NEW CASAA Forum

[kristin]

There is a CASAA forum for ALL members located at casaaforum.org

If the URL doesn't work yet, use casaaforum.freeforums.org • Index page for now.

Thanks!!

 

[kinabaloo]

Can't log in

Is this non-public ?

Any connection with the casaa website ?

 

[Thulium]

Kristin,

I've registered and am activating my account now, but I think that CASAAforums.org should not open in earnest until after the election is completed and the Bylaws are enacted and we decide for ourselves how we choose to moderate the discussion.

Thanks again for your unending support and proactivity in our cause. I'm honored to stand beside you in this election and I look forward to working with you to establish and maintain our right to choose safer and more effective smoking replacements.

Regards,
Thad Marney aka "Thulium"

 

[kristin]

Kristin,

I've registered and am activating my account now, but I think that CASAAforums.org should not open in earnest until after the election is completed and the Bylaws are enacted and we decide for ourselves how we choose to moderate the discussion.

Thanks again for your unending support and proactivity in our cause. I'm honored to stand beside you in this election and I look forward to working with you to establish and maintain our right to choose safer and more effective smoking replacements.

Regards,
Thad Marney aka "Thulium"

The forum is for ALL CASAA members. Many CASAA members are not ECF members and can't even see these threads. That is extremely unfair and needed to be rectified ASAP.

 

[kristin]

Can't log in

Is this non-public ?

Any connection with the casaa website ?

It's currently seperate from the web site. Please register separately at the CASAA Forum to access.

 

[SLDS181]

I think its fine, at worst its a temporary location, and one less issue to deal with right this second.

 

[kristin]

By the way - I could use some help getting it set up better. It's been a while since I had a forum. Anyone with experience interested in helping??

 

[kristin]

Thad,

I should mention that it's currently just open general discussion for members, intended to allow everyone to participate it the types of discussions going on here at ECF. It's not board member discussions.

 

[kristin]

If anyone has a good thread going here that they'd like ALL CASAA members to see, please repost it at the CASAA forum! I've already added the nominee bios.

 

[Thulium]

Thad,

I should mention that it's currently just open general discussion for members, intended to allow everyone to participate it the types of discussions going on here at ECF. It's not board member discussions.

I understand that completely and I'd be happy to help where I can. I've moderated a few bulletin boards over the years (going back to the days of FIDOnet and BBSs, and more recently I ran a discussion forum for my church) and experience shows that there is a lot of work involved with moderating a forum. If we operate it "lassaiz faire", expect to be overrun with SPAM links to websites trying to bump Google rankings. OTOH, tf we moderate it at all, those same trolls will cry censorship.

Its a big undertaking, and I'm happy to help, but I would try to avoid promoting it in earnest at least until after CASAA has enacted a constitution and bylaws. In the meantime, ECF has been fantastic in hosting our discussions and is the source of our coming together for this cause in the first place--if we have a bit of an ECF bent at the beginning it should be expected, and IMO valued. Once we are a little further in the process of making ourselves an independent organization, that is the time to look outside ECF.

In the meantime, I did notice you have an election subforum already started and this is a good place to allow for some campaigning outside ECF where needed, but I am of the opinion that this should be downplayed where possible...at least this week.

 

[kristin]

In the meantime, ECF has been fantastic in hosting our discussions and is the source of our coming together for this cause in the first place--if we have a bit of an ECF bent at the beginning it should be expected, and IMO valued. Once we are a little further in the process of making ourselves an independent organization, that is the time to look outside ECF.

Unless we want to let non-ECF members feel welcome in CASAA. There are CASAA members banned from ECF who can't even read these posts. What about them?

The CASAA forum has nothing to do with bylaws and the constitution anymore than this ECF forum does. It's to serve the exact same function as this forum, but be open to EVERYONE.

I appreciate your offer to help - I'll probably take you up on it!

