I don’t know is it just me or something happening inside Core…I found the post on the front page become more interesting and closer to ID. It is good to see Core is keep on growing. Does anyone feel different compare to Core half a year ago?
True the Core front pages are pretty good, and appear to be more broad minded and thoughtful of late.
Shame though that the forums don’t offer a corresponding level of debate. It might be interesting to ask some of the newer correspondents be guest moderators on the forums- The current moderators seems to have been around for decades, and apparently occupy most of their time acting as referees, rather than facilitators.
ouch, thats a real friend maker.
You should really look into the forums a little deeper. The mods bring some of the most valuable advice I’ve ever read on a forum to the tables.
Thoughtful responses…
A vast deep of knowledge they are willing to share…
They ask questions that make you think…
not really sure what you are talking about.
Yeh, I’ve also noticed a wider range of blog posts, which is always good. I guess it’s to be expected as ID evolves… Though I partly agree with Stuffed Vulture, the general discussion on the boards does seem to follow a particular point of view when it comes to ID that differs slightly to that which is blogged. Though don’t think anyones to blame, or whether it’s even a problem, like minds will always congregate.
I will disagree on moderator being disassociated with core ID part. I believe is the opposite. Although sometime it is not the most flashy debate or nice looking pictures, I strongly think that the forum is much more appealing in terms of ID info. It is the front page that are being more inline to the ID part right now. That’s why I post this thread to talk about it. If you take a look at Student and School section, I think they give some of the most useful advice than any college councilor. It is a shame that they don’t get pay for the advice.
I never supposed that the role of the moderators on core was as facilitators anyway. The thing that I love about core is that it is open to anyone to contribute to existing conversations, or facilitate new ones. It’s been an amazing source of advice for me and has really pushed my perceptions on design over the past few years. The reason, in my opinion, that it has been so successful at this is because of the knowledgable, industry insider, contributions of all the mods, which has really helped to raise the bar on what can already be some great conversations (or debates?!).
But, regarding guest moderators, I understand what you mean, but perhaps you’re confusing moderator with what I guess you could call ‘star’ contributors. It would be an interesting idea to have other well-known designers publicise the fact that they will be commenting on posts for, say, one week and seeing how it changes the conversations. There has been a lot of talk about whether anonymity on these boards is a good or a bad thing, so maybe this could be a way of designers saying ‘yes, this is me and these are my ideas’ and then returning to the security of anonymity (if they want to…)!!!
ha, that’s hilarious. You obviously weren’t here 5 years ago. 
I’d dare ask where else can you find the quality of ID conversation that you find here? The highest concentration of ID’ers I’m aware of. I consider productdesignforums.com as 2nd place, yet doesn’t come close.
And yes, the features are getting better. I recall about a year ago, debate on this forum( 
) calling the postings into question. It appeared they were sliding down the design-art hill that ID mag did, but the ship has appeared to have righted itself, cheers!
That’s an awesome idea.
It would be an interesting idea to have other well-known designers publicise the fact that they will be commenting on posts for, say, one week and seeing how it changes the conversations.
Whether you know it or not, there are some “design heavy-weights” that frequent these boards; some contribute, some lurk. Would you consider their input more valuable if they told you who they were? Would you discount their opinion if you knew who they were? Or, would you weigh the validity of what you are reading for yourself?
lew,
I read the previous concept as a publicity thing, similar to what xbox live does in the “game with fame” events. The validity of opinion from an anonymous poster has been discussed previously. I guess I’d like to see what happens if? How it changes the discussion for better or worse? For me, it’s more an issue of giving context to an opinion and not a huge shift in ‘value.’ (especially for those who don’t follow the boards regularly)
So often, discussion become unnecessarily heated do to a simple misunderstanding of where the poster is coming from. The generative design thread could have been more productive, much faster had we been given the proper context or the various opinion right out of the gate… ok maybe not. I also liked the duality of flipping back and forth.
(And I understand the irony of my account being “anonymous” though anyone who wants to dig can easily find out who I am not a heavyweight 
)
Once again, not really sure where this came from. We are not here to facilitate, we are here to offer our advice, and opinions, just like all of you. Do we keep people in-line every now in then, sure, but we do our best to give the readers well thought out, knowledgeable, and fare responses. We all come from many different backgrounds and fields and have a lot more going on then Core77. We volunteer our time to do this and I think we do a damn fine job. If you have any suggestion on how we should change our ways of work, please do share, we are always open to feedback.
I am very aware that there are design heavyweights on these boards (open and lurking). I’ve said before that I am all for anonymity here, and I would like to think that I value all comment equally, but it IS human nature to alter your behaviour according to who you are talking to. What I thought would be interesting is to have some of these heavyweights actively promoted by the Core team as contributing for a limited period - give us the background of the contributor, let us check out their work (if we don’t know it already) - and see what conversations it sparks. Certainly not something that I would want to see every week, but more as an occasional focused driver of renewed or new interest in the boards - something to shake us all up a bit and maybe drive more designers here (which can only be a good thing, right?).
Sorry, didn’t mean to hijack this thread.
A big thumbs up to the revitalised front page…
timely, I guess on this hijack
I’d be curious to see some research into the effect of anonymity on empathy. If I don’t know who a poster is, will I consider their post more thoughtfully than if they were just some student. Interesting line of research for someone.
We (mods) don’t really have a global plan for the boards. I try to start conversations in transportation and consumer products as much as possible. Sometimes I’ll link it to the coreblog. After that, it is up to everyone to make it a compelling and informative analysis.
Interesting 914, the opposite for me. If I know someone is a student, I might phrase something a bit differently, or explain it more, if I know someone is a professional of a certain level, I might think about their post more based on their experience, especially if I disagree. I’m not a believer in the “the content of the post is the same no matter who posts it”. The individual lends it credibility. I don’t have to know who the person is specifically, but knowing some things about them helps.
And for sure there is not a master plan, though there is a tone that a few of us generally agree on, but in general, the mod group runs more as a loose group of individuals rather than a tight pack.
I like this idea a lot, and of course this is entirely possible. If Karim Rashid wanted to create an account and twitter that he would be posting everyday for a week, he has the ability to do that. Again, there are not a lot of master plans here, just people that like to discuss and debate the ins and outs of design… on a volunteer basis. If anyone would like to invite someone to do something like this, I think it would be fantastic.
If I don’t know who a poster is, will I consider their post more thoughtfully than if they were just some student.
Ouch. A lot of assumptions being made about what is a student. I study with a gentleman who is retired, who has made his fortune and is now spending his time doing what interests him. How many students do you know who have the experience of building up and selling multi-million dollar companies?
I like the core77 discussion boards because the answers are mostly considered and show experience, rather than being a fan site for rock star designers.