Eclectic Views

    
Welcome to pre.vue!  Thanks for stopping by.
  

    
Pre.vue is a publicly-viewable conference, set up to allow folks who
may want to join the Well a little taste of what it's like inside.  

A quick reminder to Well members: your posts here will be public.

For those of you just dipping your toes into the Well via pre.vue -
Hi! Enjoy.  You won't be able to post contributions directly. But
you're welcome to submit them to your hosts - Angie and Chuck - via
email: prevue-hosts@well.com.  Let us know which discussion ("topic")
you're following, and what question or comment to post for you.
  

    
If you're visiting us by way of Engaged - the point-and-click browser
interface - you'll see clickable links that refer to other conferences.
 Subscribing members of the Well who click on those links are taken
directly to those other conferences. If you're not a member, you'll be
taken instead to a "join us" page. 
  

    
This topic will be kept frozen - that is, no posts except those of the
hosts will be allowed.  It will be thawed occasionally so that we can
post announcements and other conference business.
  

    
Should you have any problem with pre.vue, or need any help with
procedures, just let Chuck or Angie know, with a quick email to:
prevue-hosts@well.com.

Thanks! Have fun.  We hope you enjoy your dip into the Well.
  

    
I have been asked for clarification on the participation of
outsiders in pre.vue .

The public can send mail to <prevue-hosts@well.com> , and both
Angie and I will receive it at our regular Well email addresses.
We may choose to post the email in pre.vue .  We won't post the
email address of anyone who sends it to us, but we will save it
for our reference.  We do expect that an emailer will provide a
valid real name.

One Well user wanted to start and run the limerick topic,
inviting emails from the public, so we agreed to make that a
special case.  There is a separate email address of
<edgarbox@well.com> for the purpose of running the limerick
topic.  Angie and I were happy for her to do that, but we were
not interested in taking on the workload of the limericks.

We are trying not to expose anyone's email address to the public
(and spammers) any more than is inherent in the software that
runs the Well.
  

    
Well hosts: Please do not link from this conference.
  

    
This is primarily of interesting to Wellbeings, rather than our
visitors. Because some of the meta discussion has been underway here,
it's worth porting over.

Just posted in prevue.pri:

Chuck and I have listened intently and discussed the criticisms and
suggestions here and in pre.vue itself. Thanks for all your input. 
We've made the following choices:

1.) prevue.pri, as noted here, has pretty much come to the end of its
useful life. It originally served two purposes: meta discussion of
pre.vue, and seeding new topics.

The first function will be moved to the Hosts conf pre.vue topic,
which already exists. Unlike a .pri, it's accessible to all on the
Well.

As for new topics, there's no reason they can't be started directly in
pre.vue.

2.) Rather than wait for topics to start on, oh, music, sports,
religion (examples grabbed out of the air), we'll just start some.
We'll also ask permission to port particularly interesting exchanges
from elsewhere on the Well. Please feel free to do the same.


It's time for pre.vue to move into its next incarnation, or phase. I'm
really grateful, and I'm sure I speak for Chuck as well, to those of
you who helped us get it off the ground. Next step: making pre.vue more
interesting and attractive to a wider swath of the Well.

Also under discussion: ways to quantify the impact of pre.vue, and how
to increase it. Let's pick that conversation up in Hosts 509.
  

    
Time for some Fall pruning! These topics have lain fallow since before
5/1/03. If you'd like to keep one of them alive, just post in it. I'll
retire the rest in a week or two.

18        ASS KICKING 
37       Pre.vue Expertise!
40       The Pre.Vue Quiz Show 
44       Furniture I Must Have 
7         Tech Talk: Computers, Gadgets, Gizmos and Software 
13       Is it Art? Is it Not Art? 
11       Spirituality 
14       Time to kick some butt 
15       On Food and Cooking - Good Eats! 
21       The Unix Thing I am Banging My Head Against Today 
20       The Cool Unix Thing I Learned Today
  

    
reminder to any non-Well members reading along - your comments are
welcome. Send to <prevue-hosts@well.com>.
  

