Suggestion: Paid Private Forums

[Damaged Eagle]

I like the idea..... If we're allowed I want my forum to have a $20 cover charge per visit just to get in.

Of course the USMB will get 50% cut of the take in costs.

*****CHUCKLE*****

 

[iamwhatiseem]

I've been just casually browsing around for a different forum to pop off on. I need a change of scenery. Something a little deeper and moderated a little tougher to keep the riff-raff and Romper Room nonsense from dominating. Problem is that so many mainstream political forums are kind of the same. It's like High School, almost every one I look at. The rules themselves basically encourage dumb sht. And in most cases, moderation is just as juvenile and incompetent as the riff-raff.

Might just go back to writing freelance op-eds . I dunno. Not really involved in any political action at the moment. Definitely need a change of scenery, though.

I have thought this for some time also.
The biggest problem with USMB is it's tendency to be a brawl. And that naturally attracts brawlers.
There is little to no moderation here. I don't blame the mods themselves, they don't set the rules or parameters to do their job. The owner does. And what the owners here clearly are after is one thing - page views. Not quality, quantity.
Page views = ad revenue.
I have looked, but all I have found are either echo chambers, a brawl like here or no traffic. You make a post, and no one responds for a day or even longer.
Sadly, the days of actual discussion boards is gone. Replaced with crowd pleasing street fighting.

Sucks

 

[Jim H - VA USA]

I have thought this for some time also.
The biggest problem with USMB is it's tendency to be a brawl. And that naturally attracts brawlers.
There is little to no moderation here. I don't blame the mods themselves, they don't set the rules or parameters to do their job. The owner does. And what the owners here clearly are after is one thing - page views. Not quality, quantity.
Page views = ad revenue.
I have looked, but all I have found are either echo chambers, a brawl like here or no traffic. You make a post, and no one responds for a day or even longer.
Sadly, the days of actual discussion boards is gone. Replaced with crowd pleasing street fighting.

Sucks

There is certainly a lot of brawling. What really irks me is when two posters decide to take over a thread, and each feeling that they have to get the last insult in, go back and forth ad nauseam with no substantive arguments and repetitively just call each other liars and hurl insults. Really seems to kill so many interesting discussions, but such is life.

Conversely, I find that while it is much rarer than anyone would hope for, intelligent and articulate discussion and debate can be found here. One way to to find some is to start an OP with a well-written premise, and also to set an example for others by remaining civil and unemotional when the mud starts being slung.

Setting a good example while ignoring the trolls and riff raff seems to go a long way. The ignorant who seek attention seem to go away when they don't get any.

I have even found that some of the flame throwers can be coerced into being civil, if they are replied to with civility.

For example, I am frequently called a liar here (sometimes even a racist, but I'll skip that one). Instead of stopping to their level, I will simply point out that I have a differing viewpoint, and while I may be wrong occasionally, I am honest and stand by my post for the following reasons. I've had some success with that, and it is encouraging.

So, join me in doing your best to make this place better for others who wish to have some fun and intellectually-stimulating conversations.

Regards,
Jim

 

[iamwhatiseem]

I call it rock throwing.
And rock throwing contests is 90% of what USMB is. Period.

I have posted this up probably 25 times here, and yet no one seems to get it:

 

[Donald H]

Here, the biggest problem is threads getting moved which were fully compliant where they started. Not really a huge deal.

So you think the biggest problem isn't a huge deal?

What is it that you 'really' consider to be the biggest problem? I've addressed your grievance head-on and so now it's time to make your point or just let it go.

What do you want? I would be quite happy to get onside with you on anything that could improve this forum. But it's going to be within the bounds of which the moderators would cooperative.

 

[Jim H - VA USA]

So you think the biggest problem isn't a huge deal?

What is it that you 'really' consider to be the biggest problem? I've addressed your grievance head-on and so now it's time to make your point or just let it go.

What do you want? I would be quite happy to get onside with you on anything that could improve this forum. But it's going to be within the bounds of which the moderators would cooperative.

Yes, Donald.

In the scale of life's challenges, getting one of my posts moved inappropriately ranks right up there with a new mosquito bite, and somewhat lower on the scale than kicking the coffee table accidentally in the middle of the night.

It's just a little message board on the internet.

But a suggestion for you... It is better to make specific and reasonable suggestions rather than complain, and I am not quite sure what most of your post is actually about.

Regards,
Jim

 

[Donald H]

Yes, Donald.

In the scale of life's challenges, getting one of my posts moved inappropriately ranks right up there with a new mosquito bite, and somewhat lower on the scale than kicking the coffee table accidentally in the middle of the night.

Then don't contradict yourself by saying it's not a huge deal.

