The current state of Dudeness?

[DigitalBuddha]

So after a healthy set of beers (AKA oat sodas) I began to wonder what the current state of Dudeism was. I mean, how is Dudeism doing world wide?

Is the world a better place because we now have the ultimate spiritual wisdom of Dudeism?

Is Dudeism flourishing or are we headed down a path to a compromised second draft?

[Matt the Walrus]

I'm assuming this contemplation may be brought on by the dry spell we're having here on the forum (I've been away for almost a month so this is based on what I've seen popping up the last 4 or 5 days).

The problem with something like Dudeism, wherein we're brought together over the digital medium, is that sometimes it doesn't feel like much is happening. In my day-to-day life I don't come across any other avowed dudeists, and I'm assuming the same is true for most of you. So when the forum is less active it can feel like the whole community is fading away.

I don't think this is the case, man. I just think its warm outside. People are going on vacations, enjoying life. In short, people are too busy being dudes to write about dudeism. That's okay. Doesn't mean we're entering the dudeist dark ages or anything like that. It's just life.

But if you're looking for signs of life amongst the online community there are still cool things happening. The possible impending kiva contest and The Little Lebowski are two that come to mind. And of course the Dudespaper continues to churn out gold.

Just my two cents.

[The Lennon]

Maybe we need to get more interactive, like have a sunday podcast mass, where everyone listening repeats lines from the big lebowski.

"And the great Dude said... fuck it"

I mean that would get more people interested in working with the philosophy to have people reminding everyone to be dude to your fellow dude, and to take it easy.

[forumdude]

Hey fellers,
Yeah, sorry that more isn't going on right now. I'm trying to upgrade everything at the site and add all sorts of stuff and hope to be done soon so I can send out some huge newsletters and get more involvement happening so that when new shit comes to light, there's a sizable response.

One thing I want to do is host a weekly call in show with talkshoe.com - we could all chat online and it would be recorded. Like a totally interactive podcast. We could blather together audially.

I also want to get some Dudenominations set up - local groups of Dudeists who can get together maybe once a week (Duder Shabbos?) to help each other be more Dude, go bowling, drive around, buy hammocks in bulk together, etc. Basically all it would need would be a couple of High Dudes to put up a facebook page (they'd be indexed at dudeism.com) and recruit a league (a group of Dudes - like a flock or a parish. Or should it be called something else? A slack? An ethos?). That way we'd be a bunch of semi autonomous collectives instead of me overseeing everything.

[Rev. Ed C]

I'm gonna stick with my current way of thinking on this matter, that's it's the heat that's cramping everyone's brains down

Yeah, I mean, sure, there's new stuff to bring to the table all the time but people have lives outside of online forums and such.  We all take breaks now and then, and sometimes lots of people take them at the same time.

A conference/discussion group would be good, get some voices talking rather than just doing the mostly soulless conversing via text.  Some podcasts are also good, maybe a monthly thing, I know Chalupa has a Lebowski one, maybe we can get a less Lebowskian podcast going for Dudeism that works in tandem with the original.

As for groups, we're planning the second meet-up of the UK south coast lot over the next month or so (when I get some time off that doesn't involve me sleeping by daylight), but that's more of a social thing, but it's still nice.  Would be good to get a bigger group going for regular meetings a few times a year.

On the subject of forming groups for more than just socials... To minister you need a flock and that's one thing we don't have, because we're all equals.  All shepherds, no sheep   Of course that's a good thing, and it doesn't stop us from leaning on each other in times of need.  I think we're all just too spread out and the trouble with that is the only people who get involved get the info and we might live next door to another Dudeist and not know it.  Think of how many people got ordained and maybe never came back to the site.

Perhaps what would be good is to have some sort of listing on the main site, some sort of directory and have people volunteer to act as a local rep, like we did for the Day of the Dude, only have a permanent list of contacts up. For example, if I put my name forward I could offer my email address, set up a new one or maybe be given an @dudeism one and have my name listed in the index and if anyone wants to contact me in my local area they can do it through that.  If you want to reach people a set of volunteers who will open their virtual doors is the best way.  Set up a directory for the people who are really interested.

Maybe also promote the Dudeism map (see my sig) more, get more people checking in on that, maybe in conjunction with the directory?

Just some thoughts of mine.

[Chrispy]

Hey man...I'm not sure if I'm missing something here, but where do you click to actually put a pin into the Dude map?

[Rev. Ed C]

Hey man...I'm not sure if I'm missing something here, but where do you click to actually put a pin into the Dude map?

You need to sign in to a google account (easy to set up just for this purpose) and click the edit button that appears on the top-right of the white bar on the left.  You then get pinning potions at the top of the map.

Hope that helps Chrispy!

[forumdude]

I like the "dude-rectory" idea. I'm going to looksee if there's a plugin for Wordpress that can make this more easily happen. Any Dudeist techies out there who might point me in the general direction?

Any suggestions as to what a Duderectory would contain? And does Duderectory look funny because it has "erect" in it? Maybe Duder Pages? Green (with some rust coloration) Pages? The Phone's Ringin Dude Book? Maybe just Dudeist Directory. Everything doesn't have to be a fucking travesty with me, man.

[Rev. Ed C]

Yeah, maybe don't try too hard on those puns, and it's true, anything with erect, or even just rect(um) is perhaps conjuring up more than it needs

I don't think a directory would need much, just some key data that people can nominate to have up on the main site.

Name - Your given handle you wish to be known by to the Dudeist community, be it a full name or a nickname, etc.

Area - needs to be more specific than a country, something like "Portsmouth, Hants, UK" or "Austin, TX, US" etc, to give people an idea where you're based.

email - this can be your own, or you can make a specific one to receive Dudeist traffic (and the occasional prowling spammer).

And that's all you need, maybe a section for personal comments/notes, perhaps.  Anything more specific you can give over if you're contacted by email by anyone interested in meeting up or starting a group in your local area, etc.

Keep it Simple, Dude

[Chrispy]

Hey man...I'm not sure if I'm missing something here, but where do you click to actually put a pin into the Dude map?

You need to sign in to a google account (easy to set up just for this purpose) and click the edit button that appears on the top-right of the white bar on the left.  You then get pinning potions at the top of the map.

Hope that helps Chrispy!

Done and done!

[Zen Dog]

Didn't work for me.

Signed in to google but the edit thing lost me.

[cakebelly]

  Fuckin' paraquat spammers, mang!

[DigitalBuddha]

Hello everybody,i'am new i just whant to sai hello to the forum    jocuri cu hannah montana
giochi per ragazze          giochi gratis           jocuri logice

Shut the fuck up, copii!!! You're like a child who wanders into a movie, you have no frame a reference here.

[Tripnastic]

Didn't work for me.

Signed in to google but the edit thing lost me.

When I refreshed the page, the edit button came up, it just took me a few times.

[Uberdude]

This is a new topic for me.  What and where is the Dude map?