What would help the Temple Be A Better Place? Suggestions please...

To go back to topic - as to how to make these lines more clear, I think the blend of gentle redirects in the introductions and consistent enforcement of the username policy stated on the introductory page is a good method. Beyond that, people seem to sort out what they're interested in and which particular ratio of fiction inclusion works for them once they get involved.

Manami wrote: To go back to topic - as to how to make these lines more clear, I think the blend of gentle redirects...

Could you give an example of this in practise? A theoretical situation, just so we can better understand what you're proposing?

Manami wrote: ...and consistent enforcement of the username policy stated on the introductory page is a good method.

We do try to enforce it, but alas some slip through the cracks, usually enforced if an account comes back (eg. Darth Insertedgynamehere wont be changed to Insertedgyname here (removing the Darth) until after they come back, or when they apply for membership). Would be a nightmare trying to change them all if the account is never used again. ;P

I had brought up in a chat that perhaps there should be some sorta bot that screens for usernames that break codes while people are making accounts, marking them as invalid. Of course, that would just end up creating accounts with purposeful misspellings of names (Darf instead of Darth) or some headache if it blocks the word Master but someone wants the name MacMaster (a common last name in my neck of the woods). ;P Its a real Pandora's Box, imo.

Well, for instance (one observed) - when a new guest does an introduction based on a Star Wars persona, and those responding explain that this isn't a forum that does roleplaying, but they do it in such a way that makes it an invitation to get to know folks here better and participate in the real exploration, rather than a put down. It may not be what the person was looking for, but it gives them the chance to reconsider and join in. It has to be irritating from the mod end to get the same kind of thing over and over, but for the person who is joining, it's the first time they're hearing it, and it speaks well of the Temple when they're not made the brunt of that frustration. So, good job, TOTJO greeters!

I understand how problematic it could be - some kind of method to screen names for the major terms (titles and characters, anyway) when they are chosen would probably be the best way, so that they never make it in.

I think we need to stress that we don't have any answers, only a (fun)starting point for people to find the answers themselves.


Reading this thread has me leaning toward withdrawing, or at the least, remaining no more than a member.

Why is everyone so worried about telling everyone else that the path they walk as a Jedi is wrong? Too much focus on being right!

Right ,wrong ,or indifferent, be the Jedi you want to be, and let others do the same. All of this arguing has had me doubting my own beliefs and actions.......no more! I know who I am, and why I am that way. And more so, what I BELIEVE I need to do to better myself and positively affect the world around me.That's what's important!

Zero_storm wrote: Why is everyone so worried about telling everyone else that the path they walk as a Jedi is wrong? Too much focus on being right!

Right ,wrong ,or indifferent, be the Jedi you want to be, and let others do the same. All of this arguing has had me doubting my own beliefs and actions.......no more! I know who I am, and why I am that way. And more so, what I BELIEVE I need to do to better myself and positively affect the world around me.That's what's important!

QFT. There will always be people who criticize the way you walk your Path. Take what helps you; leave the rest.

Zero_storm wrote: Why is everyone so worried about telling everyone else that the path they walk as a Jedi is wrong? Too much focus on being right!

Right ,wrong ,or indifferent, be the Jedi you want to be, and let others do the same. All of this arguing has had me doubting my own beliefs and actions.......no more! I know who I am, and why I am that way. And more so, what I BELIEVE I need to do to better myself and positively affect the world around me.That's what's important!

Because many here cannot conceive of something such as being a Jedi as having true value unless it is an objective value (a standard) that applies to everyone. Some feel they need to have a standard to compare themselves and others to in order to give a value to where they are on their path. It is very difficult for them to think of this "playing field" any differently. To them, if this kind of system does not take place, than it must be a value-less definition-less free-for-all that might as well not exist.

There are some of us like myself who don't see the "playing field" in terms of a "moral model", but instead in more of an "existential model", since it is the existential level of things in which morals arise from in the first place, and is the one level that every human being is connected within. Outside of that level, things get split up, comparisons are made, and people begin picking "sides" as to what is "right" and "wrong", and trying to objectify things on this level.

Alas, it's not an easy notion (the existential model of the playing field) to get one's understanding into without spending a lot of time learning how to shed layers and layers of perceptual illusions from, and even after a life time, you never truly shed them, you just become free of slavery to it. For people who aren't "there" yet, any mention of this model is just a bunch of non-sense, and many of the obstacles to getting to that point can make one feel very discouraged that its even worth it.

So as a result, you have a temple with plenty of people who are operating their path on a quite conventional moral level, where they are right, others are wrong, there are Jedi and non-Jedi, and everything is just a familiar and typical as any other system of belief or philosophy.

Zero_storm wrote: ...no more! I know who I am, and why I am that way. And more so, what I BELIEVE I need to do to better myself and positively affect the world around me.That's what's important!

Yeah! Be the best, most genuine you you can be!

Proteus, you put into words something I couldn't even begin too. Thank you.

My point exactly if they want to believe they are an incarnation of something that resonates in their very heart beat: their existential pulse... then so be it... I would not stop the Darth maul from breathing... and I certainly would not restrict the Vilma De Booma from surviving after so long... Baress offee may be locked up but her needs will always be the same.... good tobacco and something creative to focus on... I have not heard from Bruce Lee... but I assume he is doing well... Apart from that the Sunrider crew are all well and happy with their current incarnations without the need for superfluous role play masquerades into a galaxy of their own making... The twist is all the same... drink it dry or iced... my martini is shaken not stirred...