It's just a little message board on the internet.

Of great concern to you and tha't why you get the courtesy of my replies.

But a suggestion for you... It is better to make specific and reasonable suggestions rather than complain, and I am not quite sure what most of your post is actually about.

Regards,
Jim

I made it abundantly clear when I asked you what you 'really' want. Reply with your answer or I'll just move on Jim.

 

[Jim H - VA USA]

Then don't contradict yourself by saying it's not a huge deal.

Of great concern to you and tha't why you get the courtesy of my replies.

I made it abundantly clear when I asked you what you 'really' want. Reply with your answer or I'll just move on Jim.

I wanted to have a discussion of the pro's and con's of paid private forums. Hopefully with some input from at least one mod.

We've done that, so I don't really want anything anymore.

If I thought the moderation here was heavy handed, I would not still be here. Moderation is relatively light here. See post 20 in this thread? It's a polite warning from a Mod. No banning, no big deal. "Follow the rules children."

Have a good day, Donald.

Regards,
Jim

 

[DudleySmith]

I have thought this for some time also.
The biggest problem with USMB is it's tendency to be a brawl. And that naturally attracts brawlers.
There is little to no moderation here. I don't blame the mods themselves, they don't set the rules or parameters to do their job. The owner does. And what the owners here clearly are after is one thing - page views. Not quality, quantity.
Page views = ad revenue.
I have looked, but all I have found are either echo chambers, a brawl like here or no traffic. You make a post, and no one responds for a day or even longer.
Sadly, the days of actual discussion boards is gone. Replaced with crowd pleasing street fighting.

Sucks

Actually the mods here censor people they personally don't like all the time; they delete all kinds of posts with no notice or actual reasons given, since the 'rules are so worded as to make it purely dependent on whims for them; you just need to wait until certain mods are online then run and whine to them and they will usually delete all kinds of posts for you.

 

[DudleySmith]

I wanted to have a discussion of the pro's and con's of paid private forums. Hopefully with some input from at least one mod.

We've done that, so I don't really want anything anymore.

If I thought the moderation here was heavy handed, I would not still be here. Moderation is relatively light here. See post 20 in this thread? It's a polite warning from a Mod. No banning, no big deal. "Follow the rules children."

Have a good day, Donald.

Regards,
Jim

Ah, but you would never notice if mods deleted a lot of posts in many threads, since they are embarrassed to admit to it; this is why you see so many troll threads allowed with seemingly no opposition or countering posts. This also why you don't see hardly any effort to make long posts and detailed arguments; nobody wants to make such efforts when it could be easily deleted merely for pissing off some ideologue or other.

 

[Bleipriester]

Thanks but that is not even close.

We have countless threads. One thread like that is no better than the personal email we are currently using.

I would want threads under one closed forum where no non-members can even see the title of the threads or know the forum exists. E.g. a private forum. Forum members would be able to create new threads and view all threads without hassle.

Filling the debate forum with our threads, and having to invite the participants to each one is not practical nor anywhere close to a solution. It's also limited to 12 people which is nowhere near enough.

I think the best idea so far is set up my own Godaddy=hosted discussion board like Uncensored2008 suggested. There are lots of packages available.

Thanks,
Jim

cc: Bleipriester

That existed in old vbulletin forums. Groups with their own forums.
Again, use Facebook groups. You think social media are too liberal and will ban you and your group but that is not exactly true. Just keep out the extraordinary hatred, fantasies of violence and excessive gutter language and your group will stay.
In my country, Germany, Facebook is the main accelerator of the right wing party AfD. Not on purpose, of course, but its true.

 

[Donald H]

I wanted to have a discussion of the pro's and con's of paid private forums. Hopefully with some input from at least one mod.

We've done that, so I don't really want anything anymore.

If I thought the moderation here was heavy handed, I would not still be here. Moderation is relatively light here. See post 20 in this thread? It's a polite warning from a Mod. No banning, no big deal. "Follow the rules children."

Have a good day, Donald.

Regards,
Jim

No Jim, I wanted to know what you want to get out of a private forum.
So start a thread that deals with that and see if your purpose can be served. You've get the usual spam but you may be surprise that you can get on-topic replies and answers to what you are seeking.

If all you want is to be insulated from political opinions that differ from yours, then I can't see any value in giving you that kind of a soapbox..

Try your experiment and I promise to be your first customer. And you will have revealed your motives.

 

[Bleipriester]

I just thought it would be good to know that we have Private Messages here that feature more than two participants...

 

[iceberg]

As someone suggested earlier, we have the debate now forum which functions similar to what you’re looking for. You can create a new thread and according to the rules, only those you invite to the thread are permitted to post in it

or give me an option that anyone on my ignore list can't even see it.

or taunt THEM amd them see it, but get "ACCESS DENIED BY OP" when they try to come in to troll.

