Prometheus 6

that was shot down by the rest.

come on teacher, with ground as manure rich as this, surely you can nurture some viable afrospearic saplings? or mebbe hope has met its waterloo in the crossroads of relatively unhinged self-promotion and a medium which amplifies the same?

all smug told-you-so-itness aside, the only corrective for this complication is underlying somatic project work - until and unless this purely egoic and self-serving endeavor acquires associated realworld moorings bound by service to others - it will remain as hopelessly adrift as all its digital predecessors...,

come on teacher, with ground as manure rich as this, surely you can nurture some viable afrospearic saplings?

Hence my post.

until and unless this purely egoic and self-serving endeavor acquires associated realworld moorings bound by service to others - it will remain as hopelessly adrift as all its digital predecessors...,

Folks pick a project, they need to work out the repercussions.

I didn't agree with the statements and neither did most people on the forum. We are not seriously considering it. On the forum people can post their ideas and members can comment about whether they agree or disagree. I disagreed. You definitely need to see the comments. One person's ideas do not determine the direction of the whole group. This was a very extreme assertion.

No one agreed with Francis Hollands statement. In fact one member let him have in no uncertain terms. Also I dont think its fair to judge the forum based on one comment from one member. We agree with you about the forum bieng service oriented. Peace

markbey:

Also I dont think its fair to judge the forum based on one comment from one member.

I haven't. I recognize you're under development...that's why I spoke up in Syl's organizational thread (I have no idea why a comment I posted to that thread last Tuesday still hasn't been approved).

But I'll tell you this: if you're going to let a post like that one sit on the front page you damn well better let people see y'all's reaction to it somehow.

I was dead serious about not having anyone associate me with stupidity.

I haven't. I recognize you're under development...that's why I spoke up in Syl's organizational thread (I have no idea why a comment I posted to that thread last Tuesday still hasn't been approved).

mark bey: That comment commeteration over at the Afrospear think tank has nothing to do with the people working on the forum. The think tank is administered by the Afrospear circle of Freeslave, Asa, Field Negro ect. The forum is being developed by black bloggers from the larger Afroshere which includes all black bloggers.

But I'll tell you this: if you're going to let a post like that one sit on the front page you damn well better let people see y'all's reaction to it somehow.

mark bey: Agreed and I am sorry for any miscomunication. Depending on how you post an article it automatically gets saved to the front page. We are so much in need of admistrative assistants to monitor, moderate, adminastrate and further develop the forum that something like that was missed accidently.

That comment commeteration over at the Afrospear think tank has nothing to do with the people working on the forum.

You still got marketing issues... 

Seriously?  Shit.  I'm sorry, P6.  The moderation is a group effort on the think tank; most of the time, if someone sees a comment in moderation, that person reviews it and approves it. 

I really am sorry about that.  As for the technicals of publicity and marketing, we're having a much needed organizational meeting between as members as can attend -- think tank, forum, general AfroSphere public; details forthcoming.  Please attend if you can.   Much feedback is needed for improvements, and from discussions at the think tank and the forum, a hub is definitely on the agenda(!).  You have more technical know-how about the idea than I do, though.

It is important to avoid inadvertant violation of the confidentiality of the AfroSpear Forum. There is a reason that each member of the AfroSpear has a public blog AND access to a private user forum. At a public blog, we apply linguistic filters that make our expressions accessible and reasonably acceptable to all people, inside and outside of the AfroSpear, Afrosphere and Blackosphere. On the other hand, on a private user forum, accessible only to members of the AfroSphere, we rely on our ability to "speak" extemporaneously, speak more intemperately, in a more offhanded way, without the absolute certainly that everything posted at the Forum is also effectively posted at Google. We have a greater expectation of privacy and therefor a greater safety in private forum than in a public one.

However, if members of the AfroSphere freely post the private remarks, intemperate rejoinders and internal discussions of the AfroSpear Forum on their individual blogs, it effectively makes all internal discussions public discussions. This defeats the purpose of having an internal forum. It runs the risk of creating the erroneous public impression that what one group member has said reflects the consensus of the groups as a whole.

That does a disservice to the entire group and may put the group in the position of having to continually publicly disavow statements that the group had no intention of making in the first place.

The way to avoid this is to observe the policy that "What is said at the Afrosphere Forum stays at the Afrosphere forum."

For the AfroSpear Forum to have influence it must have discipline and internal trust. Taking material from the AfroSpear forum and printing it at a public blog without first discussing it with the group is called "leaking." Leaking sows internal discord and public confusion, because it frustrates the groups' determination to have ONE message as an organizational group and to exercise GROUP control over that message. So, almost like an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, whom you see at the AfroSpear Forum and what you hear at the AfroSpear Forum when you leave the AfroSpear Forum, let those specific details stay at the AfroSpear Forum.

If an AfroSpear member sees an idea that he likes at the AfroSpear Forum, he is free to adopt that idea and support it publicly, but may not make reference to internal AfroSpear articles. The reasons is simple: The public cannot see internal AfroSpear articles to confirm that what they saw quoted at a blog was actually said by someone in the members-only AfroSpear Forum. Once an assertion has been made that something was said at the AfroSpear Forum, the only way to dispell or confirm that assertion would be to open the entire Forum to public inspection. In this way, one member's leaking could compel everyone's private forum to become utterly public.

