14 replies to this topic

[chipl]

First of all Imminst has and continues to suffer by having it's main venue be a forum with payment giving special priviledges. Number one way to make money is to demonstrate real commitment to your cause and this is not through money first policies. Then people are more willing to join and buy premium offerings such as books and films. Concentrate on building traffic through real value such as a page of news briefs, as I have exemplified with a couple posts I submitted to the News thread section today, but put it on Imminst's main introductory page page and make the forum secondary. You don't have control over the forum and it will exhibit garbage and that is Okay but it should not be the major traffic generator. It should also not be a deciding factor in how Imminst's governing body is selected or you get crass and impolite individuals rising like scum to give the institute a bad name, pushing out those who seek and offer real value. It is possible that it is too late and individual egos have come to predominate and the guiding principle no longer in high esteem.

There is plenty of news as is exemplified by the following that I gathered in about a half hours search:

Scientists find key to immune system’s ability to remember

Contrary to dairy advertisements study finds that Calcium Pills: No Boon to Weight Loss

Not every breast cancer patient needs to turn to aromatase inhibitor drugs after using tamoxifen for five years, a new study suggests.

As Breast Cancer Awareness Month draws to a close, Dr. Kelly Harkins, a radiologist and medical director of the Women's Imaging Center at St. Vincent's Medical Center in Bridgeport, spoke with the Connecticut Post, offering information on symptoms and risk factors. In addition, she discussed the recommended frequency for mammograms, as well as new data on the latest technologies and treatments that are prolonging lives.

Do Cell Phones Affect Sperm Quality? Early Findings Suggest Link With Poor Sperm Quality, but More Study Needed

Fewer Heart Attacks Seen in Healthy Men Who Report Moderate Drinking

Michael J. Fox Touts McCaskill For Senate Actor's Spot Portrays Missouri Democrat As A Supporter Of Embryonic Stem Cell Research

Hubble’s fate hangs in balance.

Gene 'doubles risk of diabetes'

[chipl]

So far this morning I count six stories that would qualify. Since I first suggested this about a year ago before I was banned due to no fault of my own (except maybe thinking that a forum would gather people who were concerned about the mission rather than to see their words in print and stroke their egos) Imminst adopted putting some news stories on its home page, very few and at the bottom. The current ones there are worded trickily and complexly. That does not lend itself to quick scanning. I find more evidence to suggest that an online forum as the main traffic generator is a sad mistake that the owners and governing body of Imminst do not have the hubris to acknowledge.

Is this thing just a joke?

[chipl]

OF COURSE! Look at the Home page. Pictures of people and other pictures with brief subject lines, most, if not all, recognizing an author including referring to an advisor who no longer participates here. Truth and integrity and the message is not the prominent mission. It is individual recognition! This is a joke. No wonder. Imminst is not here for the stated mission. It is for ego, it is for personal recognition.

The problem is that the mission is one that precludes a total dependence on independent efforts. Making humanity a success is the key to attaining the best of all possible worlds including the increase of human longevity but that is not the reason for this forum, this institute. This thing is not for spreading the word, getting more into the fold, getting more resources and human efforts turned to the cause. It is for the ego.

No wonder. This thing is for individual recognition, immortality be damned.

[Mind]

Many great ideas pass through these forums. The problem is manpower. Imminst has plenty of people who like to talk and participate in the forums but few who are available to do "regular" work for the Institute and create more value. We constantly discussing ways to get more projects and "value" rolling and eventually such things will come to fore. It has very little if anything to do with ego.

Let me remind members here of past events. Chip started a very similar thread before he was banned about "doing more". I told him his ideas were good and we needed volunteer help. I asked him if he would help out. He said he would NEVER consider volunteering his time or money to the Institute because it was such a terrible place. He also suggested in other forums that...

"These people (Imminst) are extrememly deceiving and seek positions of power and control in the media. Those who seek to force their opinions over the rights of others will stoop very low and they will have support by others who cater to the idea that power should decide fate over compassion, reason, morality or intelligence." (written after heated exchanges with prometheus over the Terri Shaivo case)

In contrast, Imminst forums are the most open and free that I know of. There are no hidden agendas. We are all here for the same goal. To spread interest and news about life-extension and immortalism and to discuss these topics in the forums.

[chipl]

"We are all here for the same goal. To spread interest and news about life-extension and immortalism and to discuss these topics in the forums."

Nope. Many are here to participate in a forum and gain prestige and power here by holding positions of authority here.

You want more people and yet the means to do so escape you. If there is one thing I have learned about marketing of ideas, one does not defend a forum as the end all for this while allowing the obvious to go unattended.

Mind, Mr. Treasurer, the forum is not the cause.

[Mind]

Many are here to participate in a forum and gain prestige and power here by holding positions of authority here.

There may be some people that use these forums as a vehicle for power but it is not many that I know. I think most of the members here are quite nice and many have volunteered their time to try a make Imminst better. For that I am thankful.

