Pretty sure.
Trolling yes, projecting no. Trolling only in that it’s an issue I commented on because it was the hot topic that night (as in one person (Andrew) was commenting on it). I wanted to type but I knew it’d be (marginally) controversial. But it’s not an opinion I was ever confident enough in or seemed important enough to express. I do like introducing the PCE and felicity as a separate category of emotion.
I agree regarding introducing a PCE and felicity, getting to grips with what is meant by felicity at first was quite tricky for me. Also, it was a few months when first introduced to AF before I saw anything about EE’s on the site and these descriptions I could relate more to and definitely was sure I had these experiences whereas a PCE was alien to me. I think it helps to know about these and the differences between them.
Hmm so neither does my article lol.
If we are really gunna do this I think we need something like a landing page designed for someone who would have just clicked on an ad such as this:
Example, if I click on this ad:
I get a page with this on it:
i.e. very directly relevant to the ad, a clear way to get started.
So I think we’d need some similarly not-cluttered page with a step by step thingy. Basically need a marketing specialist lol.
In the lingo I believe this is called a ‘funnel’. Designed to make people click through to buy your ‘product’. At each phase of the funnel you lose people, maybe you have 3 steps and you lose 80% at each step, you keep 0.8% which is 8 people per 1k clicks.
So it may be something like, learn what it it is on a brief intro, make a forum account & post? (2 steps lol)
It’s not really exact cause we are not selling something per se… but anyway needs some thought put into it. I think it would be sorta fun to have a seeming flow like selling something, but then there’s nothing to buy, not even a donate link, the only result is ‘exposure to actualism’ haha.
I’ve always liked using a description of a PCE as the first landing-point
If someone gets it, there’s a good chance they’ll immediately know what actualism is about. If not, no big deal
Anything that mentions the word actualism…yuck. Why not say: Have you ever experienced a moment of complete clarity that seemed to have always been there? or: Have you ever noticed a subset of emotions that are pleasant yet not possessive in any way?
Come on down! (Cue a Bob Barker* gif) There’s a place on the web where we are talking about these things. (The a really big woman spinning the wheel* and it lands on the website address)
*For all the non-Americans: It’s a game show called the price is right
There’s an interesting back & forth telling new people about actualism where I don’t want to reveal too much too fast because it can be a lot for people, and I don’t want to reveal too little because that could be the missed opportunity if they don’t catch on how big a deal this all is.
The useful thing about being in person is you can gauge off their responses, but on the internet there is no such luxury
Perhaps we could have 2 campaigns… the ‘coy’ and the ‘bold’
And then focus-test them 
Well we got the funds… I think Alan would approve of such efforts 
. And it seems 20 euros goes a long way on google ads.
If there are people willing to make the pages and do it then we could make it happen!! I could help with the writing and the technical running of the campaigns, but not so much with making the pretty pages or web design
Hmm, in principle, I am all for more interested people. In practice, how does one find those who would otherwise make something of it?
I’ve never clicked on any spiritual looking ad. I mean even long before finding actualism.
My route was via getting addicted to a “guitar tube amp” builders forum, deciding I should put that addiction to better use, found vipassana.net , then Dharma overground.
If anything, I would put money into the actualism website and integrate this forum tightly with the website.
Then, when someone does go looking, it has a bigger “foot print”.
I sorta think that the ad traffic would be really hit and miss as far as time invested answering questions, moderation, etc.
A slick wiki/ website/ forum integration would serve everyone well.
Especially the wiki we dreamed of years ago. It’s one thing to pin a thread, it’s another thing to have articles, and be able to hyperlink between them.
My vote would be for quality content and curated information over quantity of traffic from ads.
“No meditation. No yoga. No diets. RIP forever while being alive”
You realize the AFT site already has all the content? . It is harder to come up with content when it is already written lol. A different take on explaining things like simpleactualism makes sense… but re-writing the AFT does not.
Possibly what I could see being very useful is having multiple people write about their own understanding of a particular topic, how they relate to it, the experiences they had surrounding it. Then we could get many differing points of view on each thing. So there will be the gold-standard factual basis and reports conveying of the idea of the AFT, and then multiple takes on it. Different people will respond to different things.
