Identification cards

[Masked Dude]

I'm trying to decide how best to balance it so that we offer free degrees but we also provide incentive for people to present theses to an online database. Maybe we'd offer Masters Degrees in Leisure Science, Practical Philosophy, and the like, but doctorates only to people who write theses.

Moreover, people who really participate (evaluating theses, promoting the University, etc) would get faculty status. Professor Dudes.

What say you?

I like the idea of the Masters. And I also like the doctorate for theses.

Yeah, offering that many would probably be overkill! If I remember right, the only degrees you definitely could not offer would be professional or licensed degrees like medical and legal degrees, right? I'm a bit rusty on the specifics, so you know a lot more about that.

What you could do is to earn them... sorta. For instance, give out the Masters quickly, have them offer a thesis statement, give them X number of months to actually write and upload the thesis, and then the faculty review it. If they don't do it within that time frame, they have to re-present the thesis and are given another chance.

You may already have ideas about the online database for the theses. To review and approve, that can be done with wiki software (I've set them up in the past, so I can say there are plenty of help forums for that) and have a review page where the faculty can read and vote. Alternatively, you can butcher, er, hack some free help desk software and change the labels. Like you could have the faculty vote and leave comments if they vote against, so the person can make changes.

I'm not saying it should be very hard or a huge pain in the ass, since that's not very dudely. And all that I've said above just sounds harder than it would actually be.

Another quick idea is to offer a doctorate based on the thesis itself. Not sure if that would work, but if someone wrote a great paper on poetry, you'd give them one regarding literature. I know PhDs are a catchall and might be the preferred one, since philosophy is a huge category. And as I type that, I wonder if I should have edited this paragraph out.

And I love the faculty status idea!

[Celticgladiator]

I'm too lazy to write a thesis, crack another beer maybe, but write? Lol

[Hominid]

Hey Oliver - what's your vision here? Are we talking a *real* fake thesis here, (like - 80,000 words) or just a lazy-man's facsimile? Say - a hefty one or two thousand words...?  Just wondering how high a bar you want to set...

[forumdude]

Oh, no, that sounds exhausting. I was thinking a good-sized magazine article. 3,000 to 5,000 words. And not written in dry scholarly style, but rather something that anyone would be stoked to read. The point would be to get a broad repository of Dudeist articles to present to the public.

I guess we should automatically give out Ph.Ds to contributors to Lebowski 101 (www.dudeism.com/Lebowski-101)! That's pretty much the criteria for submissions to that book.

But we'd also have people working on the Wiki who could probably earn their degree if they contribute substantially to that I guess.

Any ideas or input is more than welcome. I've been ruminating about it for a while.

One thing that would be an important part of Abide University would be an Abidance Counseling program to try and come up with a basic skill set for helping counsel people in a therapeutic sense. Maybe gather some proven techniques (like neurolingustic programming, cognitive therapy, deep relaxation techniques, life management skills, etc. No Freudian or Jungian mystic stuff, just good practical help) and put together a training course. I have an idea for a way to match up Abidance Counselors with "patients." Not sure if it should be totally free or if there should be a way for Abidance Counselors to earn some monkey food for it.

[DigitalBuddha]

Dr. Dude! I love it, mang. Mark it ten!

Maybe it should be called PhDW (similar to PhD) Doctor/Philosopher of Dudely Wisdom.

[mrpaddy]

A dudeist PhD.. got to get me one of those!

I like the Abidance Counsellor idea. As to the monkey food, guess it could go either way but shouldn't be something you have to administer.. as part of the process of matching counsellor to patient let each counsellor decide if they work pro bonum or pro burger, in the parlance of our times. Some kind of profile system, like a dating site. Then the patient gets to look at what the counsellor is good at, and what/if they charge, and decide if they're groovy with that or not.

[Zen Dog]

I don't need a piece of paper to prove that I'm a dude.And as for 'counselling'! Well I just talk people  into coming bowling.It's amazing what happens when people learn to stop being uptight.Some of then need remedial work. But that's OK.

[Masked Dude]

Love the idea of the counselors. I'd love to jump in and help where I can.

Can't wait. I'm loving these ideas so far. If I think of any other things, I'll pass them along, forumdude.

[DigitalBuddha]

I don't need a piece of paper to prove that I'm a dude.And as for 'counselling'! Well I just talk people  into coming bowling.It's amazing what happens when people learn to stop being uptight.Some of then need remedial work. But that's OK.

No, but it, along with three bucks, will get you a cup of coffee at your favorite family restaurant.

[forumdude]

Yeah, it's true Zen Dog - none of us need these papers! In fact being too proud of Dudeist priest status would be very undude. But they're cheap and they're fun and it's an unobtrusive way of supporting Dudeism. It's also sort of a commitment - when you have that hanging on your wall it makes (me at least) feel like I'm taking the AA pledge or something. Abiders Anonymous. Or not very anonymous, I guess, if you're hanging your name on your wall. Ha ha.

Of course, there's a paradox in Dudeism when it comes to selling stuff and giving out official-style certificates and the like. But we hope that people understand that it's both serious and ironic at the same time. And that it only means what people want it to mean. I've purposely avoided expanding the store over the last years - and we have a few hundred WWDD bracelets made up, hundreds of Dudeoo doll keychains and even some solid silver handmade Dudeism pendants. We will continue to offer more stuff but I know that it's a fine line. Over the line, you do not! This also applies to the idea of the Dudeocracy making money off of Dudeism - we could start an affiliate program that would reward "dudevangelists" for selling certificates, but it might turn out all wrong. Same with Abidance Counseling. It's hard to know how to finesse it so that dudeness is enhanced, not diminished. Still, people have to feed the monkey and it is very abideful to have a job that you love and that rewards you for your efforts.

As I said, with Abide Uni I think it would be good to offer the "status" of doctor to people who contribute something to the neural Dudeist network in the form of a paper or what have you.  Or maybe not. We have to see how it plays out.

[DigitalBuddha]

If a dude contributes something to overall Dudeist thinking and advances the body of knowledge, culture and direction of Dudeism, a degree of some kind would a worthy achievement.

[rev-jaholbrook]

Ok so I'm wandering in on this with no frame of reference, I'm a little lost on the Dude university,  what's the deal here?

[Hominid]

If a dude contributes something to overall Dudeist thinking and advances the body of knowledge, culture and direction of Dudeism, a degree of some kind would a worthy achievement.

Fuckin' eh...   So, maybe our post-count can be factored in!  DB - you'd rock!

[DigitalBuddha]

If a dude contributes something to overall Dudeist thinking and advances the body of knowledge, culture and direction of Dudeism, a degree of some kind would a worthy achievement.

Fuckin' eh...   So, maybe our post-count can be factored in!  DB - you'd rock!

HA! Thanks Hominid dude, I hadn't thought about that; I'm almost embarrassed at my post count, but when you look at my stats, it's only 2.643 per day to date. Guess we'll have to leave the degree up to the Dudely Lama.

[forumdude]

Oh most definitely. DB gets a Ph.D Summa Cum Laude! He has gone above and beyond the call of dudely.

Or Summa Cum Loudly? Ha ha. Do I have to use so many cuss words?