[Tom Bishop]

I made a post in the Council forum and we are inviting public discussion of this idea:

http://forum.tfes.org/index.php?topic=2211.msg55512#msg55512

I propose that a temporary rule in the upper foura be put in place announcing that we are trying to create a modern edition of Earth Not a Globe as a community and that all conversations should be focused around this idea. A similar announcement should be made on the main page. It's going to take a monumental amount of effort to create a modern edition of Earth Not a Globe

When questions are posted for us to answer about FET the discussion should be centered on sticking to an agreed upon format and contributing to the work. RE'ers can provide challenge questions as desired, but two rules would need to be followed:

Rule 1: Stay on topic - All threads should keep on topic. If a question is asked about sinking ships, and the poster asks about the Apollo missions, his question will be ignored and redirected to the rules page.

Rule 2: All conversations must contribute to writing a modern edition of Earth Not a Globe. That doesn't mean we should finish one chapter per thread, but it does mean that we should focus our conversations on providing comprehensive answers, referencing supporting evidence, creating professional sentence and paragraph structure, and finding holes in explanations.

While not part of this vote proposal, I gave a suggestion for how this book should be formatted here: http://forum.tfes.org/index.php?topic=1258.msg55509#msg55509

[Tom Bishop]

Personally, I don't really have the time to both research and write explanations for the debates on the forum and do research and write explanations for a book. I'm sure others feel the same. These discussions take a lot of time and effort. Since the book and the forum will be answering the same questions, it makes sense to create temporary rules to focus the forum's discussions on the creation of the book. It's killing two birds with one stone. We will still debate and respond to questions, but we will do so with the understanding that what we are writing will be going into a book.

[Lord Dave]

Well, basically what you're asking is:

1. Enforce the rules more strictly in the upper forum.
2. All ZC members should do extra work when posting.  (or everyone who posts for FET)

If #2 is All ZC people only, then I've no issues.

[Thork]

We should probably run new elections if you want to do that, Dave.

Roundy is long gone. I'd also like to step down. I don't have the time necessary to drive the society forward. Its been this way for some time. If you'd like to run elections for two new council members, go for it. I don't have the time, which is why I am stepping down.

[Tom Bishop]

Well, basically what you're asking is:

1. Enforce the rules more strictly in the upper forum.
2. All ZC members should do extra work when posting.  (or everyone who posts for FET)

If #2 is All ZC people only, then I've no issues.

I actually meant everybody, RE'ers included. They could help in their own little way. Not everything will be about FET. An RE'er can say "That's a bad background, Newton never said that," or maybe even provide a paragraph with their own twisted RET astronomy, if so desired (if we decide to do a background section in chapters which goes over what RET says). RE'ers can provide critiques, questions, it's not so out of the ordinary for RE'ers to frame FET arguments as well. No hard rules. No one will be forced to write anything. Short answers and thoughts are fine, to get ideas flowing, for others to build off of. It all contributes. Normal every day questions will still be answered, and we will still be talking about the same things we've been talking about for years, but the goal is to focus the mindset of the forum on the general idea that the contents of the threads will eventually be compiled into a book. It would be our first project as a community.

[Tom Bishop]

We should probably run new elections if you want to do that, Dave.

Roundy is long gone. I'd also like to step down. I don't have the time necessary to drive the society forward. Its been this way for some time. If you'd like to run elections for two new council members, go for it. I don't have the time, which is why I am stepping down.

That's unfortunate.

[Tau]

No point in getting new council members. The council will disband (which we should probably vote to approve, now that I think of it. Not that we have any say in the matter) as part of the reunification deal. Besides, the constitution allows as few as three (3) members at a time. Tom, Secret User, and myself is perfectly adequate between now and reunification.

As I said in the ZC board, I'm totally in favor of having a board or two dedicated to this. I do, however, feel that regular discussion should continue. At least FEG should continue normally.

[Tintagel]

No point in getting new council members. The council will disband (which we should probably vote to approve, now that I think of it. Not that we have any say in the matter) as part of the reunification deal. Besides, the constitution allows as few as three (3) members at a time. Tom, Secret User, and myself is perfectly adequate between now and reunification.

As I said in the ZC board, I'm totally in favor of having a board or two dedicated to this. I do, however, feel that regular discussion should continue. At least FEG should continue normally.

I'd be in favor of creating (or re-naming) one of the fora to devote to this project.  Tom's right, it's huge, and it's one of the reasons every time I start to work on it I get a little overwhelmed.  Happy to see this getting some attention again, as I think it could be quite a wonderful project for us.