dawei

Oversight.. see if that does it.

So is TDB... but thankfully that doesn't stop folks from coming back

As The Sound of Music told us, "Let's start at the very beginning..." There is likely a reason this was established as the very first line: Dao[noun] ke Dao[verb] fei heng/chang Dao[noun] Classical chinese was/is more flexible.

True... Off topic is usually more palatable then the Pit/Chaos and can have non-daoist topics. We have non-daoist members, non-daoist sub-forums and non-daoist moderation after all Yes, as a staff member, one's word is easily misconstrued as speaking as a guiding hand... and why I recommend staff just not really post that much and observe more. But you'll make it through the Lion's Den too...

I use system cleaners like CCleaner, System Ninja, Advanced System Care... Despite that some of them claim to empty the browser cache... the problem persisted for me. So I did go into the actual browser and used its internal "clearing" methods.

I do agree with the fact that the interspersing confused the situation and can/does result in that staff member becoming the target of criticism. To our fault, at the time, we were short-handed and even I was a bit busy. We have since talked more about such situations. Although Shanlung has misplaced some of his angst about this, meaning staff are generally much more detached than they get credit for, the idea of a separate 'moderator' account could help in some situations. I will give just enough history about a separate moderator account and its implications. At one time, there were no moderators... and men walked the plains and women picked berries... after the upgrade to grass huts and community living, the elders (moderators) were formed to decide the tribe issues. At times, it took quite a bit of discussion to reach any agreement and often by the time of it, the issue was already old... they appointed an independent messenger (independent moderator account) to announce outcomes. Then a tribunal (Admin) was put in place and it was felt that more transparency should be used and the elders should just announce the GROUP decisions. The messenger remained for a while but was used less and less... That separate moderator account still exists but I believe there was a desire for staff transparency... that their group decisions could be announced by any one of them. I'm not necessarily against its use and it likely would of been better particularly when short-handed but it has not been used for quite some time now. If mods use that, then the only transparent one is the Admin... and that's ok with me... As I have more staff on-board now, we can talk more about this.

done. Let us know about sub-forums anytime...

Done. Here: http://thedaobums.com/forum/455-gatito/

I do actually agree with the idea that it is more about these teaching sometimes attract a certain kind of individual... that puts it in better perspective... I had a Ricky Gervais moment with my tongue in cheek comment. that would be good... as your paren made it sound even more interesting

Or I guess we could ban all Mo Pai and Buddhist discussion and maybe not even need mods anymore

Something you'll understand... as an example: MB will have modified Steward ability to access MCP. Brian will have modified Steward ability to access ACP.

I moved your thoughtful post here as it seems better to address it as part of the current rotation. Yes, I am looking for at least one more mod; two would be fine. I very much prefer female members to help balance the approach but that has been a campaign I am losing... And Why I decided that the Steward group should get re-tooled a bit. Also, by going back to Stewards doing Welcome, the current mods have less responsibility then the prior team who did double duty in an excellent way.

The Steward position was an interesting addition to levels of staff but has been difficult to define an overall useful role. The main role went to the Welcome Stewards and the rest were kind of custodians of the forum/sub-forums to be an extension of staff eyes and ears. The Stewards have access to an additional area which the mods can also participate in. Currently, mods do the Welcome role because of the need to verify registration; in the past that required two people: A steward Welcomer to be the messager of approvals and a mod to verify the registration. What I would like to is try a change to the Steward position as follows: 1. The staff welcomer will be a Steward with elevated permissions to do the two steps themselves so that the mods do less. I have talked with Marblehead, who did the Welcome in the past, to do this job. He has agreed. 2. TO request volunteers to be Stewards who would be more of a 'voice for the membership' or 'advocacy for issues'. In other words, I'd like Stewards who are willing to raise issues they see and hear and discuss them with staff. For this, I would like to have volunteers. And I hope that some of the female members would consider this as it is not tied to any mod level decision making and moderation. It is more a voice. I would like to effect a Steward rotation around next weekend which depends on volunteers who want to help support TDB on a very small level.

At this point, there are two new Stewards who will do actual staff work: 1. Marblehead will be the Steward Welcomer and have low level access to check the registration. 2. Brian will be a Steward with access to do additional checks and verification of the registration. This will keep their tasks to registration and Welcome and the Mod's tasks to the board issues.

Thank you. I do hope this is an avenue for female members to be involved without really being responsible to deal with board issues. I foresee this group as simply giving more direct opinions in a staff area where they can talk among themselves and with the Admin/Mods.

There are plenty of stories which could be told Staff has been warned (in the back), removed, suspended and at least one was banned. They are not above the law but being a target on the board, we try to resolve such issues and keep things going... but in some cases, the resolution is just to go back to being a member.

So you're looking for, in a word, 'nothing'. I don't really disagree with the point that the apparent, relative experience of the flesh seems just a game of seeking thrones. So what are we to make of such lives as Buddha or Jesus? To me, it is just we are living out an appearance of a destiny/path meandering across timeless space. The relative existence can give some insight (at different times or lives) to that which is unseen. And one only knows what is already known: They are but a flower (or weed) in the ten thousand arising.

1. Why phrase it as a 'western' approach? Why would it be different than an eastern approach? 2. Can you provide a brief summary of what the course does or how to really effects an outcome?

But cats seem to heal themselves quite well

You stole some of my thunder as I was formulating a thread to ask folks some comments Interesting idea which we'll have to think on. Yes, I think this is an inherent problem... how does a staff person continue to chat as a regular member and change hats; sometimes in a thread they are posting in. There is a common mod account which has been used in the past but lacks transparency. My personal solution is simply to post less when on staff and observe more. I've not asked or enforced it as I'm not sure it is fair to impose on staff. Good points and issues I would raise as part of our talks. Thanks

Update: You can purchase the paperback version here: https://www.createspace.com/5906542 Also, you can read the intro and 2 chapters at Academia.org here. Edit: I posted a discount is was a private offer... sorry... but if you had a chance to catch it, good for you

I have been working on adding another moderator and decided the easier thing to do was find someone who is asleep right now and tends to be very quiet on the board and seems to be able to keep his cool... The obvious choice was Wilfred ... Welcome our own, very cool Penguin man

Re-opened. See Hundun for the split out content. Let's try to stay more on-topic.

Ok... I'll bite first and I'm the least/last person who should... as I know nothing of Buddhism or Tibetan origins. Likely my explanation is more daoist but I'll accept the criticism. I first wanted to say that phenomena is born. If we can have a thought about it, it arises, it is born... born of thought, etc. So what I realized is that I am really describing thought as born (arising)... not phenomena itself. As phenomena, generally speaking of that other than mankind and animals, it does not 'think'. Thus, phenomena is unborn. But the concept has a kind of 'birth' and therefore an origin of sorts. So it seems to be more a state which transcends birth/death; arising/returning. It is a non-dual; not-two; not-one. I could say it is a realization but now I think that would be wrong too... as realization is thought. So is it 'no-thought'? Based on Not-One... there is no answer to even that really... Any answer is born.

Too funny... my wife got a call from her cousin in china telling her she had a dream about the lottery level and that she bought tickets... so she was frantically trying to get a hold of my wife to go buy some! First time we did it... but we got five people to give numbers