pothos.org

I totally agree with everything Amyntoros just said.

ATB

Again, this is a discussion group and naturally many spinoffs occur all the time, but a subforum is frankly to my way of thinking changing the direction of the purpose of the original forum, the desire to know and learn information about Alexander the Great. Sure, there could be a great subforum on Cyrus the Great, on Egypt, Pyramids and Oracles, on Temples in Turkey, lord knows, enough already! There is no improvement to the site for anything beyond the topic itself:Alexander. Just my opinion and I am sticking to it.

jan wrote: There is no improvement to the site for anything beyond the topic itself:Alexander.

Anything that is not about Alexander detracts from the site. Oh dear.

I'll keep a look out for Alex's Grannies cruising the forum looking for anything unrelated to Alexander.

Pothos. A forum under a pall of fear.....

I think Amyntoros had some good points.

I know that in the past I have not posted a topic because it was not directly linked to Alexander. I feel it would attract more people if we broaden the topics we can discuss. While Alexander will always be my favorite subject to discuss it would be nice to talk about other Greek rulers and periods.

Pre and Post Alexander would be great sub forums, but what time periods would be covered in these, will there be a limit on the dates?

jan wrote:Again, this is a discussion group and naturally many spinoffs occur all the time, but a subforum is frankly to my way of thinking changing the direction of the purpose of the original forum, the desire to know and learn information about Alexander the Great. Sure, there could be a great subforum on Cyrus the Great, on Egypt, Pyramids and Oracles, on Temples in Turkey, lord knows, enough already! There is no improvement to the site for anything beyond the topic itself:Alexander. Just my opinion and I am sticking to it.

The thing is, jan, one of the reasons that ATG is so interesting is the impact his "adventure" had on the world that followed him. And what came before...how did those events influence who ATG became? He didn't arise in a vacuum and then disappear into one after he died.

Theseus wrote:Pre and Post Alexander would be great sub forums, but what time periods would be covered in these, will there be a limit on the dates?

I don't think there should necessarily be limits on the dates. After all, worthwhile discussion of Homer could well be as relevant to Alexander as a debate on Demosthenes. Although to some extent I would be wary of inviting lots of discussion of post-Ancient themes, I have to say that some good threads on, say, Medieval perceptions of Alexander, could be excellent.

I don't think there needs to be any specified limitations, but we should let good sense guide us (and good sense is something that I think we have ... don't we? ...).

ATB

I agree that there would be great discussions to be had on Demosthenes, Homer, ect. Medieval perceptions of Alexander would be most interesting! It is amazing how much influence Alexander had after his death and I would say continues to have even in our time.

Yes, I would hope most of us would have good sense about the time periods we post about.

All day I've been thinking of the idea of the sub forums and it really excites me. I would love to discuss other characters from ancient Greece such as the original owner of my user name, Theseus. How about Pericles and Pelopidas?
Theseus has so much mythology mixed in with him since he was one of the earliest rulers.
These discussions would be interesting to say the least. I'm anxious for the sub forums to happen, but will be patient.

Theseus wrote:All day I've been thinking of the idea of the sub forums and it really excites me. I would love to discuss other characters from ancient Greece such as the original owner of my user name, Theseus. How about Pericles and Pelopidas?
Theseus has so much mythology mixed in with him since he was one of the earliest rulers.
These discussions would be interesting to say the least. I'm anxious for the sub forums to happen, but will be patient.

We shouldn't forget that there is already an "off-topic" forum, where (occasional) threads/posts that don't really fit in with the Pothos topos can go. It isn't used much, but if one has a burning desire to discuss the French Revolution, and others are willing to engage in said discussion, you can always do it there.

Thing is, Theseus, anything about Greek mythology is bound to have a link with Alexander somewhere - Theseus and the Amazons ... oh, look, Alexander is said to have encountered the Amazons; Perseus and Medusa ... oh, look, Perseus was one of the heroes Alexander wished to emulate when he went to Siwa. So discuss away!

ATB

So true Marcus! There are so many ways to link these historical figures to Alexander. Maybe we should start a topic called 7 degree's of Alexander and try to link some of these historical figures to him. You already have a good start.

Theseus wrote:So true Marcus! There are so many ways to link these historical figures to Alexander. Maybe we should start a topic called 7 degree's of Alexander and try to link some of these historical figures to him. You already have a good start.

I like it - and so much more interesting than Kevin Bacon!

ATB

Way more interesting than him. I'm not a huge Kevin Bacon fan, not even miniscule.

amyntoros wrote: Members come and go; some are very active for a period and then disappear for a while, only to return with a flurry of activity. And many members read but rarely post at all, this being the nature of an internet forum, so I feel that anything which might encourage new and/or more frequent participation ought to be encouraged.

Just another quick thought or two - I think this is very natural, the active-disappear-active pattern, because of health/work/general busy-ness type issues, so the more posters we have, the less likely we'll be to have those weeks when it suddenly dries up and goes all quiet. So I'd love to see anything that encourages, as you say, new and/or more frequent participation.
Following on from a quick thought on another thread, I wonder if we could do anything useful with labelling threads within a forum, in some way? Traffic Light code, perhaps! Green for chatty, conversational threads where the emphasis is on enjoying the chat (would encourage new people to post, perhaps?) Amber for approach with caution - getting more serious here, watch out...
Red for danger! You had better not post here unless you know what you're talking about and can spell diadochi diocdochi diodochoi or whatever it is...
OK, that's all getting a bit tongue-in-cheek, but you see what I'm getting at! It's not just the forums that might encourage others, but the types of threads.
The people who worry me are the ones who post once or twice and then never come back.
Fiona

Paralus wrote:

I'll keep a look out for Alex's Grannies cruising the forum looking for anything unrelated to Alexander.

They have a picture of a plate of cakes outlined in studs on the back of their leather jackets...
Fiona

amyntoros wrote: (Someone, please, tell me once and for all if there is a correct or academically approved spelling for Diodochi!)

The Greek word for successor is diadochos, and its plural is Diadochoi; Diadochi is the latinized form. Both those spellings are correct, while Diodochoi is just a common typo (which does indeed seem to be used purposely sometimes, probably because it sounds good).

best wishes,
Alexander