Therefor, I urge members of the AfroSpear to observe carefully the difference between private grumbling, private deliberations, private policy-making and public announcements. Because leaking effectively creates a public announcement where none was discussed by the group, none was authorized by the group and none was intended by the group.

Therefor, I urge members of the AfroSpear to observe carefully the difference between private grumbling, private deliberations, private policy-making and public announcements. Because leaking effectively creates a public announcement where none was discussed by the group, none was authorized by the group and none was intended by the group.

Dude. That shit was on the front page of the forum. Wasn't private. And since Mark said hitting the front page is caused by the way the topic was originally posted, looks like it was YOUR error.

And I am not a member of the AfroSpear. Don't even try thinking you can authorize or not authorize shit up in here.

Finally, rearrange your blogroll to move my link from your Afrospear Nation section to your Afrosphere section. Afrospear asserts a leadership position with regard to the blogs listed in the Afrospear Nation section.

That may have been mistargeted, but the sentiment holds. Nor, given the universal response to your suggestion, are you really in a position to do so with with the actual members.

Given that I'm in the think tank, I'll fix it per your request.  But I really hope you come to the organizational meeting. 

Let me know when it is. Assuming I ain't gotta travel I'm pretty sure I'll check in. That means physically in NYC somewhere or virtually (some sort of chat room thing, or even an IM group) whereever.

Let me be clear. I am seriously supportive of your efforts. I was one of the first to say Yeah, do that...when folks chose a direction I stepped back for the most part and offered suggestions that don't require me to take over (I genuinely believe that would cause terminal culture shock), and will advise and assist you in setting up whatever.

P6, Much love to you. As for internal contradictions with reference to the AfroSpear, let me speak from experience as to how we went from the integrated student movement, to the black student movement, to the Black Panthers and the Black Nationalists, to the BPP Marxist-Leninists to BPP Marxist-Maoists to BPP Anarchists to Black Liberation Army- all division within our ranks came as a result of internal debate and hardening of political positions. We started out as the majority and wound up fractured and vulnerable. It would seem that internal problems are easier to fix. But my experience has shown that beating external problems are much easier than pulling together a disciplined rank-and-file. This is why I deal with subjects of mutual interest with people of similar positions- the AfroSpear providing the largest bloc of similar thinkers. I always recommend that other bloggers put a disclaimer as far as their representation of other bloggers (without their consent or approval). In either case, the media and the government will exploit any division within the ranks.

I was encouraged to use the Forum as an alternative to e-mail, because it would be private for members only, reduce e-mail, and everyone could participate.  I reluctantly agreed to use this approach, but only in reliance on the assurance that the forum was a private forum.  When I began using it, there was NOTHING on the front page.  Then, quite suddenly, some things that were submmitted at the forum began to automatically appear on the front page of the forum.  Needless to say, we write different when we are writing for the front page of newspaper than when we are  writing in a private members only chatroom.

Eddie, I can assure you I will not be part of your internal problems. You will have internal problems if you start building around an organizational structure instead of issues...which looks to me like what's going on. I can't see "lets get together and figure out what to do" working half as well as "I got something to do, let me get a crew together."

Francis, that's possible with forums but I don't know what software you folk are running. You should have an option in post writing form that determines if the post hits the front page. Not all the posts hit the front page.

Hotep P6 --> personally, I wish you would simply delete this post from your blog.   Just my thoughts based on the discussions that have taken place on the Afrosphere forum.  However, you are a grown-azzed man and you'll do what u have to do.    I'm just sharing that my preference would be that you accept the brother's word that he didn't mean for his comments to be publically broadcast outside of the forum.

peace, Villager

I accept his word he didn't mean it to travel outside the forum.

It did. 

vintage 1988 BBS virtuo - crypto - kneegrow comedy gold....,

Eddie:

I am familiar with the whole Black Panther story. I didn't live it, but...

Do you know Reggie Major? Panther's first historian, father of one of Kathleen Cleaver's bodyguards? Close warm personal friend. You remember Edsel Matthews? Was a great guy, seriously. Hooked me up with my first Palm Pilot. Reggie's daughter, devorah major, introduced me to him (to Kathleen, too).

I spent a lot of time in the Bay Area, lived there for a little over a year. I don't do a lot of name-dropping. I'm doing it this time to let you know that, without knowing any details you haven't written yourself, I am expecting to be cool with you.

Francis, I actually expect to be cool with you eventually. It's just you write like you not only want to advance but specifically desire to orchestrate the downfall of your opponent. That's one task more than necessary, in my opinion. I'm not real big on assumptions of dominion over my actions either. Truth, that's a bigger problem than the first one.

knowwhatumsayin?!?!? poof...time for a magic trick.

knowwhatumsayin?!?!?

No. Seriously.

No need to explain, though. I would just remind folks that every comment keeps the link to the discussion in the Live Discussions list.

50 more comments and it will hit the "Most popular threads" list. 

It appears that people have not agreed on an exact date or a time because they're waiting for members to post their availability for the meeting(s) on the AfroSpear Events Calendar (not the Google calendar).  You'll find a link to that calendar on the front page of the AfroSpear forum.  The meeting will take place in the AfroSpear Chat Room (also linked on the forum's front page). 

I suggest y'all pick a day to hash it out via chat. Shouldn't take more than an hour or so.