Here is the ChatRev Transcript

[graham samuel]

On Mon, 09 May 2005 00:22:34 +0100, Alex Tweedly <alex at tweedly.net> 
wrote:
>
> graham samuel wrote:
>
>> What happened to the protocol? for someone that wasn't there, I found
>> the transcript almost unreadable, with people interrupting each other,
>> and I couldn't work out if Kevin had in fact answered (or rejected)
>> all the questions he was asked. The first chat transcript was really
>> well-ordered. I suspect it was Jacque's influence; but whatever it
>> was, I hope for more discipline next time.
>>
> Different contexts. The first one was the Scripting Conference - first
> in a series of well-organized and well-run on-line conferences -
> featuring stacks of info prepared ahead of time, with follow-up
> questions. And a protocol, and a Protocol Enforcer.
>
> This was a fairly informal chat session where Kevin answered questions,
> with much more open discussion. No protocol.

Yes, my bad, I hadn't realised that. I was too preoccupied with other 
things to note the context. Still, all multi-person conversations need 
some kind of protocol, even in a face-to-face situation, although as 
adults we have internalised the rules, in general. I remember one of my 
grandchildren being told to 'wait for a gap in the conversation' - this 
was in fact protocol training!
>
[snip]
>
> Maybe if he repeats this chat session, we can nominate a moderator to
> funnel questions through, so that she selects a topic/question, and
> everyone sticks more or less to it for a little while, then select the
> next one, etc.

Yes - I hope someone can suggest such a protocol so that it's available 
as a model for future chats. I just want to emphasise this because I do 
think that the chat session is a very valuable tool, given Kevin's 
willingness to cooperate.

Graham

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Graham Samuel / The Living Fossil Co. / UK and France