I'd suggest that we do a formal vote with discussion in lightbulbs, etc., to determine if The Buffistas want to do this. Then erinaceous can let us know what makes the most sense for her as far as opt-in goes.

Seconded.

I think erinaceous should make the formal proposal.

Here's a draft proposal, which I think we need before we can second and move to Lightbulbs:

Proposed: That the Buffistas as a community agree to have writings from this site used as part of linguistics research by mumblemumble dictionary. Individual opt-ins will be required for anyone whose writings are included in the sample.

This proposal will be modified to reflect specifics of this opt-in and other facets of the research as more information become available.

Edited to add: Sorry, Jon -- X-post. I agree the formal proposal is erinaceous's to make, but it seemed to make sense to get some language out there.

I'll second or third or whatever that we open it to a vote.

However, if the last 1000 posts on that date were FOAMY! FOAMY! FOAMY! the linguists might get a tad annoyed. Just FYI.

Right, it's really only useful when we use words like "foamy" correctly in a sentence, right erin?

I second any proposal to discuss this further, but I think we should wait for the formal proposal to "toll" the running of the discussion and the vote until erinaceous has all the information.

Okay. I should be able to get the proposal together in less than a week.

The data will be used by more than my mumblemumble dictionary -- it will also be used by people all around the world who are trying to figure out how English really works. Before corpus data, studying language was like learning about butterflies from the dead ones stuck through with pins -- there's only so much you can learn from a dead thing. Corpus research (even though the name is reminiscent of 'corpse') is like watching butterflies in the wild -- what do they eat? where do they hang out? how are they born and how do they die?

And yes, 'foamy' doesn't count unless it's in context. Unless you are angling for 'foamy' to be an interjection, in which case shout it all you want ...

I think that we would choose a date on which to threadsuck and no posts would be taken after that date. However, if the last 1000 posts on that date were FOAMY! FOAMY! FOAMY! the linguists might get a tad annoyed. Just FYI.

I think you shouldn't tell us the date. Seriously. You know how, when someone's watching, you act differently, less natural? Well, if we know an ending date, I think we can't help but be aware of it, and it would affect our posts.

Another reason to let erin make the formal proposal: Under our rules, once the proposal has been made and secondses are received there's four days of discussion and then three days of voting. If we jump the gun and propose before erin has all the details, we could be voting before we know exactly what we're voting on. There's no reason to rush.

If we jump the gun and propose before erin has all the details, we could be voting before we know exactly what we're voting on.

That's what I meant, but Jon says it better.