You want more people and yet the means to do so escape you. If there is one thing I have learned about marketing of ideas, one does not defend a forum as the end all for this while allowing the obvious to go unattended.

For the umpteenth time, improvements as you suggest, which have been suggested by many different members many times, take time and effort and sometimes money. I am confident that many of these things will get done eventually. It will take manpower and decisions about how to spend funds. Right now, a lot of valuable Imminst members that are willing to help out have personal life issues that are taking up their time. I certainly do not expect that they will drop their family, jobs, and research to focus on Imminst.

[Lazarus Long]

Chip; ask not what your forum can do for you but what you can do for your forum. )

Seriously though to echo Mind this is an old subject and he outlines the obstacles well. So I ask instead, is this an idea that you would be willing to manage?

Would you be willing to construct plan that outlines costs, risks, concerns like copyright and licensing, management, content, presentation and staff?

We are all well aware of the benefits so are you willing to take on the pragmatics?

If so please set up a plan and submit it to leadership for review as we wouldn't mind this idea coming to fruition all. BTW we had Betterhumans feed for a while and we also update the Longevity Meme News daily.

We are really all on your side of this debate and frankly there is very little debate, only a lot of work that not a lot of people are volunteering for.

[chipl]

Manpower and funds, want some? Looks like it would take about an hour and a half per day to do what I am suggesting and it would bring many people into the fold and much more funds. Some of the manpower that would be needed would be to handle the dispersement of premium sales, shipping and handling, but that is paid for by the process with plenty extra left over. An example is http://www.buzzflash.com, which survives handsomely without advertisements and continues to branch out into new projects with the funds they make. They gain more notice, fame and fortune because their cause is what they concentrate on, not personal recognition.

[chipl]

" Chip; ask not what your forum can do for you but what you can do for your forum. "

Bull! I work for the mission, not the forum. The original that Kennedy stated was one of his most blatant gaffes, in my opinion. Judge your system by how well it serves you and work to change it if it doesn't satisfy. Don't become an unquestioning sheeple, fodder for the machinery, or you will get a tyranny that cares not for your needs, as I see happening for the US, happening for Imminst.

[chipl]

I would be willing to do the work involved for fair compensation but it would entail removing emphasis and most links to the forum as it would be billed as only a secondary thing and not the main mission of Imminst which in my eyes would be better served by concentrating on improving awareness amongst all for the betterment of all. The kind of traffic I would see as possible and desired for the news portal is not something a forum can survive. The emphasis would be on the news, on selling the book and film and other premium items (hefty profit marked up items like fair trade marketed items that sustain good working conditions and benefits for the manufacturers). I question the idea of payment for membership in the institute and especially as a requirement for full acess to the forum as I find that is not pursuing the mission but rather the creation of an elite. Elitism is counter to the stated mission. Helping to make humanity the wise and long-lived singularity is the safe way to go that embraces the mission, to remove the blight of involuntary death. There is more than enough to go around for all. Imminst should not cater to the idea of there being a chosen few. That is counter productive and will lead to further lessening of the traffic and awareness as appears to be happening right now according to what little statistics I can see, the statement of the most ever to have visited being months old.

[chipl]

A few news stories from today that could be applicable for a news portal.

Democracy Player: A new video handling software offering that is totally open source and quite slick in its handling and management of many offered “channels.”

Australia to build world’s largest solar power station.

Contrary to major news article, plug in hybrids cost effective.

Health test nabs lung cancer early.

American obesity adds to gasoline consumption.

Celebrities do battle over stem cells.

Stem cell debate heats up Missouri elections.

Coffee may protect against diabetes.

Coral reefs threatened by warming.

Twin satellites launched to watch solar flares.

Oh, if I were doing this seriously, there would be more I’m sure but the above is just what I gathered mainly from my Google home page except the Democracy Player which I became informed of via my monitoring of the P2P Foundation.

[chipl]

Of course, the news stories provided by BetterHumans right now on Imminst's home page would be checked from their home page daily to gather some for Imminst's but I see that the strategy I am using now would have garnered such directly from the sources.

[chipl]

I notice that many of the news stories I have listed above plus others I would have integrated into the news portal on the home page are being listed in the forum here and there. Seems to me that making the news portal a major feature rather than just as a footnote on the home page would lead to a clearing and lessening of confusion in the forum.

[chipl]

Reviews of films and books with offering them for sale at a premium to support the institute would be wise. One film I recently viewed, as an example, is "The Future of Food."

Looks like what I am suggesting is a change in the constitution of Imminst removing the forum as a major deciding factor in who governs the Institute. Probably little support will be garnered for such, posting here on the forum. Probably Imminst is a lost cause though it continues on with some personal rewards for the adherents at the loss of the furtherance of the mission. I sincerely doubt if the current governing board who contain some who are quite enamored of their position and power are truly concerned about the mission of pursuing increase in longevity, Bruce included. Sorry dude. I have lost respect for you. I realize the blame is your naiveness, assuming that a constitutional democracy is possible and functional. It is only a democracy for the elite which is not a democracy at all. So it goes.

[chipl]

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