The software running the Zone is the primary development version because my latest tinkering took place here, so today when my client came by for a dog-and-pony show, we studied the HabitableZone. He likes it, and liked the stories I related of my experience developing on a live site while the site’s members ran around playing with it while I worked, finding bugs and even hacking it. One thing’s for sure, I don’t work like other Web developers.

Looks like you’ve picked up on my intentions and philosophy with high fidelity. I’ve observed over and over how the technological infrastructure shapes the online society it houses, but because I had sole control of the design, the walls were rigid and unyielding, and the shaping was, perhaps, too much in one direction. Giving everybody the widest possible access makes the walls softer and more pliant, more able to give to conform to the shape of the community. And that’s interesting.

BTW, note that the Permissions form lets you manage the membership groups, that is, you (collectively) could decide you want something other than the two-tier Senior Post and Poster differentiation. You’re able to delete groups and define new ones. And this is important, because a piece of technology that divides people into groups and gives them different privileges is most definitely a piece of social engineering. How you define the groups and their membership will have a big impact on society.

I’ve found that a screen cap of the Permissions form makes a dandy visualization when discussing those issues with people.

Public posting to Space/Science is not as momentous an issue, though it has social ramifications in terms of ease of making your first post and thus ease of entry into the community. I don’t see anything wrong with your logic weighing the pros and cons. You might want to consider refining how you open things up with safeguards like captchas and possibly requiring moderation before a post goes public. The permissions system treats the ability to publish a post separately from ability to create one, so it’s a pretty simple step if you want to take it.

I’ll be coming up with documentation on some of the key areas where you can customize the site. Those features exist for the dual purpose of allowing instructional designers and instructors and staff at the university create their own courses and other material on their version of this site, and I’ve promised to start training people very soon. The fun never ends!

Well, Captain, with your permission I’m going to retire to the Engine Room to dust some filters and polish the brass fitting.