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	Discuss: START HERE: A User's Guide to FutureMonitor Topic: Ease of entry (or: FutureMonitor for first-timers)

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michaelhopkins

FM Editor

Member Since:
06 Dec 2005
Posts:82

09 Mar 2006 5:16 PM

1 have marked this post as Insightful

Ease of entry (or: FutureMonitor for first-timers)
How to get started, and how to get help

FIRST of all--to answer the question most likely to trip you up--you must register if you want to participate on FutureMonitor. It's all you have to do. Simply click the red Register to be a Member button at the top of the right-hand column on each page and register yourself by following the few, straightforward menu prompts. Once registered you will instantly be enabled to post comments in the discussion forums, submit Asimovs or Seens, and vote in polls and pair-wise subject sorts. Without registering, all you can do is read. And what fun is that? (OK, plenty fun. But still.)

What's in the "START HERE" forum
The rest of this post is just to explain what you'll find in this special "START HERE/User's Guide" forum. Following this topic you'll see other posted topics covering:
    --The point of it all. A brief description of FutureMonitor's purpose
    --How you can join in. How to post; what to post about.
    --The FutureMonitor payoff for YOU. How you can expect to benefit from FM.
    --A guide to FutureMonitor's parts. Descriptions of what you'll find on the site.
    --Syndication and RSS on FutureMonitor. How to make the site notify you about what you're interested in.
    --How-to's and some technical tips. Answers to many of the most common questions.
    --How to get help (and ask questions).

The stage that FutureMonitor is in, and where it's headed
Almost everything about FutureMonitor is an ambitious experiment--in near-term trend exploration, business-audience community building, and application of Wisdom-of-Crowds, collective intelligence methodologies. The site is new, and will remain in beta for a good while, probably. That makes you one of the earliest visitors and members--one of the pioneers. And we'll be grateful if you can help us figure out what's working and what isn't on FutureMonitor (both technically and conceptually).
    FutureMonitor's aim is a kind of balancing act: it's at root a community of people interested in better understanding the near-term future, but it's different from other community sites because ultimately it's less about the community than it's about the intelligence that the community helps gather, sift, and share. You can give us feedback by replying to any of the topics in this START HERE forum, or by creating your own topic within it.
    Next for FutureMonitor will be some months of tinkering and revision--most of it in response to what we learn from you. In the fall, you can expect some major new additions (such as prediction markets) and probably a redesign.

So please start. We're very pleased to have you.

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