We lost so many members :(

Discuss life, the universe, and everything with other members of this site. Get to know your fellow polywell enthusiasts.

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Skipjack
Posts: 6805
Joined: Sun Sep 28, 2008 2:29 pm

We lost so many members :(

Post by Skipjack »

Over the dry years, where there was little fusion related news we unfortunately lost a lot of cool members. The long periods where this forum has been down did not help either, I am afraid.
I have also noticed that Talk-Polywell does not appear much in google searches anymore.
It is sort of sad that now that there is finally lots of interesting news and great advances to discuss, there are so few people left here.
That said, this forum is still the best news for serious news and discussion related to work happening at various fusion startups. Love the discussions here and I check it several times a day.
So what can we do to give this forum more attention again? How do we attract more members?
Any ideas? Anyone still has contact with former members? Maybe we can get at least some of them to come back?

Giorgio
Posts: 3061
Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2009 6:15 pm
Location: China, Italy

Re: We lost so many members :(

Post by Giorgio »

In my opinion firstly we should ask Joe what are his plans for the board.

If he intends to keep it living as a general fusion board, than there will be the need to:

1) Get additional administrators to handle new members registrations and related issues.
2) Restructure the forum lists to include all other fusion related researches and activities.
3) The Administrator should also be able to email all members (to their registration email), to see if they are still interested into the fusion world.
4) If necessary, plan how to publicize with like-minded sites our board, because being a ".org" it will always be penalized in search engines.
A society of dogmas is a dead society.

Skipjack
Posts: 6805
Joined: Sun Sep 28, 2008 2:29 pm

Re: We lost so many members :(

Post by Skipjack »

Good points!
I read mostly the News section, since that is where the most interesting things are happening right now.

kunkmiester
Posts: 892
Joined: Thu Mar 12, 2009 3:51 pm
Contact:

Re: We lost so many members :(

Post by kunkmiester »

I think some diversification would be good. Joe is really the one to decide, but I enjoyed having good conversations about other stuff. IIRC this is where I discovered Mach effect.

Since here slowed down I've pondered where to find a good general science board.
Evil is evil, no matter how small

Skipjack
Posts: 6805
Joined: Sun Sep 28, 2008 2:29 pm

Re: We lost so many members :(

Post by Skipjack »

There is none...

Carl White
Posts: 476
Joined: Mon Aug 24, 2009 10:44 pm

Re: We lost so many members :(

Post by Carl White »

Could an administrator email formerly prolific posters like ladajo and GIThruster to let them know their participation is valued and invite them to return?

Skipjack
Posts: 6805
Joined: Sun Sep 28, 2008 2:29 pm

Re: We lost so many members :(

Post by Skipjack »

Also Dan Tibbets and most of all Art Carlson. I am sure he would be delighted by what is happening at Helion right now.

Giorgio
Posts: 3061
Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2009 6:15 pm
Location: China, Italy

Re: We lost so many members :(

Post by Giorgio »

Carl White wrote:
Fri Jul 30, 2021 1:21 pm
Could an administrator email formerly prolific posters like ladajo and GIThruster to let them know their participation is valued and invite them to return?
The only administrator that can send email is probably Joe.
I suggest we send him a message and ask him if he is free to join the discussion here to understand what are his plans for the board.
A society of dogmas is a dead society.

Giorgio
Posts: 3061
Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2009 6:15 pm
Location: China, Italy

Re: We lost so many members :(

Post by Giorgio »

I sent Joe a private message asking him to join the discussion here when he has some free time.
A society of dogmas is a dead society.

JoeStrout
Site Admin
Posts: 284
Joined: Tue Jun 26, 2007 7:40 pm
Location: Fort Collins, CO, USA
Contact:

Re: We lost so many members :(

Post by JoeStrout »

Hi all! Thanks for your interest, and thanks to @Giorgio for pinging me about it.

When I founded the board, the intent was to be focused on Polywell fusion. I also expected that it would either pan out or prove to be unworkable within a few years of that time. That was... a long time ago.

But since folks interested in polywell fusion tended to be interested in other forms of fusion too, as well as science in general — and because there was rarely any actual polywell progress or other news to discuss — it became a more general fusion/space/science board, and I'm fine with that too. The board costs me very little and if people find it useful, I'm happy for that.

But is it worth trying to revive it, focused on broader topics? I'm not sure. It might make more sense to set up a separate board, or for folks to find an appropriate subreddit (there are zillions to choose from), or some such.

