iMech

I just noticed a new problem with imechanica: when a blog entry has received too many comments, additional comments will be placed on a second page but not linked properly. For example, the comment, "Work-free isochoric deformation", has a link node/5014#comment-10406 , which leads to the original blog entry rather than the comment. One can find the comment either by scrolling all the way down to the bottom of the page and then clicking "Next" or by a direct link, node/5014?page=1.

From time to time people ask if I know other websites like iMechanica but focusing on different branches of engineering.  This morning I saw a recently compiled list of Top Engineering Blogs, and was delighted that iMechanica was ranked close to the top.  I'm aware of the widespread cynicisms among iMechanicians about rankings of all kinds.  But, heck, ranking is good if you are ranked high.  As Freeman Dyson would say, being consistent is a weakness of mind. 

Early this week the number of registered users passed 6000.  Our growth rate remains nearly a constant, about 10 new users per day. In January Teng plotted some basic statistics of iMechanica. 

On Wednesday morning, I received an email from Anastassia Paskaleva. She was unable to create an account on iMechanica, because CAPTCHA kept telling her that she typed the letters wrong. Lesley Lam, iMechanicia user number 1, has just fixed the problem. Now new users can register once more. We apologize for the inconvenience that this problem might have caused you, and thank Anastassia for letting us know the problem.

iMechanica was lunched on 9 September 2006. It took about five months for iMechanica to see its 1000th registered user. Today we are welcoming the 2000th registered user after only another two and half months.

In this blog entry, I'll maintain a list of books, essays and websites that have influenced me in developing iMechanica. I'll also list my notes on them whenever available. Because iMechanica shares many common problems with other online communities, it is natural that we find solutions discovered by other online communities helpful. At the same time, iMechanica is unique in some respects, and has its own unique problems, so that we cannot adopt any methods or viewpoints without adjustment.

The number of registered iMechanicians has just passed 1000 today. iMechanica went "officially" online on 9 September 2006. See other numbers of iMechanica recorded today, and our evolving history.

A reader finds a post by a combination of browse, subscription and search... They are all free.

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• 30 March 2007. At a suggestion of Henry Tan, an RSS feed for comments is added as a button"comment at a glance" on the right side of iMechanica.
• 29 March 2007. An aggregator, "Random readings", is added to the rightside of iMechanica.
• 7 March 2007. Michelle Oyen posted an entry "Making iMechanica a better global forum".

• The number of registered users is 6037
• The number of posts is 2896 (You can see the current number by clicking the newest post).
• The number of comments is 6943 (You can see the current number by clicking the newest comment.)

Last updated on 19 March 2008

Related post: Some dates of iMechanica

hi everyone,

I'm a student at Harvard University working with Professur Zhigang Suo to develop iMechanica. I hope to add features to this website that will keep your research and ideas protected while encouraging the flow of communication and great ideas among the brightest minds in the sciences. If you have any ideas, comments, or suggestions please let me know. We hope you enjoy iMechanica.

1. iMechanica is free for all to use. iMechanica is hosted on a server at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, of Harvard University, and is managed by a team of volunteers -- mechanicians just like you. You pay nothing to post, and readers pay nothing to read. The limit of each upload file is 50MB, and each user is given 1GB server space.