The Ft. Hard Knox Project

The goal of the FHK project is to assist politically-conservative bloggers, social-networkers, and citizen journalists to navigate the wild, wild world of Web 2.0 more effectively.

If you're interested in learning more about the Ft. Hard Knox Project, here are the links:

• Ft. Hard Knox Main Page and Blog
• Ft. Hard Knox Discussion Forum
• Ft. Hard Knox Discussion Forum Chat
• Ft. Hard Knox Wiki

"Wiki...What?" A Wiki is a user-supported and continuously-evolving hypertext encyclopedia. Thus, by definition, a Wiki is always "under construction." The Ft. Hard Knox Wiki has recently been established within the Wikispaces environment, and it already has some useful articles. Its purpose is to offer an easy way to access tech tips and information, to help conservatives use the Web more effectively.

Using the FHK Forum and Chat Room:

The Ft. Hard Knox forum is hosted on Delphi, so you'll need to register for a Delphi user ID if you don't already have one. Registration for the basic functions is free, and that's all you need to leave messages on the forum or to use the chat room. Prompts will appear when you click on the link. It takes just a minute to sign up!

Updated 7/17/07:

Meet with us on Twitter!

• The Monday night FHK forum chat has been discontinued for now. That's because it's too difficult to get everybody in different time zones all over the world to meet at the same time, especially in the summer when so many people are traveling.
• Instead, we're encouraging fellow conservatives and antijihadist activists to meet with us on Twitter. You can use Twitter both in "real time" for chatting with people who are online at the same time, and as a forum for communicating with people who will be online at other times.
• Click here to view all of our articles about Twitter. We'll have many more articles about Twitter in the future!
• So how do I get started on Twitter? The easiest way is to ask an established user to introduce you to other Twitterers. Whom to ask? Me, of course! Don't be shy. Just go to the Twitter site, register an account, click on my profile at 1389, and add me as a friend. I'll "friend" you back soon afterward. Then send me a message introducing yourself, and I'll begin introducing you to others. I hope to see you there soon!

Updated 7/2/07:

• We'll be discussing the Ft. Hard Knox Wiki during tonight's Forum Chat, so please stop by if you'd like to know more, or if you think you might be interested in working with us!

Updated 6/26/07:

• The main page and blog for the Ft. Hard Knox project have moved to a new address, http://forthardknox.com/
• From the new URL, the Ft. Hard Knox blog can be accessed via a cellphone or PDA browser as well as from a conventional browser.

Stumble It!

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TinyURL for this blog post: http://tinyurl.com/yo8og9

Wikipedia's "lamest edit wars"...sez who?

Why do some people look askance at Wikis in general, and at Wikipedia, the 800-pound gorilla of the Wiki world, in particular? This project page, entitled Wikipedia: Lamest edit wars, reveals the human frailties that tend to weaken the credibility of what should be a valuable social media tool.

Free and open debate is a vital part of the search for truth, but is that what we're seeing here? When it comes to certain hot-button issues, the search for truth among the Wikipedia community (such as it is) degenerates into a welter of animosity, politicking, ego-tripping, spin-doctoring, and ad hominem arguments. Evidently, the Wikipedians who wrote this project page saw no alternative but to give up on the possibility of making any further progress toward resolving these issues. Instead, they labeled these edit wars "lame," characterized all of the participants as equally unreasonable and contemptible, and held the entire process up to ridicule.

The character flaws that give rise to such ugly disputes are, sadly, part of the human condition. All too often, they are encountered not only among independent researchers, but also among those in academia, government, and the corporate world. But it's a matter of degree. In cyberspace, without traditions or established systems in place for resolving such things in a civil manner, incivility often runs rampant under cover of anonymity, and the interaction readily devolves into a flame war.

The problem is that incivility erodes credibility. Discussion and debate have a vital place in the process of building and supporting a wiki. But honest debate has nothing to do with bullying, manipulation, or spin-doctoring. Nor is there any room for the mistaken concept that truth can be arrived at simply by putting the matter up to a vote! For the wiki to earn the respect of the public, this debate must be conducted with respect for the other participants, for the readership, and, most of all, for the truth.

Stumble It!

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Web 2.0, social network, and blogosphere spam - and what to do about it

Sooner or later, every forum moderator, blogger, blog admin, wiki organizer, or Web 2.0 aficionado will have to confront the issue of comment spammers. There are no easy answers. Posting a comment policy statement, such as the Comment Policy for 1389 Mobile Blog, may help to discourage human-generated spam, but 'bot-generated spam will require other measures.

Here are some articles on the topic that may be helpful:

• Bloggers Declare War on Comment Spam, but Can They Win?
  
• Comment Spammers: Internet Pigs
  
• Spamming Social Networks is a No-No

Sometimes, though, the bloggers and webmasters themselves are to blame for degrading the quality of the blogosphere:

• Content Hypertext Spam

Stumble It!

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TinyURL for this post: http://tinyurl.com/29e25a

Introducing Ft. Hard Knox for Politically-Conservative Web 2.0 Activists

Fellow blogger Ron Goodwyne introduces this new blog:

The project is called Ft. Hard Knox and you can find it at www.FortHardKnox.com. Of course you’ll find excellent conservative commentary and opinion there but that is not its primary purpose. It is designed to combine blogging, wikkis and message boards in one platform to involve people who are not necessarily web savvy.

Some of the authors on 1389 Mobile Blog will be helping out at Ft. Hard Knox as well.

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Omgili: Discussion Forum, Search Engine, or Social Networking Site?

I've been using the Omgili search engine to locate online discussions on my favorite topics for some time now, but today I discovered two new beta projects by the Omgili folks: Omgili Thumbs, and Omgili PowWow.

 

First, what is Omgili?  Omgili is to the discussion forum what Technorati is to the blog.  It is a search engine designed specifically to find online discussions using queries.  More info is at the FAQ page and the Recent Queries page.  The process is very simple; users simply enter the topic they are researching, and Omgili provides a list of online discussions on that topic.

 

Omgili PowWow added the feature of allowing users to register, and develop profiles, so that they can find and be found by users with similar interests.   Users are able to exchange messages online, either publicly or privately.  Users can post new discussions, and there is a polling feature in the works which looks interesting but is not yet functional.

 

Omgili Thumbs takes this search engine to the next level, by allowing users to submit existing online discussions (from any forum), comment on, and vote for and promote online discussions they like or give a "thumbs-down," to those they don't like.

 

I still have one question, and have not yet been able to find the answer.  I have posted the question as a discussion on Omgili PowWow, and will post and update on this blog when I receive an answer. The question is this: " Where in the world did the name 'Omgili' come from?!"

 

Jenn Sierra

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