 

[Webby]

I like the idea, a few thoughts:

• The intent has always been to link to ALL the forums and respectfully request a CASAA subforum on each.
• Develop foreign language forums - I speak Spanish and Portuguese, and have many customers in Central and South America who struggle with English. A written forum would allow them to participate wher many of them currently can not.
• a seperate cassaforum is fine as long as it doesn't dilute from participation in the other forums or become convoluted and spam filled. having a moderator or retro-mod would be vital or spammers would overrun it.

My only strong recommendation is that the cassa.org events calendar be in ONE place (for obvious reasons) You never run more than one database of vital information like gatherings and events.

Great ideas! Keep 'em coming!

 

[mtndude]

Thanks, Kristin.

It can do no harm, IMO.

 

[BigJimW]

By the way - I could use some help getting it set up better. It's been a while since I had a forum. Anyone with experience interested in helping??

Been running forums for 2 decades. I'll help if needed.

 

[kristin]

Are there going to be CASAA representatives at each sub forum of all these forums? I would think it would make more sense to have one central forum with alternate language subforums in that, with a multilingual moderator.

If 90% of the CASAA activity is happening at ECF or one particular forum, the subforums at other forums are going to be woefully uninformed, unless someone regularly checks in where the majority of the discussions are. Unless it's going to be run with "chapters" and there are designated chapter managers at each forum.

With one CASAA forum, all news and announcements from the website could be easily posted in one place and get out to all CASAA members and debates/discussions/ideas will be in one easily accessible place, to assemble into newsletters, etc for offline members.

 

[CJsKee]

Kristin...filled out registration and it said I needed to link with email that would be sent...got email from Overstock.com??? Will I get one from the forum?

 

[mtndude]

Kristin...filled out registration and it said I needed to link with email that would be sent...got email from Overstock.com??? Will I get one from the forum?

yeah, you should get an activation email, too.

anyone else who get's the spam message before registering, just blank out your email info before completing registration.

 

[Webby]

Playing Devil's Advocate:

I do worry about watering down our representation across so many forums outlets. Running a forum is a LOT of work and ECF, VF and RtV already have established communities and members. There seems to be a wide overlap of members who cross between the forums enough to keep everyone on topic and the diversity of each forums membership would allow for a wide range of views to be expressed without re-inventing the wheel so to speak.

Are you looking to replace ECF, VF, etc or to make a communal forum strictly for CASAA activities?

I just know we have a lot of goals and plans and limited time. You've come up with some fantastic ideas and I'm sure the well won't run dry anytime soon.

 

[seminolewind]

I personally would not want to replace any ecig forum. They are invaluable. At CASAA, the forum categories should be limited to what CASAA is for. Not how to vape or buy an ecig or which juice to buy. This is where CASAA should have links to the forums for people who want to learn more about e-cigs .

 

[Thulium]

Unless we want to let non-ECF members feel welcome in CASAA. There are CASAA members banned from ECF who can't even read these posts. What about them?

I'm not passing judgment on anyone, but I would err on the side of caution. I don't think ECF has been so poorly moderated as to expect a great number of people being banned without good reason and there's no reason to re-invent the wheel.

One of the founding principles of CASAA is integration and diversity, so I completely support expanding the scope of CASAA anywhere we can. However, CASAA was founded here at ECF, and the nominees are running on their ECF handles. It seems unfair to me to expect people who unable to read the posting histories of the candidates to give a fair voice at this juncture.

Everyone should have a voice, and it is my hope that CASAA will be an effective sounding board for everyone, not just posters here at ECF. To that end, I'm encouraging a bit of restraint to ensure that we remain relevant.

The CASAA forum has nothing to do with bylaws and the constitution anymore than this ECF forum does. It's to serve the exact same function as this forum, but be open to EVERYONE.

Perhaps you misunderstood. There are moderation issues that need to be resolved and the events of last night underscore that point. If CASAAforums.org is going to fairly represent the organization, it behooves us to establish our policies first.

I appreciate your offer to help - I'll probably take you up on it!

You're gonna get my help, like it or not! I'll leave it to others to determine my form of participation, but I'm in this for the long haul.