Lets hear some more.

Living the Faith

Institutional Initiatives

Organizational Oddities

Spiritual Journeys

Intentional Spiritualism

Mystic Gateway

Faith and Reason

Sand Box

I like many of these for different reasons. Thanks ch and jk

I think when we started Church Life it was more to cluster the UCCan questions & other sorts of organizational 'church stuff' for information sharing.   I'll think on naming ...

Places of Worship or

Worship Activies

Corolla, i seem to recollect that as well. The new technologies generally support sub forums with moderator assignment. This opens doors not open before once we are up and running. It will be interesting to see if we can embrace change

I learned so much about the United Church on the Church Life Forum.

Aside - we have to have forums. A few weeks ago I posted  about the Sunflower initiative for High River on the United Church Group. Today there was a question and I looked and looked ad couldn't find it. Someone kindly responded but in Wondercafe

= snap= and it would have been at our finger tips.

These are two different kettles of fish, CH. Each valid in its own right. 

I say lets keep WC as close to what is for the first few months. With changes coming due to new software and new admin.
.
.

Hopefully WC will be more open to organic change based on what membrs like and use. however with so many changes happening at the same time, it will be difficult to judge the impact indicudual changes has. so i say both for the sake of keeping it as simple for the admin and users, and to help us better understand the individual impact each change has, I suggest only change what is absolutely needed at the begining of WC.
.
.

That said i agree that itis a good idea to try someother names, or even to add or delete some areas, so while we can shoot around ideas like this, lets hold off a few months before we implement them.

Yes, I agree with Alex here. Let's just move into our new home first. Then we can gradually decide if we want to redecorate.

curious monkey central

gnubsonly

what does this lever do?

chansencave

psychogeography

Alex wrote "I say lets keep WC as close to what is for the first few months."

Fair enough - however - Dan Benson, Executive Minister, Communications, stated on another thread " The General Council office could also offer some social media marketing support to get the word out about a new discussion forum."  Also,  I am optimistic that Wondercafe2.ca  might get a mention in The Observer.

Given that -
Wondercafe2.ca may have one brief moment in the spotlight - with people peeking in to see what's up - do we want them to see that only the name of the place has changed?  That the status quo is alive and well?  To be fair, maybe that is what the majority of the members here want - to continue to discuss and engage amongst ourselves OR we could up the ante and come up with ways to make this place  desirable and welcoming to others.

Alex and Jae are basically right. We will start by replicating the current forum structure, then start tinkering as we beta test and then go live on Wondercafe2. Ideas for new or renamed forums brought forward in this thread will be part of that conversation as we look at what tinkering to do.

To my mind, "Church Life" can certainly stay in some form. The discussion may shift somewhat, since it may no longer be a forum for UCCan manual and policy discussion (though it could be) so much as a "how it is done in our church" discussions. Maybe change the name to "Community Life" or something to reflect that not all discussion will be about traditional churches? Similarly, I think R&F will remain relatively unchanged in terms of its mandate but we could look at alternative names as some have already suggested.

Inukshuk, what kinds of things are you thinking of? New forums/discussion areas or capabilities beyond simple discussion forums? Some kind of social networking piece will likely be a part of any software we use (e.g. profiles, friending people, private messaging, maybe even the ability to create private forums and groups). The baseline among current members is clearly that we want a robust place to carry on discussions that have been happening here. That is why the UCCan solution of moving to FB has been rejected by so many as has the approach used in United Futures (which is godawful to say the least). What do you think we can be doing beyond that baseline?

Mendalla

I think the important thing is that whatever we choose is different from the Relgiion and Faith forum.  Really, I see nothing wrong with 'Church Life'.   It might not necessarily be United Church life - it could be questions or discussion about any faith community. 

And of course there will be cross-over.  I often have a hard time deciding where to post my threads.  Is this global or politics?   Is this theology or church life?   Is this social or relationships or maybe health and aging?  And since it seems to me that almost everything has some connection to my religious beliefs and spirituality, I could put almost all my posts under R&F.   But some questions, like the current question about searching for a minister, probably belong in 'church life'. 

