I'm moving the original "More Integral Spaces?" thread out of the Nugget Box and into Embodied Practice because here I can delete off-topic spam; also it arguably fits better in this section.

I'll quote the relevant posts from the original thread here, and then discussion can carry on from that point.

My hopes for this thread would be:

- that various integral spaces/communities on the internet will be able to learn from each other and thus improve how they do things;

- that people may find other integral spaces which are more compatible with their own predispositions;

- that some may gain greater insight or be otherwise enriched by exposure to various integral spaces.


arthur

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IIzaadz pod - http://pods.zaadz.com/ii - combines the best of I-I and zaadz. If you're turquoise and you know it, drop on by. :)

"You've never seen everything." - Bruce Cockburn

Posted in the original thread by adastra, 10-23-06:

What other places have you found in cyberspace that work with or are organized around some form of integral philosophy/approach to life?  Particularly I'm interested in hearing about other forums - I feel that interlinking different integral spaces and letting people know what's around can only enrich all of us.

At minimum please point us in the direction of other integral spaces, but it would be particularly cool if you told us a little bit about how it seems different to you.  Are there ways in which the site seems different from the I-I forums?  Are there things which seem better or worse in how they are run?  Is the tone different in any significant way?

What's out there?

curiously,
arthur

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IIzaadz pod - http://pods.zaadz.com/ii - combines the best of I-I and zaadz. If you're turquoise and you know it, drop on by. :)

"You've never seen everything." - Bruce Cockburn

Posted in the original thread by Vortex, 10-23-06:

I like this site alot, a lot of information available...

http://integralvisioning.org

There's also Zaadz, which I really think is cool, but it's more a networking source, but kind of an integral one at that (in my mind, anyway). Lot of potential there.

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IIzaadz pod - http://pods.zaadz.com/ii - combines the best of I-I and zaadz. If you're turquoise and you know it, drop on by. :)

"You've never seen everything." - Bruce Cockburn

posted in the original thread by adastra, 10-23-06:

Vortex:

I like this site alot, a lot of information available... http://integralvisioning.org

Ah yes, IntegralVisioning is also the home of the Heartmind forum - I did a short but potent stint hanging out there a while back.  Interestingly, a lot of friends and former friends of mine from Integral Naked currently call that place cyber-home; hence I have a certain interest in how people feel that forum differs from IN.  A lot of the people there seem to have issues with I-I, so I like to smirkingly refer to Heartmind as "The Rebel Alliance" as opposed, of course, to the Multiplex Deathstar.  (Use the force, fluke!)  heehee

I find two salient differences in that forum jump out at me.  Firstly, there is a chat function that runs along the lefthand side of the screen which contains the last 50 short text messages people have entered there.  It adds a really interesting "live" feel to the place - you see who is online, and you can chat with them in that social grooming gathered-around-the-water-cooler kinda way.  The chat function creates much more of a sense of being together in a shared space; about the only thing I would personally change about it is to have all the chat text that had ever been entered accessible.  Then again, there's a lot to be said for impermanence in the case of a chat section.

Secondly, sock puppets are not only tolerated there but (at least around the time I was hanging out there) are actively encouraged by the local Powers That Be (aka MichaelD, who still likes to hang out hereabouts on occasion).  While personally I have grave doubts about the possible effects of sock puppets on community dynamics, there is something to be said for experimenting with them or other forms of identity play, at least in some contexts.  (If anybody would like to discuss that fascinating subject, please start a daughter thread here or in one of the other I-I forums.) 

spiral out,
arthur

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IIzaadz pod - http://pods.zaadz.com/ii - combines the best of I-I and zaadz. If you're turquoise and you know it, drop on by. :)

"You've never seen everything." - Bruce Cockburn

Posted in the original thread by adastra, 10-24-06:

Vortex:

There's also Zaadz, which I really think is cool, but it's more a networking source, but kind of an integral one at that (in my mind, anyway). Lot of potential there.

Yes, Zaadz is very interesting - Brian Johnson, Zaadz founder, has had two IN dialogues.  I was spending a lot of time on Zaadz a while back, but at that time I didn't find much of interest for me happening on the various pods (what they call forums there).  It might be time to try again - are there any particular pods that you (or others tuning into this thread) would recommend?

