Eli Rabett wrote: > Real Climate recently started an open forum that has no structure. As > a result, even for the first 100 messages, it is very hard to follow. > I just made the suggestion over there, that given the overlap of > participants it might make more sense to move the forum over here and > call this RealClimate Forum
While it is an interesting idea, I would be surprised to see it happen. Since the beginning, RealClimate has had a top-down structure (i.e. selected experts talking to the masses), with the broader public given the ability to comment but little control over the topics presented. Though one might think of a "forum" as more free form, it is clear from the description of "RC Forum" (http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2006/07/introducing-rc-forum/) that the approach is still top-down, but that the targeted content is more likely to be shorter, selected news items. A email group like this, or a true online forum, treats users much more equally, (mostly) without centralized control over the topics of discussion. In other words, any one can start a thread, any one can comment, and discussion occurs on a mostly level playing field. Both approaches have value. RealClimate's blog based approach keeps their signal to noise very high and ensures consistent credibility, but it is consequently quite limited as a forum for broader community discussion. What you suggest Eli, is one way that RealClimate could foster broader discussion, but I think it is a much different beast than the existing "RC Forum". It would be interesting if the group at RealClimate were willing to share their credibility with a system that they didn't directly control. Another approach is that RC could expand their site to include more traditional forum software (vBulletin, phpBB, SMF). The problem with any open approach will be controlling signal to noise. The unmoderated sci.environment is largely impossible because of all the ranting. So far this forum is still small, and largely one sided, so it has stayed pretty clean, but what happens if some dedicated advocates from the other side (say the Competitive Enterprise Institute) decide they want to push their point of view? Keeping the discussions useful and moderation fair suddenly becomes a lot harder (not impossible though). I've thought about adding forums to my own website (http://www.globalwarmingart.com/). At a technical level it would be easy to do. At a social level, I don't think I really have the clout to recruit effective volunteer moderators to keep the discussions useful. RealClimate is perhaps unique among well trafficked climate change sites, in that they probably do have enough clout to establish not only a large public discussion forum but also ensure it is maintained and managed well. However, they would almost certainly have to share the management of such a forum (be it email group, or online bulletin board) with others outside their core group of climate scientists, which from the RC perspective could be seen as a risky proposition. If the forum degenerates into ranting then it is a strike against their credibility. If instead it is tightly controlled, to the point of perceived bias, then it is arguably an even bigger blow against their credibility. I suspect that it is easier for them to keep venues such as this as unofficial outlets for RC climate discussion. As you know, they already link to this group, and there is considerable overlap in the participating communities, so it can already serve much the same purpose as an official RC email group, without their risking any credibility in the process. Of course, the folks over at RC might still surprise me. I have no doubt that a large, well-known, and effective discussion forum could be a valuable addition for communicating climate science. The only question is how does one create such an animal? Maybe this group will grow into such a beast, but if so, it still has a lot of growing to do. -Robert A. Rohde http://www.globalwarmingart.com/ --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Global Change ("globalchange") newsgroup. Global Change is a public, moderated venue for discussion of science, technology, economics and policy dimensions of global environmental change. Posts will be admitted to the list if and only if any moderator finds the submission to be constructive and/or interesting, on topic, and not gratuitously rude. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/globalchange -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
