I've got a compulsion to post, but my mind is empty of all thought

Two of the biggest (macrocosmic?) examples of the latter I can think of right off the bat is the majority of "content" created for Television, and this thing: The Internet.

As it relates to your post, let's take this post, for example. Where I am (on the edge of the woods, four or five miles outside a small town near the top of the middle of the USA, a couple hundred miles south of Canada), it's a little before 11 o'clock, Saturday morning. It would be a complete snap to sit here well into the evening, doing nothing but typing things relevant to this subject, but I won't (because the subject's too big).

But, if I was going to, I'd start with the very reason I decided to drop by the "I Love Everybody" forum because, coincidentally enough, that reason just happens to be directly related to the subject you've brought up. For the past few weeks, I've been saying it's akin to sitting and staring ("like a deer in a spotlight") at "the biggest blank slate in the world." The only difference between that and what you described is the difference between suffering from it when you want to (but can't quite) post in a forum, and what a person finds themselves confronted with when they finally break down (stop procrastinating) and get that domain name and server space for the web site they've been meaning to put up for a few years.

Not that there's any difference in the basic "principle," writer's blockitis, or "Help! I seem to've gone MUTE!" phenomena, but the scale seems to be a little more daunting.

Or, put another way, "If you think trying to come up with interesting things to put in forum posts is tricky, just wait until you find yourself sitting there with a new domain name and 55 megabytes of cyberspace at your disposal!" (And I say that good naturedly and laugh to myself as I remember how true and strange it actually is.)

It's worse because the first thing a person needs to do is come up with a basic "premise," (abstract) "framework," or "logical" something or other that "reflects the objective(s)" of the web site they're about to (be presumptuous enough?) to add to the mostly vapid mess that's already out there.

You know... Head for any basic "Good web site design" site and they'll all tell you to put some neat, concise, "mission statement"-like paragraph at the start of your home page that lets everyone who comes to your site know (immediately!) everything your site's about in 100 words or less (so they won't have to waste time trying to figure it out because, as we all know, most net citizens are anxious anxious anxious to get on to the next fuzzy mess as quickly as possible because, well... No one's quite sure about that, but most suspect it's because most net citizens lead busy lives they don't like to clutter up any more than they already are by having to waste time trying to figure out why whatever site they've landed on wasn't what they were looking for, even though they weren't really looking for anything in particular - just something a little more INTERESTING than what most of their busy net lives consist of, etc. But I've digressed. Excuse me... Where were we? Ah. Good web site design and succinct home page explanations of whatever important or interesting - or, in the case of Jackpot Sites, both - things you have to impart to people.

Which, of course, is enough to make just about any self-respecting "thinking person" puke because those kind of people are always highly suspicious of anyone who can sum up anything (worth thinking, letting alone doing anything, about) in a paragraph or sentence that could be put on a business card if necessary. And, when it comes to internet communications taking place via something like a web site, what kind of people do you want to communicate with if not "thinking people"?

Or, put another way, one of the first things you encounter in the glare of that early stage web site design giant blank slate searchlight is the honest realization you have no real idea what you want your web site to be about, what you want to say, how you want to say it, etc., etc., etc... In short, the exact same thing you said at the top of this thread, with a slightly different (in the details) twist.

And to get back to something else I was saying earlier, it is now something like 45 minutes later, and there's hardly anything I've typed so far that qualifies as True Surface Scratching when it comes to: A) what you said at the outset of this thread; and B) what that actually has to do with the precise reason I picked the "I Love Everybody" forum bookmark this morning. I said I could go on about this until evening (for at least another three to ten feet of scrolling space), but won't.

I won't because of one of the (bigger) reasons we usually decide to "keep still" instead of posting (or creating web sites): None of us wants to bore people. None of us wants to run the risk of "overstaying" our welcome by "forcing" people to read things anywhere near as long as this particular post. Especially when we're (endlessly and automatically) almost certain whatever it is we feel the urge to say will strike most who read it as a waste of time and e-space. None of us wants to come off as one of those "presumptuous" pains in the butt none of us can stand. None of us wants to look stupid, or, very importantly, not be cool.

