Excerpts from a question posted to private group at EX-OM ...

(permission to quote was granted ... but edited to protect user identity :)

as a very inexperienced user of sites like this : ................

...I'm probably a bit of the devils advocate :)

why would I need to PAY to express my opinion when i can blog it for free in a million places?

what's the point of having a "rating system" when you can't really rate abstract ideas, and feelings?

(definitely I understand ebay rating on pragmatic issues such as: "product quality, shipping time-frames, truth in advertising, etc.)

why would I want to have any notion of the percentage of "private time" people spend on this website? I can understand why you might want to know as an administrator, but as a viewer....I don't really want to know.

Just some hard thoughts ....i suppose, do

take them, and do good things with them if they are of any use, ok?-------just wondering.

Good Questions -- devils advocate :) : .........................

In order to finance the site -- and offer free services, I would at least have to run some ads, and perhaps charge a fee for advanced features -- as well as accept donations -- for I am not independently wealthy.

And Yes: there are a million free blogging sites out there, but they are rather one-dimensional in scope -- focused on just the blogger and not equipped with community collaboration tools.

In terms of rating tools -- I beg to differ :) -- you can express opinions on anything, and use them as you wish -- or just ignore them -- like book, hotel, restaurant, or movie reviews.

And, down the road, for private groups (which individual users can set up)-- I don't have a problem if, for philosophical reasons, they elect to forgo public/group reputation scores :)

Eventually, if this community took off, certain members would be read and their opinions often followed by people with the same tastes, temperament, and point of view.

And this is an important filtering device that users can leverage -- because no one has the time to filter 100,000 pages of content -- or read every book, or try every restaurant, etc...

The real trick is to come up with a ratings system -- or a set of ratings systems -- that people can elect to use -- or completely ignore...

... It's all up to you, without restrictions imposed from above :)

And Ideally: it would be cool if individuals could create and share -- their own rating-systems -- that others might also find useful:

There can be a ratings system for Artists, Political Activists, Philosophers, etc...

And that is but one of many unique (HarryLyme) features -- not currently found anywhere else :)

(and Brad -- you know that this could be done -- think about it as a rating's-system protocol-stack "the mother of all abstraction" -- or simply as "tags with "votes" attached" -- that can be filtered across many dimensions -- as potential input into matters of choice -- but not used as a coercive "thought-police" -- that is paternalistically imposed from above :)

My Dreams are of creating a functional model of personal-freedom that, unlike Omidyar.net, is not so vain that it exists in denial of our imperfect nature.

I don't want to repeat this philosophical conceit.

So I'm attempting to create a new model, which provides a broad range of public and private space, where people can choose to go where they want. Where a vital marketplace of ideas exist -- representing a broad range of opinions, expressed in a broad range of ways.

And if you can find what you are looking for from the existing range of choices -- you can then decide to create a group of your own -- and choose to make it private or public, or somewhere in between :)

And under this robust selection of choices, you don't need a "junior-high" like -- "governing board" -- you simply go to a group that is a better match for your personal temperament and interests.

And if you can't find one -- you can always create your own :)