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So, I've discussed the idea with a couple of the Moderators here, and I figured it's as good a time as any to roll this idea out -- I'd like feedback from as many people as possible.

I'm kind of gay for research and writing, hence why I lurk on those particular subforums - however, they're kind of falling into disuse (As are the other subforums... but you can accuse me of favouritism). To bump up the activity there, I'd like to propose a small idea I had -- sponsored research.

In short -- a guild member decides she wants to do some practical research on a particular topic. She wanders over to the research subforum, and looks through a thread with a list of research topics -- "Using Tarot Cards as Magickal Weapons", "DIvination with televisions", "Summoning Jesus", "Astral Voyeurism"... she can pick one of these, if she likes, but instead she decides to post a new suggestion -- "Spirit Pregnancy" -- on the thread, with a couple of lines explaining what she'd like to do. A mod sees her post and says "Hey, sure, that'd be a great idea. Go for it." The guild member then downloads a copy of the form that'll be provided so she can detail her research -- her exact tools, methods, experiment participant's details and so on -- and performs whatever she's wanting to do -- in this case, impregnating someone with an astral child. A little while later, she neatly types up her findings, posts a log of day-to-day experiences related to the experiment, cross-references her work with other similar experiments, and posts her report onto the Research subforum. A mod looks over it and says "Awesome work, take 5K gold."

That's how I'm envisioning this idea. Feedback is greatly encouraged, as are any questions you might have. Would you like to perform some research for the guild for Gaia gold? Is there anything you think that could be improved? What would you suggest to make this idea a success?

5k? bit cheap xD

good idea though

Your example made me smile. xd

I like the idea of it just being more tied to the guild and kinda more...formal? I'm like you with writing and research, especially field-work. I'm working on some as we speak. twisted

If you get this going, cause I really like the format, having a home base, etc, then I'll participate. Don't need the gold, though. heart

Agreement.

This idea's cool, though...I'm up for it.
A generic form would have to be written up for the guild, no? Or obtained from somewhere, anyway?

That would work as long as the experiments are legitemate, so people don't walk off with money that they don't deserve. The experiment should have a valid experimental setup, and the report should be thorough, easy to understand, organized, etc. And they should cite where they got their information/corss-referances.

I love the idea, though. Good luck with it!

We have a guild mule. Think we could use it for this? At the very least, it would be a good place to keep the money and stuff.

I'm going to try my best to set up a form that takes the shape of the ones you use in experiments in academic subjects (I'm taking psychology just now, so that shouldn't be too hard).

I agree it'd be difficult to gauge people's honesty when it comes to experiments, but so long as it seems legit (ie, a good deal of effort is put into it, they've included a lot of information about what they did, they cite and cross-reference material), they'll be awarded, if only because of the time spent on the bugger. Because this means that less folk would be willing to expend the effort to do all of that, I'm going to make sure those who put the most effort into their research get the biggest rewards.

Josh, I think it'd be a neat idea for us to use the Guild Mule for this, since he seems kind of rusty and disused. You'd have to speak to Dras about it when she gets back, since she's going to be a sponsor, too.

I'll put a copy of the form/forms into the research subforum, then post a notice on this thread. Anyone who expresses interest in doing an experiment in this thread will get a PM when it's ready, too, so worry not. =D