So we often tend to "just skip it."

I keep thinking of how you said, "I want to post and post and post," and what a basic (and good) "urge" that is... It's SUPPOSED to be what the internet's all about: communications. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the internet is about communication (without the "s" on the end). A friend of mine in Canada pointed out the difference to me one time: Communication is a one-way, "read only" kind of thing; communications is a two-way, give-and-take street. Communication is dialing a phone number and getting a tape recording. Communications is dialing a number and having a conversation.

To jump right to it (without the long story context that probably ought to be in the background), I wound up here today because I ran across what I always refer to as "Philip Greenspun's work" in late 1997. I discovered it via his LUSENET forum software (which, as everyone here probably knows, is where this forum got its start). It looked like pretty good forum software (turns out it’s a complete little marvel), and some attached links led me to his home page which led me into all kinds of things that left me convinced Philip Greenspun is one of the few people working with the internet (in "true Web Master" ways) who actually understands what it's for.

And not only that, it didn't take long to realize he had/has the software engineering genius and skills to turn that "vision" into to practical realities that are simple enough for the average idiot (like me) to use to engage in that "primary purpose."

At the core of Philip Greenspun's "vision" (as I see it, anyway), is his complete knowledge that the internet was intended for communicationS, and its close relative, "collaboration."

So he used his genius and skills to build tools that would enable millions of people to do that (easily), AND be able to do it without - and this is so important I can't stress it enough - be able to do it without the need for there to be a Middle Man or Woman (commonly referred to as a "web master" or "mistress"), bottlenecking, editing, censoring, deciding whether or not whatever anyone wanted to "post and post and post" was "worthy" or "in tune" with the "overall objectives" of what they wanted their web site to communicate.

This is another one of those topics that could take us on toward midnight, so I'll let it go in a moment. But I guess one of the (immediately relevant) things I'm trying to say here is I'm sure Philip Greenspun would get a smile out of your opening comment because he might see that the basic "genre" he believes is most important to the internet is alive and well... You may not have been ready to "post and post and post," but you were ready to post. And, unwittingly, look what happened as a result: CommunicationS.

This may be (may be?) way too long a response, but as alluded to at the outset, what you had to say was in exact "sync" with something I think is a MAJOR "hurdle" or obstacle that needs finding a good way around. As also alluded to, that's a huge part of what I'm trying to do when it comes to ungluing myself from the hypnotic affect of that biggest clean slate in the world. Way too much to go into here, but a big part of the question for me is, "If you're going to put together a web site, how can it be done so it's not just another, mostly boring one-way street?"

And in the process of mulling that this morning, I decided to visit this web site to see if anything here might jar my thinking a little. And I clicked the link that led to this thread, and here we are… Not that I've had any gigantic revelations that have suddenly made me ready to start setting up a wonderful web site, but this has definitely been a good reminder of one of the most important elements that should be part of its fabric, if possible.

I've always liked this forum. I peek in on it occasionally, just to see what people are communicating about. It's not always riveting (and what is?), but people's "attitudes" are always "refreshing." Everyone who uses this system seems like somebody a person wouldn't mind meeting, running into, having coffee or a couple of drinks with and just talking with about nothing (or something) in particular.

Or, to put that another way, when (if!) I finally get the "approach" to that web site figured out, one of the first things I'll probably do is swing by here and create a "New Question" that's really an invitation to participate in the (on going) building/progression of yet another internet communications system (that - one hopes - will be thinly disguised as a web site, maybe even complete with succinct 100 word or less missionary statement somewhere near the top of the home page).

By much of that I mean, it's interesting to me that as I sit staring at that 55 megabyte blank slate, the people at "I Love Everybody" (and a few other folks) are somehow always in the back of my mind like some kind of invisible "judge and jury" making me think harder than I might otherwise. Making me think something that seems to boil down to the question, "If a person can't put some net thing together the kind of people who seem to frequent I love everybody would enjoy and maybe participate in once in a while, why put anything together at all?"

