@IsaacMoses I will pass on your message to R' F when next I see him. Also, if you were having OpenID problems there, please let me know so I can try to figure out why. (If you just didn't bother, that's fine too -- you did sign the comments, after all.)

@MonicaCellio Is there a straightforward way, these days, to have an OpenID? I tried logging into Dreamwidth using various Google.com URL the web said could be used for this purpose, but that didn't work.

@IsaacMoses huh, I thought that was supposed to work. I'll do some experimenting with my Google ID.

Argh. I tried following the updated instructions here and got an error, presumably the same one you did. I then found this recent note that says that DW doesn't support OpenID Connect, which is something Google (recently?) moved to. I didn't know this; it sure looked like they support Google. :-(

Ironically, you do have a Dreamwidth OpenID stub from Livejournal, but daisy-chaining credentials sounds like a hassle. If you're willing to create a DW account, that might be easier. Or try using Facebook or Twitter I guess. Or do what you're doing now. I'm sorry for the hassle.

@MonicaCellio Not your fault. I'm content for now to just sign messages at the bottom, like I learned in elementary school.

@IsaacMoses some skills never become obsolete.

I, along with lots of other people, moved rather quickly from LJ to DW recently because of some shenanigans at LJ. I know this is disruptive for readers but I thought I knew where all the disruptions were (and took them into account). I missed one.

@MonicaCellio Eh. My RSS feed still has your mirrored LJ posts, so I can still consume them as I always have with no friction. The LJ posts have a link at the bottom to the DW posts, so I can click though with no friction by choosing that link instead of the one at the top. The only change is in authenticating my occasional replies, which is not a huge deal.

@IsaacMoses ok, sounds good. I admit that I didn't test the usability of DW's captchas, since I thought most people would be coming in through OpenID.

BTW, do you have any thoughts on how to solve the chevruta-matching problem? I'm considering asking on main, but I suspect it mainly arises in pluralistic settings, so I don't know how much traction it'll get.

@MonicaCellio (context)

@MonicaCellio I have experienced this sort of problem in non-pluralistic settings.

... including school/yeshiva (people know each other and are coming from the same place, but may not like each other or be on the same wavelength, learning-wise) and informal settings similar to the Kulam one you describe

Oh, good to know -- I thought that (a) knowing each other (long-term classmates) or shared context would make this a much smaller problem.

@MonicaCellio IME, in school, chavruta pairings were sometimes assigned by the teacher, and sometimes deliberately rotated, resulting in very varying compatibility. In yeshiva, where chavruta relationships are generally more self-chosen and more durable, one can still end up with some (or even a great) degree of incompatibility.

@IsaacMoses oh, it sounds like I have too naive a view of this. Thanks. And yes, rotating is helpful; when I went to the open beit midrash at Hebrew College some years ago (week-long program), there were about a dozen of us in our cohort and enough sessions to study with almost everyone once. That program also involved an application process, though I don't know how they used the data they collected from that.

I've just added this question to the election-questionnaire post. I threw out several drafts along the way and suspect it can be improved; I welcome input/edits.

@MonicaCellio Rotating has its benefits, including mitigating the impact of an individual incompatibility, but, where possible, a long-term compatible relationship is ideal.

@IsaacMoses rotating probably makes more sense for shorter-term programs like Kulam, where there's less opportunity to (within the program) build those relationships anyway. Kulam will have 11 sessions total, and not everybody will go to every one.

@MonicaCellio Hiya! Just thought I'd drop in and say that was my comment about "kulanu" in your "Kulam" post. I have you in RSS, and enjoy following your posts. I thought when I used the OpenID for that comment that I use for SE, Dreamwidth would add some more meaningful identifier. It didn't! And thanks to @IsaacMoses (= Isaac of the comment, I assume) for enlightening me on the colloquial use of kulam.

@Dɑvïd what timing! I just switched to this tab, saw you in the user list, and said "I should say hi to him" when your message appeared. :-) Thanks for identifying the mysterious "David" there. :-)

@Dɑvïd Probably me, although I guess anyone could write "-- Isaac Moses" at the bottom of a post. ;)

And yeah, what names show up on OpenID accounts can be a bit of a mystery. This is mostly new to me too. I mean, comments from people signing in with OpenID aren't new, but with the LJ-to-DW transition there are a lot more of them while things settle down.

@IsaacMoses that is true, but I said in here that I would convey your message and you didn't say "what message?", so that's some signal.

@IsaacMoses that is true, but I said in here that I would convey your message and you didn't say "what message?", so that's some signal.

Oh, that's weird -- I wonder why that double-posted.

@IsaacMoses D'oh. :) I actually had clocked Monica's "Isaac" reference, and not your own "sign-off". In any case -- thanks. :)

@MonicaCellio I should have done with the original comment -- but guessed wrong, and then it was too late (no "edit" option!).

@Dɑvïd no worries; I believe "edit" is only available to people signed in to the site directly, not those coming through OpenID. I don't know how hard it is to go through the OpenID path (or how often you have to do so), but creating an account is pretty straightforward. Mentioning in case that's easier for you.

(When you visit the page you see the login prompt at the top, so if you have a local account you can type name & password right there.)

@MonicaCellio The OpenID was very simple, and struck me as preferable to proliferating logins. If I find myself commenting more, I will do. Mostly I just read and admire. :D

@Dɑvïd :-) Thanks for the feedback; I had no idea you were reading. One of the things I really like about Dreamwidth (and LJ before it) for posting is that it makes discussion in comments easy, including threaded comments, so there can be interactivity. The difference between flat comments and threaded comments is huge.

This is also why SE should never implement threaded comments. You think we have problems with conversations in comments now... :-)