in another thread, the thing that distinguishes an educated mind is the ability to entertain thoughts (ideas and points of view) without necessarily accepting them.

I think he does get the style and community thing quite well, and knows boundaries too. In fact your statements in relation to freedom of speech (ie. no censorship) and lies is quite pertinent. Freedom of speech does not give licence to lie or cheat. Freedom of speech is something much purer than that, and must be practised with the right spirit. Like I mentioned in another thread, my view of freedom of speech is that it should be the freedom to express what one wants with no external censorship or influences. That doesn't mean it's a free for all, and lies and everything else goes. There must be solid integrity backing up the right to free speech.

I think you meant an exhaustive list. No I don't need an exhaustive list but the way it was framed made it appear like a dichotomy, with a neutral territory in between. But when you say "surely trolls aren't the only ones having a negative effect"; you are in effect saying that all trolling is negative which I don't agree with either. I think sometimes the right type of trolling activity (note that I didn't say troll, but rather activity) can bring positive effects in that it can break through the doldrums of groupthink. Main entry: GROUPTHINK: the practice of thinking or making decisions as a group in a way that discourages creativity or individual responsibility. I detest negative trolls as much as the next person. You'll know from my defence of the forum against 'mexicali' and 'onemind' that I have the interests of the forum at heart, but not all trolling activity is negative. It's not as clear cut as that at all. To villify real human beings for trying to stir up some action is not fair in my opinion. It's like the gay movement back in the 1980's with the mardi gras in Sydney. They had to do what they did to change things. It's very easy to condemn people to a minority group or label them as something and then villify them. I was trying to emphasise that there is no clear cut dichotomy, and my mistake in the presentation of that sentence did not make that entirely clear.

Just a quick post this time on what people would define as being a virgin for both males and females? What makes a male a virgin for example? The fact that his penis has never been in a vagina? In fact, unless he was born via Caesarean section, then every male born naturally, would be a non-virgin from birth if that was the definition. The definition is pretty hard to pin down really. Any definitive answers?

Are you going to try for a hat trick and try and bait me on at least one other thread given this is number 2

I don't eat it often enough to really make a judgement on it, but your mileage may vary.

Everyone knows the story of terrorism since 2001. The loss of liberties and the imposition of greater and greater restrictions on personal liberties is advanced as a way to combat the terrorism bogeyman. However more people die in car crashes per annum than in terrorist attacks. You are more likely to be struck by lightning than die of a terrorist attack and yet the assaults on personal liberties are insane. They get support from the unwashed masses because they are unaware of the realities. They agree to such disagreeable things like an "Australia Card" because they believe it will help to combat terrorism and illegal immigration etc. But what it does is actually surrender to the powers that be freedoms. It also in effect surrenders to the terrorists. Because every freedom that is robbed from ordinary people is a victory for the terrorists. Everything that makes life a little more troublesome is a victory. Every measure put in place to combat an effectively small problem is a victory to the troublemakers. Every bit of wasted effort and change made necessary is a win for the "bad" guys. It's a fine line. I think even the threat of being placed in a moderation queue sets up a bad karma situation. The freer more liberal (libertarian), and controversial people are going to draw attention all the time with the threat of gagging or banning. And yet I think they are the people who often stimulate discussion through presenting the side people haven't considered before. Anyhow like I said before I acknowledge that measures may be necessary but also point out that they create harmful tension when none is necessary.

I have my own brahmi plant and it is prolific. Just put it in a self watering pot and it will go crazy with some dynamic lifeter or seamungus. You only need to eat a 10cm sprig regularly. I only bother to eat some if I remember as I find it to be the bitterest and most long lasting astringent I know. You'll have so much after a month you'll have to eat it by the handful to keep up with its growth. I've chosen sele giline over other nootropics because it has an instantly recognisable clean effect and has a clinically demonstrated neuroprotective effect (and in some animal studies prolongs life).

Torsten I don't agree that only the mods and admins are the ones capable of positive 'engineering' ( not a term I used myself, nor do I claim it as I said before I'm none of those things mentioned). I don't think anyone has a monopoly on good ideas, and the only way to learn more is to put things forward for discussion. I lean towards the Aristotelian view that everything is potentially open to be questioned. That there should be no taboo to questioning and inquiry. And like Aristotle I believe that it is the sign of an educated mind to be able to entertain an idea without necessarily accepting it. It's all about furthering our selves and our understanding of things. Without questioning and examining the premises for something then one would be accepting ignorance.

Before there is more criticism of my comments let me just say that this thread had died for 3 days before I actually bothered to make a reasonable post on it to try and get a response. For that attention alone which seems to have sparked a revival I think people should at least acknowledge that I have done something positive. Secondly I didn't pretend to know more about it's history beyond my own involvement with it which started in May 2006 at which time it was impossible to register or become involved. I visited the site about once a week trying to register hoping the issue was resolved. By July I had almost lost hope. I then went to extra lengths to try and contact every moderator on the memberlist who had an email listed to inform them of the situation. Here is my attempt at emailing the mods: >To: [email protected], [email protected], >[email protected] >Subject: Ethnobotany forum registration impossible. >Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2006 21:07:36 +1000 > >Hi there, > >Just wanted to let you know that registration onto the ethnobotany >forum has become impossible. > >The last members are from 10/5/2006. The registration page asks for a >non-existent code and fails to register anyone. > >I wonder if this is a bug or a known issue? > >Regards The only reply I seem to have kept is... >Hey, Yeah we already know about it and are trying to get it fixed try >again in the future > >peace The next day I found this forum and registered. And the rest as they say is history.

Just wondering if anyone else has noticed that sometimes a post will have one or more replies to it, and yet when you look at the listing of threads on the subforum the thread will show a VIEW COUNT of ZERO! Perhaps it is being updated only every hour or so, but sometimes the problem seems to persist. Just wondering if it's a corruption in the software or a sign of a bug that may grow into a bigger problem such as database stability in the future? Just pointing out my observations in the effort to help avert any hacks or danger to the forum.

I just eat them by peeling like an avocado (use a large spoon to scoop out the flesh. Its a uniform white gelatinous mass with the seeds scattered all through the substance. You can slice it up much like ram's testicle (popular in Afghanistan) with a slight diagonal or elliptical cut, or cut into bite size pieces and serve with toothpicks. Two ways with the seeds. You'll eat so many that if you shit on a piece of newspaper about 24 hours later and put it in the garden you should have plenty of new plants in several weeks. Or you can just run one of the small slices or portions into a sieve macerating it and collecting the material that gets through and drying it. Your sieve's coarseness will determine what you'll get - the seeds may get trapped on the inside which is even better - my sieve lets it all through like a macerated paste which I just put on a piece of kitchen paper and put out in the sun. They're dry in a day or three.

There's something a bit unusual about that sentence; I wonder if anyone else can work it out