In the more recent dialogue, btw, I was fascinated to hear Ken and Brian talk about the incident when Zaadz purged a bunch of new users because - generally speaking - that subset were not in tune with the Zaadz integral vibe; they pointed out that there are a lot of wide open green spaces on the internet, and Zaadz wanted to do something a little different.  Interesting attitude, wot?  craziii!  ">

I agree, Vortex, that the main strength of Zaadz lies in its use as a networking tool; it nicely complements I-I forum activities.  There are some people who mostly keep in touch with me through Zaadz messages.  One thing I would very much like to see Zaadz improve though, is the networking format.  Currently there is exactly one category: friend.  You are either my friend - or not.  In days of yore I belonged to another system (I think it was flickr, if memory serves) that had several network categories; I would love to see Zaadz do that - so, for example, I might have separate lists for "acquaintances," "friends," and "close friends."  As it is, I'm choosy about who I accept friend invitations from - because I'd like it to mean something - but if I could initially accept people into an "acquaintance" category or something, I'd be much more inclined to say yes.

arthur

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IIzaadz pod - http://pods.zaadz.com/ii - combines the best of I-I and zaadz. If you're turquoise and you know it, drop on by. :)

"You've never seen everything." - Bruce Cockburn

Posted in the original thread by Vortex, 10-24-06:

Most of my pods are about natural healing, buddhism and the Zaadz lounge.

I agree about the Zaadz friends issue. Should be a couple of options there.

Going back to the integral visioning site for a sec, I never clicked their links tab before. If it's itegral, it's listed (for all the integral sites I know of, anyway). I wish I would have thought of that before, LOL.

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IIzaadz pod - http://pods.zaadz.com/ii - combines the best of I-I and zaadz. If you're turquoise and you know it, drop on by. :)

"You've never seen everything." - Bruce Cockburn

Posted in the original thread by adastra, 10-24-06:

Vortex:

Most of my pods are about natural healing, buddhism and the Zaadz lounge. I agree about the Zaadz friends issue. Should be a couple of options there. Going back to the integral visioning site for a sec, I never clicked their links tab before. If it's itegral, it's listed (for all the integral sites I know of, anyway). I wish I would have thought of that before, LOL.

Cool.  If you give me the name of the pods, I'll check them out - unless you don't want riffraff like me stinking up the place.  ">

Something else I'd like to see in Zaadz to make it better: when you click on someone's profile, why doesn't it show you which pods they belong to?  I think it would be better to have that displayed, possibly as an option you could turn on or off in your Zaadz profile.

BTW I also love that you can list goals there, and ideas.  I think you can click to get a list of who else displays those same goals, if I'm not mistaken.  You can do that for favorite books, movies, lovers (OK, kidding about the last one) etc. - fun!  Great for finding like-minded souls.

arthur

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IIzaadz pod - http://pods.zaadz.com/ii - combines the best of I-I and zaadz. If you're turquoise and you know it, drop on by. :)

"You've never seen everything." - Bruce Cockburn

Zaadz.  I love it. 

Tamgoddess and I met with I met with Rommel over the weekend.  He used to be known as Coolmel in this forum, and now works for Zaadz (~c4chaos is his handle there).  We discussed IN problems with spamming/trolling with him in the course of a wide-ranging conversation, and it was so refreshing to hear how such problems are dealt with over on Zaadz.  Whoever starts a pod (which any Zaadz member can do) is the moderator of that pod/forum, with powers that go along with it.  If a certain number of complaints come in from various pods regarding a particular poster, they are banned from Zaadz altogether. 

The ability of all users to start new pods is a fantastic feature of Zaadz.  If you don't like how things are being done in one pod/forum, start a new one and play with different rules.  If someone is widely seen as a problem, as incompatible with the Zaadz community overall, they will be sent packing - off to find a more sympatico spot among the 10,000,000 or so forums in cyberspace.

I'll have more to say about Zaadz later, I love the place. 

arthur

p.s. I love this place too - in case anyone was wondering - so much so that I try to help it be even better, to the best of my wisdom and ability. 

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IIzaadz pod - http://pods.zaadz.com/ii - combines the best of I-I and zaadz. If you're turquoise and you know it, drop on by. :)

"You've never seen everything." - Bruce Cockburn

Yeah, I love Zaadz too. I also think their mode of spam control is very wise.

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In a black and white picture....there's a lot of grey junk

I have felt somewhat disappointed that there has been so little activity on this thread; particularly I was hoping to find out about many integral places that I've never heard before.  I also hoped that this thread would help revitalize these forums, facilitate cross-fertilization of ideas, and give people pointers to integral places to play which may be better suited for them in various ways.  It's good to have options.

I'm going to be spending less time on Integral Naked and more time on Zaadz (where I am also known as 'adastra').  Part of my motivation for doing so has to do with this whole scene increasingly seeming like a "vast echo chamber" as someone I know (not a current forum member) put it recently.  I also believe there are significant ways in which the flow of information in these parts is restricted in pathological/dysfunctional ways which run directly counter to my value system.  I have tried to help the situation as best I can, but increasingly it appears that my energy is being squandered here.

