A few days ago, I started this thread. That gave me an interesting idea - we could start a sub-forum where people would post (every X days, maybe on odd weekdays) something that means something to them and which others are not likely to know. I think this sort of thing can prove to be very interesting if people choose wisely and should allow us to see some perspectives of the other members we're not used to.

Here is a draft of what the rules for this might look like:

1. The content must have intrinsic value. That means that when people view it, they should feel something about it, even if they don't understand it.
   In my example, both the music and the video are interesting, even if you can't understand them.
2. The content should be relatively obscure to other members. This is not a hard and fast rule, but I don't think that videos which everyone on the internet already saw qualify. The point is to allow people to see "different" stuff.
3. The content can be anything - a video, a song, a saying, a story, a picture, a painting, a game, whatever. It can be sad or funny, moving or silly, emotional or logical. It can have personal value, municipal value, national value, etc. As long as it has value, it's valid.
4. After first posting, you don't have to give any details, but eventually, the source of any content should be disclosed. Of course, you can also do as much explaining as you like when first posting.

I think that's good enough for an initial draft. If we do this, we should probably have some way of coordinating so that people post separately. A Google calender with a shared account should probably do the trick, although maybe Michael has something up his sleeve? Personally, I could easily find quite a few things without thinking much and I'm sure others have them as well.

Let's see if other people like this idea. Go and take the poll and if you have any thoughts, you're welcome to add them here.

Is LAVA really the right place for this? I mean, we already have the lounge (where anything goes), but what about this group of people, who ultimately are here because we all share a love of LabVIEW, makes the creation of such a sub forum appropriate? Maybe you're limiting the idea too much to only LabVIEW-lovers - perhaps this would be even more valuable to a much wider audience than just LabVIEW people.

I am in no way trying to discredit the idea - If you think I am, read the post again without that perception and you'll see that I'm actually trying to build upon it.

PS: With the title of the thread, I was hoping for a cultural exchange when we get to swap jobs for a year

Yes.

While LAVA is LabVIEW oriented, it is also a community, and part of the point here is to strengthen the community feel. The other part is filtering - the web is full of knowledge and information and filtering it is the difficult part. Having a group of intelligent people create that filter should make it interesting and managable.

I'm sure this is not a unique idea and the lounge does partly fulfill it. I just think it has more value than the generic nature of the lounge and could be applied nicely here without creating too much noise.

Fair enough.

Anyone and everyone can already contribute and comment on what they wish in our Lounge.

... as long as they can do so without mentioning Hitler or the Nazi's.

Ben

...but it doesn't count if you're actually trying to close the topic.

Yes, but there are advantages to having something like this structured and in a single place.

Who knows, maybe you'll even want to participate to. Maybe Will Riker's version of "Night Bird" is something that changed your life and you want to share it with others .


Well, at the very least, I'm sure you would love riding a bike around here. I live in a relatively narrow valley (probably about 10 miles wide where I live) between two mountain ranges which have some nice roads. You have a counter-invitation, if you wish.

I'm not sure you'll like the paycheck, though .

It looks like only 12 people cared enough about this to vote. Does anyone else want to?

I think that means that the others are voting no on both of the questions

Or that they're voting maybe, or that they didn't notice it. I'd give it a couple of days more before deciding either way.