would it be possible to add the twitter feed to the right hand side of the forum pages, i wonder? It might encourage forum users to discuss what LM1 are advertising etc.. just a thought...

I agree with you Mike about the forums personally but in terms of companies still using them, they are becoming archaic. This forum hasn't died because of a lack in LM1 involvement, it's died because all of the original kickstarter backers seem to have disappeared and there is no active conversation.

The cogs are turning at LM1 and exciting things are happening, let's all try and be a bit more patient and see what's happening. At least there is a forum like there where we can discuss things, I don't believe any government space agency has one.

Hi Darryl, you'll never come across a more patient person! I see my powers of persuasion still need some work...

Forums - places where people meet and exchange ideas in depth, are the life blood of any community. Granted, many organizations decide not to engage with their audience other than through social media, but ever since the Kickstarter campaign Lunar Mission One envisioned engagement *with* it's community, that this is at its core, and their failure in this forms my central criticism.

My hope is that there is still time to change for the better. Supporting a community is not difficult nor particularly resource intensive. It does however require a genuine desire to work with people every day, and the belief that the community adds value to the enterprise.

If people do not feel they are partners in a conversation they withdraw. That's true for personal and group discussions. Communities rarely spontaneously develop, they need nurturing and support. The responsibility for growing a community lays with its leaders, and in this case that comes down to those at Lunar Mission One - not the community itself. The LM1 community isn't an adjunct, an extra. It is the essential component of this project and requires tools and encouragement to fulfill its potential...

Yes, the LM1 team are seeking to build partnerships, and they're promoting the project on Facebook and Twitter, but you and I, and the community in general are not part of these conversations. We are simply being informed of them. Let's take our forum exchanges about the LM1 archive, an important part of the mission where the community should in my view be a crucial element in its development, as an example.

lunarmissionone.com/forum/public-archive.html

The posts have been viewed thousands of times, and yet not one single comment or word of encouragement was made directly by a member of the LM1 team. If people don't think they're being listened to, they turn away or don't bother joining in the first place.

I believe it's important to say when things can be improved - constructive criticism is vital for an organization to grow. I don't think it's a matter of patience, it's matter of being involved

Mike

Darryl James Cooper wrote: I agree with you Mike about the forums personally but in terms of companies still using them, they are becoming archaic. This forum hasn't died because of a lack in LM1 involvement, it's died because all of the original kickstarter backers seem to have disappeared and there is no active conversation.

Well some like me may just be keeping an eye on news that comes through. At the start I subscribed to all the threads so I just get emails of whatever's posted. Its bound to be quiet though. Been a year since the initial hype and there are no new people yet. Probably wont be for some time. Most will only care about buying into LM1 nearer the time several years ahead. Kickstarter backers wont have forgot about LM1, just wont be as eager as they were at the beginning all the time. Major updates or high importance news would bring a few back but for now it's a case of sit back, relax and wait for occasional progress and news to be announced.

Hi Lee, it's good to see this thread receive some attention!

Sure, it's a long haul, but all the more reason to start discussing the many complex issues surrounding the archive and many other aspects of what is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Let's not forget that the planning stage for the whole project needs to be in place by 2018:

lunarmissionone.com/lunar-mission-one/programme-plan

That might still seem a while away, but I've found the early bird catches the worm - it's never to early to start

Sure there will be many who will want to sit back and enjoy the project unfold, but there will also be others who would like their views and ideas to be heard right now, and some of those perhaps invaluable contributions may slip out of the discussion if they're not raised. Time is a slippery thing and windows of opportunity often close unexpectedly.

Mike

Hi Lee (aka Fawkes), Mike, Darryl and....ABI so very nice to see ya back!

I remember wondering back on the Kickstarter forum if this new version would perhaps splinter all the talkbacks and if we would get all the new forums, subjects and discussions i'd hoped for.

It's certainly a better set-up here but sadly I don't think the majority of the nearly 7,000 original backers have posted here
I can understand this but I had hoped a year on that we might have had some kind of campaign that might have at least doubled this figure? and in doing so we would then get more subjects discussed but of late things have dried up.

We still have no idea even if we have passed this low 7,000 figure mark? if we have? judging by the activity here I'd say it's not much more than this which to me is very disappointing.
I always had my doubts about just expecting people to find us on Facebook / Twitter etc.

I've read the postings on other Moon missions but there is still (to my knowledge?) NOTHING like this one!
I'm also looking forward to the science and other aspects of this mission but I think the BIG thing going for this mission is the DATA storage (An almost DIGITAL ARK like log of LIFE on EARTH)

Despite all these other MOON missions...I still feel if promoted & budgeted properly and carefully this could be a HUGE success (even more so than perhaps even LM-1's creators have thought) and I still feel there is room for some extra additions to the mission that no other moon mission has included.