Revamping the Forum Categories

[Missourian]

PM groups fulfill that function.

What is a PM group? Is that a forum function? Our do you mean manually...

Also...I don't know that the post 47 you are referencing is the current post 47.

 

[Pogo]

Current Events" is valid but maybe should be reserved for current events that are not Political, as that has its own category. A hurricane, a plane crash, that sort of thing.

And IMO General Discussion should also be reserved for non-political discussion.

I endorse all the proposals outlined in Post #49...well done Pogo

One exception

IMO we should keep Religion but move Ethics in with Philosophy.

And...I'd still like an Outdoors Forum.

Workshop is good...I like that...but that still doesn't really encompass outdoor activities.

General Discussion should be nonpolitical -- YES. Maybe even a rule like other politics-free forums.

Religion separate from Ethics/Philosophy? OK, not married to it, but they are all the same general area.

I think of outdoor activities (camping, fishing, hiking etc) as different from Garage stuff. I think Garage is still OK as a name, it's just that its description says "whatever doesn't fit elsewhere" which is really what General Disc is. Garage is typically used for tinkering, projects, building stuff, which is what it should be.

Thanks for the kind words.

 

[Pogo]

PM groups fulfill that function.

What is a PM group? Is that a forum function? Our do you mean manually...

Also...I don't know that the post 47 you are referencing is the current post 47.

Ah yes, some but not all of the incessant trolling seems to have been vacated. What was 47 is now 45, basically says the same thing.

A PM group, far as I understand (I've never started one but have been invited to existing ones) is simply a PM thread with whoever the starter wants to invite, which could be a long list. Then it becomes an invitation-only thread not visible to anyone else, which fulfills the proposed idea for "conservatives only" or "Democrats" or whatever. The PM thread starter would have total control over who gets in and reads anything.

I don't much care for the idea as it becomes an echo chamber. The whole idea of a message board is to have a gumbo of viewpoints, so it does get stale, but that's how that would work.

 

[Missourian]

PM groups fulfill that function.

What is a PM group? Is that a forum function? Our do you mean manually...

Also...I don't know that the post 47 you are referencing is the current post 47.

Ah yes, some but not all of the incessant trolling seems to have been vacated. What was 47 is now 45, basically says the same thing.

A PM group, far as I understand (I've never started one but have been invited to existing ones) is simply a PM thread with whoever the starter wants to invite, which could be a long list. Then it becomes an invitation-only thread not visible to anyone else, which fulfills the proposed idea for "conservatives only" or "Democrats" or whatever. The PM thread starter would have total control over who gets in and reads anything.

I don't much care for the idea as it becomes an echo chamber. The whole idea of a message board is to have a gumbo of viewpoints, so it does get stale, but that's how that would work.

Thanks for the explaination.

I agree...that doesn't interest me much.

 

[Natural Citizen]

Might wanna hold off on ditching the Obamacare sub.

Biden just brought Obamacare back with new healthcare and abortion funding Executive Orders.

His decrees reopen enrollment for the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, and lift a Trump administration ban on funding for nonprofits that promote abortion.

The first order instructs the Department of Health and Human Services to open a special enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act from February 15 to May 15. The order also instructs federal agencies to review “rules and other policies that limit Americans’ access to health care.”

"I'm not initiating any new law, any new aspect of the law,” Biden said before signing the order. "This is going back to what the situation was prior” to the Trump administration.

Biden’s second order of the day reverses the Trump administration’s ban on federal funding for international NGOs that provide abortion counselling or referrals. The ban, known as the ‘Mexico City Policy’ dates back to Ronald Reagan’s second term in office, and has been alternately lifted and reimposed by Democratic and Republican administrations since. Despite the intentions of Reagan and his Republican successors, the ban ultimately failed to reduce abortion rates in the countries it affected.

The order also commands HHS to consider lifting Trump-era restrictions on the granting of federal funds to family planning organizations in the US that refer women for abortion, such as Planned Parenthood. These organizations have been prohibited from directly offering abortion ever since Richard Nixon set up the funding program in 1970.

Biden - There's nothing new that we're doing here other than restoring the Affordable Care Act

 

[Dogmaphobe]

I think we just need two sub-forums, myself -- the "Pogo has way too much time on his hands" forum and the "everything else" forum.

