[DJP]

twc wrote:

But it is our science that explains our morality — not the other way round. That explanatory science is Marx's materialist conception of history. It alone — for there's no viable alternative social science over the perceivable horizon — anchors the case for socialism.[…]It is probably not so wise to mount a political case against capitalism on moral grounds, at least by using current capitalist morality as a moral counter-argument to itself, since — as clearly explained by the science of the materialist conception of history — capitalism conforms quite smugly to its own social morality.

I think you've summed it up pretty well here. Which would confirm that the party is and has been going about it in the right way.

[DJP]

6 or 7 are the ones I like best now.

[DJP]

ALB wrote:

Incidentally, I read their pamphlet on my computer as an e-book. Are we capable of producing something like this on our site?

Depends by what you mean by 'e-book', that term normally refers to files for e-readers like the kindle. In which case I'm going to add software which will allow all the content to be downloaded in e.pub format. The 'download pdf' option does more or less the same thing.But if you're specifically talking about that site, some of our stuff is on there already, see for example:http://issuu.com/imposs1904I've just reserved the user name 'thesocialistparty' so I'll see if some members of departments want to keep this current.

[DJP]

The 'Nobel Prize in Economics' is not a proper Nobel prize, but is awarded by the central bank of Sweden.http://www.alternet.org/economy/there-no-nobel-prize-economics

[DJP]

Looking good to me

[DJP]

Ah I see. 'Closing threads' means that no further comments are allowed, not that they are deleted.

[DJP]

Any moderation has to place within the framework of the rules. There are no rules that ban discussion of any topic, or the use of any particular words for that matter. It's the rules related to personal abuse and flaming that unfortunately have proven that they are the ones that need to be enforced.I think that anyone who puts up a charge of censorship against us is not really making a valid argument. Surely if you follow your argument to its logical conclusion we should print everything that ever gets sent to the Standard since not printing things amounts to censorship.

[DJP]

Now I'm not getting any. It should work if you upload the pictures to photobucket.com or somewhere similar then share from there.

[DJP]

I'm getting broken links for all apart from the last three images. I think 3 and 4 are my favourite but I can't spot the difference between them…Can now! Do I get a prize? 3 is my favourite.

[DJP]

I'm speaking here without my moderator hat on. Would Ed, Steve Colborn, Socialist Punk, Old Grey Whistle, when he returns, and all other users please desist in posting comments on the supposed intentions of other forum users. It is not 'the done thing now' and any further comments in this direction may force me to take action as moderator, which is always the last resort.I've volunteered many hours of my own time setting up this forum only to see it overtaken by what seems to me to be the result of comrades blowing their misconceived notions about each other out of all proportions. I'm beginning to wish I hadn't bothered. If anyone wants to make a complaint about anyone it should be done either through the moderator, the internet department or the executive committee.

[DJP]

gnome wrote:

Nobody's suggested losing the forum and neither were any names mentioned.

Too right!   Can forum users please stop discussing each other and instead discuss the matter in hand i.e. socialism. Who knows we might even come up with some new and inspiring ideas.Squabbles between members have already taken up too much time.

[DJP]

Actually, looking at the report of the membership department, since this website and forum has come online there has been an influx of membership and information requests. The period January to July this year when compared to the figures for 2009 shows a 2700% increase in membership applications. Couldn't find the figures for 2010 and 2011 online.So much for the doom mongers or those who think this forum is driving people away, it doesn't appear to be the case at all.

[DJP]

HollyHead wrote:

DJP wrote:

I'm actually wondering now how useful a tool a public forum is for attracting new members.Instead I wonder if a better approach would be an 'ask an expert' type format. Visitors are free to ask questions then members designated into areas of expertise answer them and so build an ever expanding FAQ. There is already software we could incorporate which would enable this functionality.

 My memory is not what it used to be but…wasn't this the thinking behind the setting up of the WSF Forum (Yahoo)?

No, the yahoogroups forum is just another public forum. What I had in mind was something more like this site:http://freedomroad.org/askasocialist/

[DJP]

I'm actually wondering now how useful a tool a public forum is for attracting new members.Instead I wonder if a better approach would be an 'ask an expert' type format. Visitors are free to ask questions then members designated into areas of expertise answer them and so build an ever expanding FAQ. There is already software we could incorporate which would enable this functionality.A while back Paddy suggested online quizzes as a way of drawing people in. We could run correspondence courses this way with visitors answering multiple choice questions online.Just some brief thoughts, any comments?

[DJP]

I like the idea of an advertised online meeting. Another idea would be to combine the two. You have a live meeting video streamed on the internet and allow questions to be submitted via the internet as well as from those present in the room.

[Author]

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