Okay... It's almost one o'clock. I don't know how long it will take whoever reads this to read it, but just for reference's sake (and in case its length has ticked anyone off), bear in mind that it took more than two hours to write it.

And if this HAS infuriated anyone, all I can say is, "For some reason, Christine's 'New Question' made me do it! It just made me feel like posting and posting and posting, and, for some reason, it seems I just did and did and did..."

P.S. Which reminds me… If there's one criticism I have of many of the posts I read in this forum, it's that a majority of them are too short. Not that they should be this long (heaven help us, aye?), but sometimes there's something to be said for less brevity instead of more. I definitely understand the "unwritten rule" in the "Internet Etiquette" book that says, "People like short messages. Period," but it looks to me like almost everyone who posts here has that one down to about as far as that minimalist science allows. It's not a terrible criticism (better that way than the other, no doubt), but it could be the pendulum has swung a little to far in that direction.

While I realize most people don't want to write or read multi-page things, I'm sure expanding some posts/thoughts to a full paragraph or two or four wouldn't bum anyone out (too often or much), and would prove interesting because, well… The people who post here seem like interesting people, but many of them seem to be adhering so strictly to that Short Message Rule that I bet a fair amount of interesting stuff gets left out. Not because it wouldn't be interesting (as we so often convince ourselves it wouldn't be - see above), but for that Rule's sake…

I always say, "Respect that Rule, but please do your part to make sure it doesn't wind up ruling completely."

Amen. Over and out.

But, but... the text box for answers is so tiny! It's hard to write much! ;- )

My brain is completely toasted too, but that's the combination of a lousy hangover with the worst allergic reaction I've had in a few years-- to prosciutto on a sandwich... I forgot that it was just a fancy name for cured ham & that I'm horribly allergic to that. I think this is my punishment for getting a lunch at a yuppie sandwich place.

" None of us wants to bore people. None of us wants to run the risk of "overstaying" our welcome by "forcing" people to read things anywhere near as long as this particular post. Especially when we're (endlessly and automatically) almost certain whatever it is we feel the urge to say will strike most who read it as a waste of time and e-space. None of us wants to come off as one of those "presumptuous" pains in the butt none of us can stand. None of us wants to look stupid, or, very importantly, not be cool."

I see that this may be true to an extent, but I also tend to think that posting to this forum can be a one-sided activity. Sometimes the posts are not really for anyone's benefit but one's own. I believe that this is made easier by the fact that you don't actually see the other ILXers in front of you--it's like being in a room with a blindfold on and speaking out loud without knowing if anyone is listening, or if they are what they look like, their gender, etc. Obviously some of this is picked up eventually, but not so much by people who don't stay on the board. It seems to me that there is much less pressure to avoid looking stupid or uncool than in "real life".
As far as boring people--I think this is also less considered. On ILX you don't have to see people's wavering interest as they nod, shift about, cast their eye around the room, stretch, yawn, interrupt, suggest another cup of coffee, look at their watch, and so on. I began posting on this board because I had opinions and I wanted to throw them out there without worrying about how I would be perceived because of them. It is a bit selfish, but I don't really care whether or not people are bored by my posts. I am satisfied that they are out there.
However, I will end this as I end many of my posts, with a qualifier. I don't really post to any other boards, and am unfamiliar with internet protocol for the most part. This may color my reaction to ILX as opposed to those of others.
Good luck with the site.

Hey now, I usually include a few words first. ;-)

I'm going a bit bonkers listening to these Nuggets box sets I just got. That's my excuse... what's yours?

I have been listening to a cd from the NUGGETS II box set today in the car!?! So, same excuse I guess.

I feel like those soldiers who took aceed in that video.

(You know, cuz you confused xmas with your b-day..)

I am Jesus though. That's what the Illumanti keep telling me anyway. If were to listen to both these box sets in consecutive order would I go totally mad?