I recently received an email from Richard Reilly inviting me to peruse the new Cumbric.net website . .
Who is Richard Reilly ? I couldn't find anything but the briefest introduction to the origins of the website, amd nothing at all about its founders or their motives.
I've now included brief notes in the introductory thread (the first post in this thread)
On the "about us" page, we learn only that you didn't include an introductions section because you don't use them yourself. Er . . . the website isn't for you, Richard, and your best source of ideas must be other successful forum websites.
Good point thanks, I've set one up now.
On the subject of origins, one point repeatedly made is the link to ancient Cumbria via the word "Cumbric". The origins and distribution of this language (or, more likely, dialect of Welsh) are far from clear and unless you are going to provide a referenced, academic discussion of the evidence it would be better to avoid any unequivocal statements.
The reference I would like to use on this is not yet published. The reference will be from a work which addresses this issue and includes a reconstructed Cumbric - the current work in progress includes extensive grammar reconstruction, vocabulary, and phonology. I believe the creator is currently working on tidying up the manuscript.
If anyone is interested, I would be happy to ask the creator if I may forward on the work in progress.
Is the website only a discussion forum ?
It's certainly only primarily a discussion forum. The links section is perhaps not so much a discussion based aspect - if a lot of links build up, it may be better to categorise the section and thus this area would be more like a directory, but other than that, yes.
The absence of any archiving and the fluid state of the categories makes it almost impossible to find information on one subject.
This is something that needs to be addressed I believe. Suggestions are welcome. When usership has built up, and I know more of what categories people want etc, it might be easier to sort things more effectively.
The search engine is crude beyond belief, bringing up numerous useless fragments of words, even when opting for the primitive "advanced" search. Why not just download a Google search box ?
I think the google search box idea is a good one. I'll look into it.
Under Food & Drink - can we discuss bad restaurants ?
We aim to support all areas of society – businesses, not-for-profit ventures, communities, and individuals. That said, I would ask myself what use it is to the community to ‘support’ something that doesn’t serve the community well. Indeed, perhaps the restaurant in question could benefit from some critique – they might be able to improve the situation out of it – hey if they’ve got some cop on they might sort things out and you might get a free meal out of it!
Could be a sensitive issue, and for that reason, I’d hope that any comments are based on fact. And I’d hope that the restaurant in question might join the discussion in order to address the issues raised.
To go a step further, as a gesture of goodwill, anyone raising an issue like this might consider introducing their spiel with something good about the restaurant (there must be
something). It doesn’t have to negate the bad, it’s just a gesture. And if the comments are framed in a constructive manner, perhaps with suggestions for improvement, then we’re all winners …Aren’t we?
Though having said all that I suspect you may be referring to the description:
"Good restaurants and shops, local ales, recipes, growing your own food"
The description isnt set in stone, though a the time of writing it i thought it beat the same phrase without the 'good':
"Restaurants and shops, local ales, recipes, growing your own food"
Now, i think either would be fine - I dont have a particularly strong opinion either way.
Why isn't there a section for religion ?
I’ve set one up now.
That said, it is a good idea, but will need a lot of fine-tuning and promotion to create a useful resource. I have some experience of, and a critical interest in, community websites, and they all tend to come to grief - I think because rural people have other, preferred means of communicating - they don't automatically turn to the internet for information or socialising.
I hope the context where smaller forums – individual town and village forums - are in the larger context of the site will lead to a successful site, so those who do want to use the net for communicating on a local basis have a useful resource.
