The off-grid threads under Housing are really touching on what I would consider Energy Questions. Do you think it deserves its own forum / top-level topic? I imagine that some Transportation Questions could also share topically with Energy Questions. On the other hand, perhaps it's better to keep energy matters cross-cutting and mentioned within current forum titles, as-is? I'm vacillating on this, but think that Energy is an important enough topic stand-alone to at least get others opinions on the forum structure in this regard.
Everything derives from energy (including food --- maybe there should be a food forum; it's currently in the DIY section). I'd prefer to keep it cross-cutting.
The abstraction level is done at the "use" level rather than at the "source" level. For ERE I find it useful to consider the "verb"-level rather than the "noun"-level. This separates the "doing"-way of thinking from the "product/owning"-way of thinking.
I like the verb vs. noun distinction as an analytical approach. Instead of thinking "I need X (object)," e.g. bread machine; thinking "I want to do X (action)", e.g. bake bread, leads to broader range of solutions, some of which won't require spending money.
As a meditation on simplifying my life, I broke my day into all the activities from rising in the morning to retiring in the evening. Then, I considered the absolute minimum requirements to achieve each of those activities on a sustained basis. It was a clear, direct way to grasp how little we actually need to live an abundant life.
@Fabian - Once I get some "statistics" I will likely consolidate some of the lesser used forums.
Country, Barter, Work, and Lifestyle are on the elimination list.
Good to know, jacob. I run a big forum myself. I did it the other way around: I started with a single forum and added slowly new forums that had already lots of topics. I then sorted the threads into the new forums. That way the forum was always clean and uncluttered.
"Your experiences from the early retirement lifestyle"
I'm not retired yet, so I'm thinking about a forum to discuss how to get there rather then the lifestyle after.
The unofficial policy is rather to post slightly off topic than to make more forums. The forum descriptions are not meant to be restrictive, but to be suggestive.
This is not a request for a new forum, but could we add a link to the ERE home page (blog) at the top of the forum page? This would help me navigate between the two.
Thanks my mind had the buttons backwards --
I thought "home" should take me to the main ERE site, and I was thinking the "blog" link was the forums. Sorry about that and thanks for clearing it up.