You make a good point, and things do need to be investigated.  I would suggest that at some point someone talk to the Observer and see about an article,

It may also be  more important  to talk national News outlets that covered Wonndercafe opening. They may see a story in the closing and we may be able to get them to publicise WOnderfcafe2.ca

We also ahve to look at the fact that the JUne date is at the begining of summer, when things slow down on WOndercafe.  We may want to do promotion in JUne when WC closes, and take adavantage of it's news value/.   However other efforts may be focused on a "Grand Opening" for lack of a better term in Septembver for when people may see and rspond to our online promotions.

Regardless of timeing it is always good to put out any ideas for any changes, as ong as we keep things in relation tro other changes, and what is happening in the world.

ANyways just a few thoughts

After much consultation, my esteemed colleagues and I have chosen to split R&F into appropriate sub-forums. This will be implemented as we beta test the new software.

Fundmentalist Forum - for those of a literalist, young Earth creationist mindset only. Bring your Bible. (Moderators: airclean and Jae)

Prog(Rock) Place - Also bring your Bible but also your metaphorical lens, your contemporary understandings of old stories, and your post-modern theologies. Listening to Yes and Genesis optional but recommended. (Moderators: Pilgrim's Progress and Arminius)

Place for Grace - whether Calvinist or universalist, here is where those who believe in unmerited Grace can hang. (Moderator: RevJohn)

The Middle of the Road - For those who want a nice, friendly church with lots of social activities and very little rocking of boats (theological or social). (Moderators: TBD, I can't think of anyone here who actually fits this bill)

The Rest - For those heretics  who do not believe in God, Jesus or who follow them in ways other than a prescribed Christian one. (Moderators: chansen, Witch, Mendalla)

Please only join one of these subforums. A progressive among the fundamentalists could cause severe disruption and I'd hate to think what might happen if a fundamentalist got loose among The Rest. The Middle of the Road wouldn't like that.

Mendalla

* brought to you by the April the First Society of London, Ontario

hah, you had me for a moment, i was like, wait...what...we did...what? then, of course, april fools.

*** lots of applause Mendalla**

LOL!

Had me, too. Mendalla. 

By the third paragraph I was wondering "Who the H are these people going to talk to?"  There can only be so much patting each other on the back and saying "You're right."   Even Chansen admits that atheists forums are generally boring. 

By then I knew, this was some type of farce.  I still hadn't connected it with this being the first of April.

How long did it take you to think this one up, Mendalla?

*takes a bow*

Dreamed it up en route to work. My boss is a master of the corporate April Fools' prank and wondering what he was up to this year inspired me.

Mendalla

PS. we got a memo this morning announcing that we had partnered with other companies and would be promoting them on our vehicles. It included pictures of the vehicles with the sponsors' logos on them (he enlisted our very talented marketing coordinator/graphic artist to help). Since many of our clients are seniors (we are in home health), the logos on the vehicles were for Cialis, Viagra, Metamucil, Depends, etc. The only exception was Tim Horton's which is, more or less, the official coffee of the company.

Well done Mendalla!!  Sucked me right in, but I must say I was scratching my head as I read along until your post-script!!

clap clap

You had me too! I was getting perturbed for a moment ;) ...thinking "but, but...?" lol.

good job, oh letting-loose-tarantulas-on-JWs Mendalla :3

such love...

Excellent April 1 prank, Mendalla.

Alex - Good point re the summer hiatus.

Mendalla - I'm thinking of simple visual updates - hitting the refresh key on a forum that is eight years old.  'Family Life' might peak more interest than Parenting.  A Social Justice forum?  Environment/Green Living?

Even the colours of Wondercafe2.ca should be given consideraton.  Until recently, I had not consciously noted the significance of the grey colour behind the Church Search function on Wondercafe (which I know will not be on Wondercafe2.ca)

Say, Inukshuk, I like the ideas of the Family Life and Green forums.

