In the cold light of early morning, about 5 a.m. to be exact,
I re-read my reply to Carri and decided it sounded abrupt.
It was not meant that way.
IMOHO, I think what you are trying to do is really in a Chat format.
Email is too slow ,and you can't interact as you are able to in a Chat
room discussion. By the time you answer the topic in email,
the discussion has moved beyond what you are trying to impart,
or you end up sounding something like a polly parrot, or missing the point
completely, and the discussion has moved on. In chat you get an instant
interaction necessary to these types of philosophical discussions.
Someone is set up as a moderator, and this is necessary I have found.
Maybe you could take turns being moderator.
I have two different private Chat rooms where I have my FAMILY GENEALOGY
Twice weekly.
Only once did I have a problem with someone not in the family trying
to crash the chat. After about 15 minutes, he died of boredom and
we did have a little problem carting his body off, but I have several
BIG cousins!!!
I'm sure you can find someplace where you can all have chats
and enjoy your "On Topic" discussions.
It just takes a little research to set it up, name it,
make an email group address book, so you can contact everyone
by email if things get changed, decide when and how often to meet, etc.
ICQ & mIRC has private chat rooms also.
However, in all the years I've been on the PD list, I've never seen
anyone able to keep it on topic, and I'm not certain it really is
set up for that anyway. Especially since we "Parkies" wake up
in a different world each day.
Good Luck, I know you can do it.
As I said in the beginning, this is IMOHO.
just me,
Marjorie