 

[Lastamender]

Some still claim the 2020 election was stolen. You're right...no facts are present in most arguments like that.

Sh!

 

[candycorn]

I would like to see a similar thing with the polls myself.

First, have a forum for polls. All polls go in that forum. Like Politics, Current Events, TV, etc... Make a Polls forum.

Next...make it to where to participate in a thread, you have to vote in the poll. Meaning that you can't just lurk and toss a non-sequitur in...you have to take a stand with your vote and then you can be taken to task on it or develop it further. If you don't vote, you do not have access to the discussion...you can't post, you can't give a thumbs up, or anything like that. I think it would go a long way to having a more serious discussion. The price of entry (if you want to call it that) is actually stating your position so a poster will be more circumspect about just doing a drive-by as they can and often times do.

 

[Bleipriester]

I would like to see a similar thing with the polls myself.

First, have a forum for polls. All polls go in that forum. Like Politics, Current Events, TV, etc... Make a Polls forum.

Next...make it to where to participate in a thread, you have to vote in the poll. Meaning that you can't just lurk and toss a non-sequitur in...you have to take a stand with your vote and then you can be taken to task on it or develop it further. If you don't vote, you do not have access to the discussion...you can't post, you can't give a thumbs up, or anything like that. I think it would go a long way to having a more serious discussion. The price of entry (if you want to call it that) is actually stating your position so a poster will be more circumspect about just doing a drive-by as they can and often times do.

That actually depends on serious options to vote. Partisans will refuse to give that options to vote for, just ones like "No, I am just a stupid rep/dem."

 

[Crepitus]

A suggestion for USMB to consider. Could be profitable since all the infrastructure is already here and just some programming changes.

Background:
I am leading a large group of people who are organizing and trying to navigate the complexities of employer-mandated COVID testing and vaccines. I don't want to use a private group on Facebook, MeWe, or Gab. We are using personal email. It's kind of a mess since each thread results in countless emails.

It would have been great if I could have started a private forum on USMB and sent invitation links to interested people, where they could read and contribute to well-organized threads.

Suggestion:
Maybe you could consider private forums which have a subscription fee (say $25 or $50 per year for up to 100 members or whatever).

Forums would be completely private, not displayed to non-members, unsearchable by non-members, available by invitation only, membership requires approval, etc.

Probably like the moderator forum y'all mods might have already.

Just an idea. Could be win-win. I'd be surprised if you had not already considered this suggestion though. I realize there are some issues with this, as some people might try to use such a forum for nefarious purposes, but other platforms have this capability available for free.

Regards,
J

What's wrong, kid? Echo chamber not echoy enough?

 

[candycorn]

That actually depends on serious options to vote. Partisans will refuse to give that options to vote for, just ones like "No, I am just a stupid rep/dem."

I disagree. Here is why. Sure you'll have some polls that have zero legitimate choices. Like the following for example. "Was President _________ A)incompetent or B)just ineffective".

But that isn't a huge problem here. Additionally the reason a poll like the above is posted is to get the "target" (supporters of the blank) to engage. And engagement will still happen. But the "honest poll" that does present some actual choices and inspires some back and fourth.... "Was President _________ sabotaged by A)Their own party B)Their Opposition"...you could get a debate that is worth taking part in. Likely not...but I believe if you force participants to have some skin in the game...you get some engagement.
Like Texas Hold 'Em in Vegas....if you are one of the blinds; you have a real incentive to play the hand.

I like it better than a pay-to-play scenario like was proposed earlier.

 

[Bleipriester]

I disagree. Here is why. Sure you'll have some polls that have zero legitimate choices. Like the following for example. "Was President _________ A)incompetent or B)just ineffective".

But that isn't a huge problem here. Additionally the reason a poll like the above is posted is to get the "target" (supporters of the blank) to engage. And engagement will still happen. But the "honest poll" that does present some actual choices and inspires some back and fourth.... "Was President _________ sabotaged by A)Their own party B)Their Opposition"...you could get a debate that is worth taking part in. Likely not...but I believe if you force participants to have some skin in the game...you get some engagement.
Like Texas Hold 'Em in Vegas....if you are one of the blinds; you have a real incentive to play the hand.

I like it better than a pay-to-play scenario like was proposed earlier.

I like that better, too. Just adding that polls with partisan choices only and the respective threads should be deleted by the moderation. Otherwise, people will choose a self-insulting option just to strike back in the thread. However, your poll idea won´t serve Jim´s purpose. But its worth to consider. And it should be possible to make such a thread anywhere on the boards so it won´t split up the existing subforums.