 

[flacaltenn]

General Discussion should be nonpolitical -- YES. Maybe even a rule like other politics-free forums.

Everything is political lately. Haven't you noticed? Even where you LIVE or work or the products you buy or your hobbies are political. People doing stupid shit shouldn't BE political - but that's a lot of the stuff we move to Gen Discussion right now.

I suggest a forum for Improving Your Social Credit Score. Pretty soon 1/2 of us wont be able to get on a plane without self-help guides for being a good little compliant tool..

 

[Pogo]

I think we just need two sub-forums, myself -- the "Pogo has way too much time on his hands" forum and the "everything else" forum.

Hey, maybe there could be like a Guinness Records forum where posters could vie for your record of most posts plopped that contributed absolutely nothing to the topic.

 

[Dogmaphobe]

I think we just need two sub-forums, myself -- the "Pogo has way too much time on his hands" forum and the "everything else" forum.

Hey, maybe there could be like a Guinness Records forum where posters could vie for your record of most posts plopped that contributed absolutely nothing to the topic.

My bringing attention to your penchant towards self-indulgent niggling is ALWAYS a contribution.

 

[Rocko]

Just go to one category, Politics.
Since no matter the subject material, everyone feels the need to post it in Politics.

When I first joined everyone would post everything in politics. Methinks it’s a coincidence, but the board was better then.

 

[Pogo]

I think we just need two sub-forums, myself -- the "Pogo has way too much time on his hands" forum and the "everything else" forum.

Hey, maybe there could be like a Guinness Records forum where posters could vie for your record of most posts plopped that contributed absolutely nothing to the topic.

My bringing attention to your penchant towards self-indulgent niggling is ALWAYS a contribution.

See, that's why you're number one. Always running up your score.

Watch, now you'll do it again.

 

[Dogmaphobe]

See, that's why you're number one.

I am always happy to have you acknowledge my superiority, but I do have concerns that some of the other posters might find the fawning to be a tad off-putting

 

[Sunsettommy]

I think we just need two sub-forums, myself -- the "Pogo has way too much time on his hands" forum and the "everything else" forum.

Hey, maybe there could be like a Guinness Records forum where posters could vie for your record of most posts plopped that contributed absolutely nothing to the topic.

There was a forum long ago that had a "Graveyard" forum for members only to view failed threads, that were locked, it was for viewing only with Moderator end of thread comment.

There was another forum that had a forum section titled "Hall of Shame" showing Banned members and reason for their failure.

 

[candycorn]

I've been thinking for a few days now that maybe we should come up with a new format for the layout of the forum with some different thread categories. Maybe we eliminate some old ones (like the Election 2016 forum), perhaps merge a few, change the names of some so their purpose is more clear, and maybe add a category or two (like Second Amendment). We have a lot of different thread groups out there and some are hardly used, some are outdated, and some could be named better. I'm just looking for some better organization.

I started a conversation with the other moderators earlier today, but thought I would also solicit the board to see everyone's thoughts in general for suggestions of what some of you may want to see added or changed. I'm looking for constructive comments, please. Thanks

Way too many forums that get no run. Combine several:

"The Tea Party". Only one discussion has a post from this year...all the rest are 2020 or older. Most of the start dates on page one are 2018.

As for stickies inside the forums...Time to shelve the 2020 election and the 270 to win challenge out of Politics.

Probably more work than you guys want to do but why not incorporate the "rule" to where you have to have a source into a "conspiracy lite" forum? For example. If you're going to post something that sources Gateway Pundit or Daily KOs...it goes in the "conspiracy lite" forum. If you're going to post something that sources the Associated Press...it stays in the home forum. It separates the garbage threads from the ones where someone has got a legitimate source and is , perhaps, trying to be informative.

 

[flacaltenn]

There was another forum that had a forum section titled "Hall of Shame" showing Banned members and reason for their failure.

At a forum our size, where we have for instance ONE aging Nazi that's been banned about 31 times by himself -- that Hall of Shame would be of Smithsonian proportions. And just writing the obituaries properly and respectfully might take a volunteer mod almost full time to keep up with.. Most of the "old timey" members that get "permed" -- the members probably already know why it happened 80% of the time, These are people that get enough temp bans prior to a perm -- that it's not a surprise to them or anyone else.

