There’s a new Gallery addition for Photography.  It’s designed for “Art Photos” or what our eyes perceive as art…you know, the stuff that visually moves the spirit, stirs the senses, inspires interest or curiosity. 

There’s a vast variance in people on the Forum and with it comes a wealth of visual experience.  That’s especially true of us who are also artists and aspire to creation of visual beauty.

I’m hoping that the SF members will add to the Photo Gallery by sending pictures to me in e-mail.  Now, people…please don’t send pics of your pets, your house, your cousin’s wedding, the new barbecue pit or the grandkids.   All of that is very nice, I’m sure but it’s only meaningful to you personally and is good filler for the family albums.   If you have a few photos of the scenery in your part of the country or something that inspired you with awe on vacation…send me a few.  I can’t post ALL your photos of the Grand Canyon, but maybe the one or 2 that struck you as awesome.  You get the idea.  I’m hoping for some of the Beautiful fall leaf color changes or maybe mountains…sigh.

Well, you can see from the opening group what the scenery in my part of the world is.  I never saw SWAMPS as anything beautiful.  Because I’m a City-gal and never really wandered into them, viewing mostly from the sides of the highway, the real fearsome beauty never appeared to me.  However, I am surrounded by a lot of family and friends who take full advantage of the scenery and are inspired by it.  I STILL don’t venture into the wetlands…which frankly, scare the bejeezus out of me.  I’ll get my pleasure and inspiration from  the photos taken by the more adventurous people I know.

angelica@siliconfolly.com

It’s been just 16 days since we took the New SF “live” or public…either way, we’re OUT.  It’s all good. Old friends are logging in and quite a few new ones too.  So far, my vision for this compressed format is working well. There seems to be no hesitation for users to start Topics or join the current ones (or both). People don’t appear constrained to using just one Forum list.  It’s following the spirit of the Old SF and is a gathering of friends…who just happen to all possess a wealth of knowledge and worldly experience that they’re happy to share.  That knowledge includes Stained Glass, of course, but also embraces so many other topics that are technical and personal.  For this gift of your special minds, I thank  you all.

The Simple:Press Forum program is a bit different.   As good and  adaptable as it is, there’s one special tool for mastering its use.  No, I’m not referring to a good BRAIN (though that’s an excellent place to start ).  It’s a good MOUSE…that little computer peripheral, sitting patiently next to your keyboard.  I wrote a 7-part, titled, introductory message that is designed as Reference Docs.  It, (or they), sit pinned at the top of the Discussion Forum where they can be easily found…or ignored…as needed.  The one constant phrase in those references is the instruction to MOUSE OVER.  Strange phrase?  Well, S:P is loaded with these tiny symbols, which when exposed to your Mouse, open to a descripton of their actions.  Sounds simple but it’s not so obvious.  I was learning the program and kept just about a week ahead of the Board opening.  It took me WEEKS to find all those little messages.  Every time I thought I had tamed the little bugs, I’d come across another one or several.  I wrote, re-wrote and edited those Reference messages many times.  It’s not only the way I learn but it acutely tunes me into what all the users are going through as they learn the Forum paths (or is that…The Yellow Brick Road?). 

Then there are the FLAGS…an invasion of little Flags.  Red ones, Red and Black….colorless flags, all pointing us to messages with new infomation.  The little Mouse-bugs drove me crazy, but I love the flags.  They fill one whole Ref message of their own.

So many new pleasures seem to pop up.  The message writing tools are a delight…and for many, a discovery surprise.  The Private Message function that is at once Dead Serious and Hilarious always makes me smile when I use it.  Of course, the realization that I can no longer list my SF e-mail address publicly as it was on the old SF gave me a few minutes of concern.  It hasn’t proved to be a problem.  After 10 years, most people have it stashed somewhere and if not, there’s always the PM function.  I’m always on the other end of that.