Every forum, every organization, every individual is a kind of experiment, and by exploring diverse ways of being in (and as) the world we both grow and also just revel in the intrinsic exuberance of Being in all its forms.  (I believe no experiment is a failure - there is only the failure to experiment.)  I hope the I-I experiment prospers, and perhaps our values will seem more congruent again in the future.

My time here thus far has provided a lot of pleasure and companionship and incredible opportunities for growth.  Thank you all for your part in that.  I'm not saying goodbye - although it sounds that way - this is simply a change of focus.  If you have a Zaadz membership, note that it's going to be easier to stay in touch with me there.

namaste,
arthur 

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IIzaadz pod - http://pods.zaadz.com/ii - combines the best of I-I and zaadz. If you're turquoise and you know it, drop on by. :)

"You've never seen everything." - Bruce Cockburn

adastra:

I have felt somewhat disappointed that there has been so little activity on this thread; particularly I was hoping to find out about many integral places that I've never heard before. 

Integral sites must be rare, no? I don't even expect any to exist yet...

I'm going to be spending less time on Integral Naked and more time on Zaadz (where I am also known as 'adastra').  Part of my motivation for doing so has to do with this whole scene increasingly seeming like a "vast echo chamber" as someone I know (not a current forum member) put it recently.  I also believe there are significant ways in which the flow of information in these parts is restricted in pathological/dysfunctional ways which run directly counter to my value system.  I have tried to help the situation as best I can, but increasingly it appears that my energy is being squandered here.

Could you explain -- especially the bolded part? I don't really understand - and I have grown so very fond of you...


Mascha

I've been a Zaadz member from some time (my alias is Pelle, in other words not an alias). Have you (Arthur) found any predominantly integral spaces there? Did C4chaos point you to any cool pods or places to hang out (integral or non-integral)?

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http://pelle.zaadz.com/

Mascha, read this for more info on what we see as the dysfunctionality of this place.

Liz

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Upgrade to ISC!
http://integralinstitute.org/public/static/multispirit.aspx
http://pods.zaadz.com/ii

Has anybody considered creating a new integral space in cyberworld? Because I have. Rather than start whining about I-I or running to another site which won't offer us what we had here, we could just whip up something new. We can run that ourselves, which means that it would kick ass, turquoise style. You would have all your integral friends there.

All it takes, is as little as 5 minutes and $49 a month (in total, not per person), so just think about it. We could make it for I-I members only, or whatever.

I would really really really prefer to stay here, but co-creating our own thing would be a good alternative until I-I gets its act together. Once they do, we can always go back here. I'm not sending any more emails to I-I, since I already feel sufficiently ignored by my cat.

Give it some thought, and feel how it feels. Respond here or PM me if it resonates with you.

Peter

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"All nations should be like Amsterdam" -- Ken Wilber

Hi, Peter

Zaadz allows the ability to create new pods (i.e. forums).  If you create a pod, you have control over it, including the ability to moderate or to appoint moderators.  Administration at Zaadz appears to be highly responsive to the membership, and the software seems much more versatile than that of the I-I forums at present, although I've really only begun to explore the place.  Zaadz has excellent PM notification and works very well as a social networking tool.  They take suggestions from the membership and improve the software as resources permit.

I've thought of creating or co-creating a pod there, although at this point I'm more inclined to explore the pods that already exist, to make sure I wouldn't be redundantly creating a redundancy.    If you do a pod search with the term "integral" a long list of pods will come up, including, by the way, these:

http://pods.zaadz.com/ii
http://pods.zaadz.com/integral_naked

I invite you to look me up on Zaadz - I'm also known as "adastra" there - and please send me a Zaadz PM if you do decide to play.  If you'd like to talk about experimentally sprouting a pod there with me, please let me know; I have been musing a bit about how to structure such a place.  I do think it's a good idea to get the lay of the land first.

One very cool feature of Zaadz is the ability to create new forums at will - it allows for vast creativity, experimentation, healthy splitting of communities when necessary or desirable etc.

(Check out the entry for Brian Johnson, Zaadz founder, here on IN.)

Aside: I am really digging that Fred Kofman CD you recommended, Conscious Business.  Thanks so much for pointing me to that!

spiral out,
arthur

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IIzaadz pod - http://pods.zaadz.com/ii - combines the best of I-I and zaadz. If you're turquoise and you know it, drop on by. :)

"You've never seen everything." - Bruce Cockburn