 

[Sunsettommy]

There was another forum that had a forum section titled "Hall of Shame" showing Banned members and reason for their failure.

At a forum our size, where we have for instance ONE aging Nazi that's been banned about 31 times by himself -- that Hall of Shame would be of Smithsonian proportions. And just writing the obituaries properly and respectfully might take a volunteer mod almost full time to keep up with.. Most of the "old timey" members that get "permed" -- the members probably already know why it happened 80% of the time, These are people that get enough temp bans prior to a perm -- that it's not a surprise to them or anyone else.

Really the forum mods banned someone 31 times, how come he get reinstated over and over.......?

Maybe what you meant is the failure was SUSPENDED 30 times and finally banned?

The forum that has the Hall of Shame in it, bans people only once and it is permanent, suspensions are done quietly there.

 

[airplanemechanic]

We should have a republican party room and a Democrat party room. Put general discussion under politics and current events.

No, just No. Are we not divided enough? Moreover there are more "None of the Above" people than either of those parties, and we'd all be shut out. Besides which, in such an artificial dichotomy, inevitably any discussion of "Democrats" would necessarily invoke discussion of "Republicans" and vice versa. It would be meaningless.

In the past, don't know if it still goes on, there have been special interest PM groups along those lines. They were not very interesting in this writer's experience. At best, strategy sessions for how to approach the next gotcha topic, and a whole lotta gossip.

Yes just yes. Several other political forums I'm a member of have sections for each party. Repub, demoncrat, libertarian, etc. It's great. But your party affiliation on your profile must match in order for you to be able to post there.

 

[flacaltenn]

Really the forum mods banned someone 31 times, how come he get reinstated over and over.......?

He was never reinstated. NONE of our chronic sock issues get officially reinstated. The old codger learned about proxies and VPNs. Spent most of his retirement buying about 6 of those. So he doesn't get caught by the "robo-mod" that alerts us on registrations issues.

However, no one should think that hiding behind ANY proxy hinders our ability to investigate and sleuth them down once they break and enter again. Average time to figure this out is about 3 days. Not gonna get any deeper into that.

 

[flacaltenn]

The forum that has the Hall of Shame in it, bans people only once and it is permanent, suspensions are done quietly there

Then that moderation team is too lazy to WORK with members and make certain that they KNOW the rules and policies if the ONLY bans they issue are "perms". We want to know that they UNDERSTAND the rules and expectations before most all perms are issued. So we will warn and try to educate. Because as MEMBERS -- we KNOW the tendency to go "postal" at a moment's notice.. Aint NOBODY here who hasn't had a Karen moment online.

It's also indiscriminate to allow mod staff to just permanently jettison members with NO NOTICE or no effort to educate. Makes it more of a biased "social judgement" that you dont "like" this member.

Not easy to rest easy on yourself knowing you did not even TRY to retain that member. Whether its a new member or one that's been here longer they you have. That destroys "community" and makes it more a social club.

 

[Sunsettommy]

The forum that has the Hall of Shame in it, bans people only once and it is permanent, suspensions are done quietly there

Then that moderation team is too lazy to WORK with members and make certain that they KNOW the rules and policies if the ONLY bans they issue are "perms". We want to know that they UNDERSTAND the rules and expectations before most all perms are issued. So we will warn and try to educate. Because as MEMBERS -- we KNOW the tendency to go "postal" at a moment's notice.. Aint NOBODY here who hasn't had a Karen moment online.

It's also indiscriminate to allow mod staff to just permanently jettison members with NO NOTICE or no effort to educate. Makes it more of a biased "social judgement" that you dont "like" this member.

Not easy to rest easy on yourself knowing you did not even TRY to retain that member. Whether its a new member or one that's been here longer they you have. That destroys "community" and makes it more a social club.

I have never been a Moderator there and neither one us know what happens behind the scenes in that forum.

I will send you the link to Hall of Shame forum then you will see they banned only a few people in 15 years time. Before two forum crashes came it was a large active forum with a few thousand members.