I must say how pleased I am that you all are becoming comfortable with the Forum use.  There are even some who are as freakish as I am about the passion and pleasure we get from learning something new.  Keep asking for Board help in messages or PM.  Easiest way to pick up skills is from other members.  PLEASE make an Avatar.  It’s not only fun, but…really…you’re walking around the Board Naked without one…really…really. 

This is the usual “WELCOME” message to the New Silicon Folly Board.  It’s a different concept from most of the Internet Glass-based Boards and Forums.  We’ll get into the ideas behind this format here in Blog Posts and on the Discussion Forum, as we become more comfortable while the Board mechanics settle into a routine.  There’s always a learning Curve for anything worth learning.

I’ve always had the uneasy feeling that people who are good at blogging have a certain type of arrogance,which is somewhat past the usual self-esteem that lets many of us coast through life, secure in the knowledge that we can do anything.  Whether that self-awareness is based in fact or delusion, it’s a damn good trait to have and a good tool for approaching new roads  as they pop up in the path.  The results are often the same either way.  If you believe in your personal power there will, sooner or later, be somebody else who does as well.  I admit to having an extra large dose of self-esteem.  I’m a thinker and have done a lot of writing inside and outside of Forum and Internet.  However, I suspect you can see that I’m approaching this BLOG thing with a bit of trepidation.

Here I sit, spewing out the most precious product of the mind…Words.  There you sit, reading them, (I hope)  and while you CAN reply it’s not the same as the immediate responses on an open Forum.  On the BLOG, you’re a voluntary prisoner of whatever ideas I toss out.  It sort of reminds me of deer hunting, which is an unfair sport because the deer can’t shoot back.  OK, you will have weapons and a range where they can be used.   Replies in agreement or counter ideas are easily posted in BLOG comments…or take them to the Discussion Forum for true interactive debate.

The IDEA…crazy as it might seem…for this Compressed 2-Forum Board is based in a desire to revive the Glass Forum system which has fallen on slowing activity. This isn’t obvious when you look at posting activity over a year but on a day to day scan it’s getting scary.  Silicon Folly was founded as a home for information.  Primarily I wanted a site to post the Stone Manuals that I had written after many requests on Forums and in E-mail.  I had already sent that info out in more than 350 E-mails when Webbie and I decided it was time to give it a home.  I was a system Admin (and user) of many years experience so it seemed natural.  The Board info and the 5 Forums that were added just sort of naturally emerged in response to need.  This version has retained all the info sections of the original SF.  That was over 10 years ago. It’s become more obvious lately that the needs have shifted.

We will have a General Discussion Forum for all kinds of ideas and talk.  It’s been the most active Forum on SF since it was opened.  I’m always impressed by the intelligence and verbal skill which fills that Forum.  It’s a delight to merely be in the company of those members.  I would do anything necessary to preserve that venue and Keep those wonderful people in my daily life.  Just get on there and TALK.  It’s what we’ve always done there. Make a topic, join other topics and don’t limit your action to just one or even, one at a time.

The Glass Discussion is where the real departure from traditional formats emerges.  Glass is our passion and it’s the thing that brings us together on these Forums.  Glass artists rarely do just ONE kind of glass construction.  I would like us to come together and talk about GLASS…anything to do with glassing, whether you’re a Pro or a hobbyist.  Of course, as people start threads, the glass talk will naturally layer out into topics.  That’s fine, but I prefer NOT to pigeonhole that talk into structured categories where the users must migrate, one at a time, to participate.  Within a Thread, there may pop up several ideas, maybe about different glass activities.  Maybe the talk will include overlapping techniques.  Some of them will stimulate NEW Threads.  Let’s try the open Discussion Format for Glass.  The Forum program has a subscription and Search functions that are useful for following your interests in the messages.

OK, that’s my BLOG and I’m sticking to it.  Nothing is written on Stone Tablets here.  I welcome your ideas…here, on the Forums or in E-Mail.

What’s that silly FLOWER doing  there?  Anything visual to attract attention.  OH, the arrogance of a Blogger!