We could still have a Church Search feature, and expand it to also include non-UCCanada congregations across the land.

Innovation?

Innovation?

Arts?

Book Clubs?

There's going to be crossover sometimes, like with "Politics" and "Global Issues" . Not always sure what the best category is for some threads, but I've thought in the past that there should be somewhere besides popular culture for arts specifically. But then there's political art, and religious art, eco art...hmm.

hmm, religious tarts...

sacrilicious...

(one of my favourite simpsons gags...)

I do know forums that split that area up into music, movies, visual arts, etc. but traffic in Pop Culture is so low, I doubt it would be worth it here. I even (semi-seriously) suggested to Pinga and chansen at one point that we drop it and just have pop culture discussions in Social. Although it has picked up a bit recently.

Politics and Global Issues are always going to overlap to some extent. I am not sure what the original intent was there. Politics focussed more on national politics, global issues on things like climate change, global conflicts (e.g. Ukraine), etc.? I wonder if we drop those names and call them "National Events and Issues" and "Global Events and Issues". These would encompass all news events and ongoing issues of concern including politics. Politics is discussed in National if it is Canadian politics, Global if it is about politics outside Canada.

An event or issue would be considered National if it takes place within our borders (e.g. national elections, natural disasters, Rob Ford's antics, etc.) or involves Canada directly (e.g. a trade treaty that we are sigining); Global if it takes place outside our orders and/or Canada is not directly involved (e.g. the Ukraine crisis) or is one of many players (e.g. climate change).

Mendalla

mendalla, i think it is more about who would be attracted to either.

Someone might be attracted to global issues, but, not politics, or vice versa, even though often they overlap.

Ditto with popular culture.  

I wonder if you looked at "new folks" if  there are different places threads get put.

Depends on where people come from.

Few of the boards I've been on have this separation unless current affairs is their primary focus. All discussion of current affairs gets dumped into a forum for that purpose. And, really, most Global Issues are ultimately inseparable from politics so a very strong case could be made for a single "Current Affairs" forum covering both. That said, I'm just tossing out ideas. If people think the current structure is working, it will stay.

Mendalla

fair enough.

Current affairs might get more traffic than having two places, actually. People might end up looking around at other threads and jumping in.

Arts and Culture, or Arts and Popular Culture- instead of just popular culture? Arts as a heading catches my attention in a site index. Pop culture less so. Not sure what others think but it might get more hits.

I'd be cool with it. Arts & Entertainment is another one you see sometimes but it always reminds me of the US cable channel which was seriously lacking in both for a while (though apparently is getting better by adding shows like Bates Motel).

Mendalla

lol, re "seriously lacking in both."

I have a vision of "Denomination Matters", with sub-forums for any denomination moderated by the standard moderators plus specific denomination moderators.  The goal would be open conversation; however, with the ability to restrict individuals who are agent provacateurs, trolls or sockpuppets.   Basically a place for items like United Future, to occur.  It would not be a hiding place and moderators would need to be cautious regarding description of forum and be willing ot move threads to the wider "religious life/churchlife/whaterverItisCalled" foru.

I think you need something broader (like Church Life), too, though. I am often finding discussion of things like governance, the nuts and bolts of service leadership, fundraising, and so on applicable to UU'ism as much as UCCan. Allow general discussion of these things in the root forum (I think we need another name than "Denomination Matters" because denominations are largely a Christian phenomenon even if there are similar structures in other faiths) with stuff specific to a tradition/organization in the appropriate sub-forum (e.g. UCCan policy wonk discussions).

Mendalla

what about "Church Life For All"

Agreed that church and denomination are not the right words... I also would think that UU's or others would be welcome in the denomination one if they so choose to go in.  In other words, the cross-denomination information, shucks, Chansen has given great insight into UCC stuff.  the importance is respect of the topic and the individuals.