    
I'm looking at a few topics that have had no activity for about a
year.  I will be freezing then and retiring them.  If you want
them kept around, please email me.
  

    
14  Time to kick some butt (03/19/2003)
15  On Food and Cooking - Good Eats! (03/07/2003)
21  The Unix Thing I am Banging My Head Against Today (02/28/2003)
19  Engaged v. Pico: Chapter 6572 (02/15/2003)
  

    
In fact, you all are welcome to look at the entire "retired" list to
see if there's anything there you'd like to keep. Just give us a
holler. We'll purge the whole list in a week or so.
  

    
last call for the big purge - check out the list of retired topics,
and let chuck and/or me know if you want any of them to stay alive.

Off-Well readers can send their opinions, topic suggestions,
questions, comments, snide remarks etc. to <prevue-hosts@well.com>.
  

    
With apologies to John Irving - time to saddle up them chickens, I'm
ridin' out.

Real life (life outside the Well! Perish the thought!) has been
pulling me away from participating as fully in Pre.vue as I used to. 
I've reluctantly decided it's time to let it go into fresher, newer
hands. By its nature and mission, this conference needs a more
fully-involved presence than life is letting me offer nowadays.

It's been a helluva ride setting this place up. A huge learning
experience, and mostly lots of fun (buy me a drink or two, and I'll
tell you about the non-mostly part). It's very cool to see it sit here
well-established and respectably trafficked. Hurray for all of us to
worked to birth it and massage it into shape!

<cdb> will handle turnover to <mpk>'s new cohost. Thanks so much,
everybody who has and does put your valuable time into our little
"window on the Well". And be nice to <mpk>!!
  

    
Gee, Angie, what a loss for pre.vue.  You've been great.  But I
understand how sometimes life gets in the way.  All the best to you,
and many thanks for all that you've done.

BUT, you're still expected to pop by and say hello, you know.  If not,
we'll send a search party out after you.     ;-)
  

    
Angie, I'm sorry to see you stepping down. You've been a wonderful host 
here, bringing your own special energy to the conference. Enjoy your
hostly "retirement," darlin'!

I've been confabbing with (mpk) and after a lot of back-and-forth we've
chosen Eleanor (wellelp) Parker to join Mike as the new cohost here.
wellelp's been a strong, steady contributor to this conference since its
inception and I think she and Mike are going to make a splendid hosting
team. Congratulations, Eleanor!
  

    
Angie, you've been wonderful.
  

    
Thanks! it's been fun.

I'm tickled as heck that Welleanor is taking the helm! Excellent
choice. Have fun, honey.
  

    
You bet your life I'm gonna have fun! 

Angie, you and Chuck really did an extraordinary job in getting
<pre.vue.> going. In truth, I'm sorry both of you are leaving so close
to each other (and don't think we won't start some rumors about that!),
but I know Mike was a great choice, and now I'm looking forward to
working with him here. And I'll look forward to seeing you often in
QotW.

In honor of the occasion, I'm retiring my pseud "hoochy coochy dancer"
for something a little more hostly. 
  

    
I'm sorry to see you step down Angie, but I can't imagine
a better choice as a new host.   

Thanks and congrats to both of you!!
  

    
Hurrah for Angie and Eleanor!

I should point out that both new hosts get, as part of the deal, a GREAT 
BIG RED PHONE on our desks which connects us directly to Angie or 
Chuck whenever advice is necessary. The equipment was government surplus.
  

    
<20> What he said.
  

    
thanks, Angie - know how hard you've worked!

And welcome Eleanor!  Sorry though that you feel you must retire your
pseud - every time I saw it, it reminded me of my only recented
departed Grandfather - he was a big fan of hootchie cootchie dancers -
had a song about them and everything.  But then he had a song for all
occasions!
  

    

Any grandfather, departed or no, who has a song about hootchie coochie
dancers is ok with me.
  

    
oops, make that 'recently' not recented (where'd *that* come from?)

Green-like slippage.  He was the best, speaking strictly from a
musical perspective - he and his brothers wrote songs, sold them on Tin
Pan Alley.  He ALWAYS had a song - had me singing "My Blue Heaven" by
the time I was four or five.........