The World Table: Already a Failure?

[_Runtu]

Runtu,

That's a great idea!

We should start a betting pool over how low my reputation points will sink.

[_Everybody Wang Chung]

Runtu,

That's a great idea!

We should start a betting pool over how low my reputation points will sink.

I'll bet you a Ruth's Chris dinner that your reputation points will always be higher than Wade.

[_Runtu]

I'll bet you a Ruth's Chris dinner that your reputation points will always be higher than Wade.

One of my goals this year is to stay away from personal comments about Wade. It doesn't do me any good.

[_Fence Sitter]

I read through a few of the threads and stumbled on something that will keep me from registering:

Mark, during this beta besting phase we are still ironing out kinks, and your profile helped us to find one. One of the things The World Table does is provide a forum of credibility in addition to civility for people engaging each other over divisive topics. It dawned on me over the weekend that one of the things that contributes or detracts from credibility is the profile photo people use. Your use of Alfred E. Neuman from MAD sends a message that detracts from what you want to accomplish with a high score at TWT. For that reason I need to rate you much lower. Please consider replacing it and putting a photo of yourself on your profile as a step toward full disclosure, transparency, and credibility. Thanks.

Really? This muckety muck "had" to pop into the discussion to rate Mark based on his photo?

Not interested.

Wait....that's not Markk's real photo?

Are you going to tell me this isn't Dan Peterson?

[_dryfly]

Perhaps it should have been named "Small World Table and you'll get ranked". I seriously considered joining the discussion there, but couldn't bring myself to submitting an actual photograph. Last week, I was twice arrested for "ugly in public with a prior".

[_angsty]

I read through a few of the threads and stumbled on something that will keep me from registering:

Mark, during this beta besting phase we are still ironing out kinks, and your profile helped us to find one. One of the things The World Table does is provide a forum of credibility in addition to civility for people engaging each other over divisive topics. It dawned on me over the weekend that one of the things that contributes or detracts from credibility is the profile photo people use. Your use of Alfred E. Neuman from MAD sends a message that detracts from what you want to accomplish with a high score at TWT. For that reason I need to rate you much lower. Please consider replacing it and putting a photo of yourself on your profile as a step toward full disclosure, transparency, and credibility. Thanks.

Really? This muckety muck "had" to pop into the discussion to rate Mark based on his photo?

Not interested.

It seems mighty silly for one to evaluate a poster's credibility, civility, etc. based on an avatar/profile photo, rather than the substance of his or her contribution. I suppose that in the land of Mormonism, where two sets of earrings is seen as an issue deserving prophetic commentary, evaluating a contributor based on appearances makes plenty of sense.

[_Madison54]

I find the layout a bit confusing and tedious but maybe that's just me.

Can everyone see the ratings you give to another poster or comment?

[_Hermoine]

I find the layout a bit confusing and tedious but maybe that's just me.

Can everyone see the ratings you give to another poster or comment?

No. You can just see what the person's rating is.

The format is confusing. It is not very user friendly..but it is still in a beta stage.

I agree with others here that it is too early to label it as a failure.

Cwald, you asked where DCP, Midgley, and Schryver are. I don't know about Midgley and Schryver, but Dan just approved me for his table. It doesn't look like he has posted anything there yet.

I found one little conversation that was kind of interesting about the Jesus and the wedding at Cana.

[_Doctor Scratch]

I am surprised by the lack of apologists. Where is DCP and midgley and Shriver etc?

I'm sure that they realized that this wasn't going to work out shortly after it was announced at the FAIR Conference--either that or this really was just a cynical ploy to gather "intel" on Church critics all along. The obvious fact of the matter here is that participation on something like TWT is just too big of a risk for the upper-tier Mopologists. To do what they do they have to maintain the suspension of disbelief that they're actually nice, decent, church-going family men: that they're actually friendly, well-meaning, generous, etc., which is something they're able to do in well-controlled contexts. They can't afford to have actual, quantifiable data out there that shows the opposite, which is that they are actually condescending, dishonest, and venomous, and yet The World Table could do precisely that. It goes to show you how committed they are to their own methods that they won't even lay everything down on this "World Table." On that note, I think that poor Wade is basically being used as a "bellwether" to test out what might happen if one or more of the classic-FARMS people started participating more heavily.

Incidentally, I wanted to add that I think that Midgley--among the Mopologists you named--would likely maintain higher ratings than the others, in my opinion.

[_Madison54]

I find the layout a bit confusing and tedious but maybe that's just me.

Can everyone see the ratings you give to another poster or comment?

No. You can just see what the person's rating is.

Ok...but I'm still confused...

So....the arrows connecting people's posts and then the score shown (in the solid gold arrow) is not what that person rated the other person (and their post)? That's what it looks like to me but I need to go back over there and read more I guess.

Thanks for the reply!