Anyway I think we are at the point where we have a lot of idears and not a lot of doers. I’m not really looking for a consensus opinion on what to do next, because great, we reached it, but then who will do it? I’m more looking for people to start doing things. I also think more likely to twig someone to do something is seeing an idea they like/that speaks to them, and then they do it cause it’s fun, rather than a lengthy convo reaching a consensus opinion that doesn’t speak to them particularly…
And if no one wants to do any of these ideas then we won’t .
Indeed, for me I have always had the enthusiasm to do things/ write things, but that comes from a drive to save people. How can I save anyone when my MO has kept me slowly circling at best?
I am reminded, thanks to @carpe_vitae , of the enthusiasm Peter and Vineeto had in going public within 5-8 months of talking with Richard.
I certainly feel invigorated lately. Even writing poems!
Perhaps it’s a matter of confidence. Do I have anything to offer people? When I think about it, I shy away, but I probably do have something helpful to someone out there.
“The N’vr-do-wells Guide to Being Interested in Actualism” by Andrew
“Still Alive and Trying” by Andrew
“Recalcitrant; The Beginner’s Guide to Being an 10 Year Veteran” by Andrew
I could provide the satire.
(I felt sick coming up with more titles, I withdraw my offer, it’s not really funny at all)
In my view and [although limited] experience colaborating with getting the word out in two spiritual organizations, this is the simplest and most “inorganic” way to start.
Articles allows great freedom, as someone like @JonnyPitt can write about PCEs mixing the account of his experiences with “theory” (quotes from Richard, elements of neuroscience regarding altered states of consciousness, etc.; whatever he wants).
In the same way he can write about what AF says about the three types of feelings while reporting his experiences with them (how he was discovering/understanding those differences, what difficulties he found, how this changed his general mood, his relationships, etc.).
Moreover, as was said, this format allows many others to write about the same things, simply from their own perspective and through their own biographical history.
Of course, as @claudiu did, the drafts could be put to the general consideration of others first here in order to receive suggestions etc. AND/OR could be given, for example, to @Srinath, who had already proposed in Getting the Word Out to make them “some (not heavy handed) editorial oversight”.
By the way, I recommend reading that topic, even to avoid repeating discussions/ideas (in fact, it should be merged with this one).
Articles also allow to share in different media a point of view or an explanation written in a good way (avoiding to say the same thing in a mediocre way), with a simple link (saving time), and reducing sterile discussions (for example in forums).
For example, two of my answers on Quora about a mathematical question and an electrical question allow me to share their links in different media every time I need/want to explain/answer the same thing (beyond having been found/read a few thousand times organically in Quora, via Google search, etc.).
In the same way I take advantage of the articles already written in my blog on various topics.
Merge! 
If I had control of the $20K, I would place half towards ads that drive traffic to the place that started it all, and the other half to the directors that operate and maintain that place for them to do with it whatever they think best. I am speaking of the only place on the internet that attaches a guarantee of authenticity onto the words that communicate what an actual freedom is and what it is not. There’s even a link provided on the homepage that directs visitors to this very forum, should visitors wish to engage actualism with an interested group. There is no better resource. No better place to learn about an actual freedom from the human condition than at the address of the person who (a) made its discovery, (b) lived the full meaning of an actual freedom, and (c) spent the next couple of decades meticulously articulating it to all and sundry. Simply put: If visitors find the content on the AFT website confusing and off-putting, they won’t find this place any less confusing and off-putting.
That would require permission from the AFT trust, but if they went for it it wouldn’t be the worst use of money
Don’t see why permission would be needed. One is essentially just paying Google to share a link to a website.
Strikes me as courteous. Plus R&V have a history of being particular about how the media on the AFT is treated
interesting variable to consider is the fact that a lot of people here were actually introduced and directed to actualism via forums and quite successfully, specifically the dharma overground. i actually found actuallism via a buddhism subreddit thread that pointed to other threads on the dharma overground.
so i guess there’s merit and appeal in being introduced via organic and ongoing conversations, perhaps for the social proof aspect of it, or even as a softer first encounter with something that could feel a bit alien at first.
