The "Golden Threads" Are Now Open for Business

[Paul S.]

Greetings, Fellow Travelers...

Long ago, there was a brief discussion of creating a new section here in the Parallel Universe that would be devoted exclusively to identifying and discussing the "Golden Threads" that weave in and out of the Townsend Brown stories. As we prepare for Phase II of the operation -- The Great Re-Write -- it is finally time for that discussion to begin.

For the time being at least, this will be a "moderated" forum. That means that all posts to this section will have to be approved by a moderator or site administrator, i.e..... me. The intent here was originally to exercise a little bit of restraint on the creation of new topics, in order to keep the discussion as focused as possible. We do have a tendency to ramble, you know....

What I'd hoped I would be able to do is moderate only the creation of "new topics" in this section; once approved, then the discussion would flow unfettered via unlimited "reply" posts. Unfortunately, the moderation protocols don't quite permit that. The requirement for approval is either "on" or "off" and extends to both "new topic" posts as well as "reply" posts. I can't separate the functions.

So, for the time being at least, this new forum will be moderated. The bad news is that means you will have to wait a spell for your posts to appear. The good news is that means I will have to look at every new post or reply that is offered here. FYI, you will be notified via e-mail (regular e-mail, not PM) when your post has been approved; if for some reason it is not approved, I will provide a hopefully adequate explanation for the disapproval. I'm not trying to be capricious here.... just.... focused.

So, if you've got an idea for one of the "Golden Treads" that unifies this story, by all means, create a "new topic" under this heading.

If you're not sure what we mean by "Golden Threads," try running a search of the forums for those keywords. That might give you some idea where we should start.

I'll start by approving a post from Trickfox that he offered when the new forum software was implemented a few weeks ago.

Thanks,

--PS

[Paul S.]

The first couple of threads that have been started in this section have been more or less generic, but I'm going to make a request regarding future new threads.

The intent of this section is to find the "Golden Threads" that weave in and out of either the book or our discussions here on the forum. So I am going to ask that before any new threads get launched, that some original source be cited and copy/pasted into the post that starts a new thread. I want to users know, to the extent possible, what stimulated the idea that the topic that follows is a "Golden Thread," with a link we can use to go back and recall the initial discussion or a passage in the book.

If indeed a topic is a one of the Golden Threads that bind this stor together and give it deeper meaning, then we should be able to identify places where the ideas have surfaced in the past. Doing so will be valuable in recalling where we've been before we go there again.

Sound reasonable?

Thanks,

--PS