What's most frustrating about this is, we still don't know for sure whether polywell works or not. It did not go out with a bang; and whether it has faded away with a whimper is unclear (to me, at least). If somebody next year comes up with new polywell results that finally move the ball down the field, I'd love for Talk-Polywell to be the place people discuss it. But if that never happens, is it worth keeping the board open?
Joe Strout
Talk-Polywell.org site administrator

Skipjack
Posts: 6805
Joined: Sun Sep 28, 2008 2:29 pm

Re: We lost so many members :(

Post by Skipjack »

Hey Joe!
Thanks for chiming in and thanks for keeping the forum alive!
I have tried Reddit and I don't like it much, to be honest. I prefer the forum here. It is not only more convenient, I also think that the discussions here are generally better. So I would really like you to keep the forum alive. I think it is fine the way it is for the most part, but maybe we should have subsections in the Technology section for the various fusion alternative concepts out there?
Though on the other hand, I usually only check the News section anyway...

I agree that it is a shame that things have been really quiet around the Polywell for a long time, though I believe Horne Technologies is working on a Polywell based design?
Maybe invite them over and see what they have to say. Could be interesting.
https://www.hornetechnologies.com/

Carl White
Posts: 476
Joined: Mon Aug 24, 2009 10:44 pm

Re: We lost so many members :(

Post by Carl White »

JoeStrout wrote:
Fri Jul 30, 2021 6:25 pm
If somebody next year comes up with new polywell results that finally move the ball down the field, I'd love for Talk-Polywell to be the place people discuss it. But if that never happens, is it worth keeping the board open?
It's certainly worth keeping open. Topics on a site like Reddit just scroll away within a few days and drop out of most peoples' memories. Here there's a concise list of fusion-related and energy-related threads that can be updated whenever there is fresh news, waiting for whenever you visit instead of vanishing if you're not by soon enough. And I agree with Skipjack that the quality of discussion has been higher here than you'd find at a place like Reddit.

Skipjack
Posts: 6805
Joined: Sun Sep 28, 2008 2:29 pm

Re: We lost so many members :(

Post by Skipjack »

Carl White wrote:
Sun Aug 01, 2021 12:05 am
JoeStrout wrote:
Fri Jul 30, 2021 6:25 pm
If somebody next year comes up with new polywell results that finally move the ball down the field, I'd love for Talk-Polywell to be the place people discuss it. But if that never happens, is it worth keeping the board open?
It's certainly worth keeping open. Topics on a site like Reddit just scroll away within a few days and drop out of most peoples' memories. Here there's a concise list of fusion-related and energy-related threads that can be updated whenever there is fresh news, waiting for whenever you visit instead of vanishing if you're not by soon enough. And I agree with Skipjack that the quality of discussion has been higher here than you'd find at a place like Reddit.
We need a like button for posts here! :)
Man! I love this board! I mean, I have been coming here several times a day for more than a decade and it always feels like hanging out with old friends. That is part of the reason why I miss many of the members of old so much nowadays.

ltgbrown
Posts: 198
Joined: Mon Jun 22, 2009 11:15 am
Location: Belgium

Re: We lost so many members :(

Post by ltgbrown »

I agree! I don’t post often but I visit on a more than weekly basis. I find this board to be the best and most concise source of fusion related news. I also find the discussions to be thought provoking and sometimes fun to argue out the different thoughts on how things will/could progress.

I support reinvigorating the board. What can we as individuals do to help, other than tell our friends and family?
Famous last words, "Hey, watch this!"

Taliesin
Posts: 20
Joined: Wed Nov 12, 2014 11:30 pm
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: We lost so many members :(

Post by Taliesin »

I have missed Talk-Polywell and still check in often. I mostly lurked and enjoyed the wonderful discussions and hope to do so for many years to come. Would be happy to help in any way that is meaningful.

Joe, great to see that you replied.

The irony here is that we talked about Spacex very early doors and watched it come to fruition.. to the point were launches became boring!! Which was a joke and wish on this board a few years back..

I learnt about the 'slap of God'.. maybe I have the reference wrong, but the explosive tests of naval ships and that electrical wiring and all parts of a ship (newly designed) were tested by letting off large detonations near by, and then watching it for the new Ford class carrier recently.

I sorely miss news on Magnetic confinement technologies and was lead to believe that a lot of the magnetic simulation software had advanced in leaps and bounds with DR Park... whilst Polywell itself became quiet.

What ever happened to Tom Lignon?

I would love to see this board flourish again.

Cheers
Eric

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