Suggestion: Paid Private Forums

[Jim H - VA USA]

Ah, but you would never notice if mods deleted a lot of posts in many threads,

No, I would not notice. I only pay attention to my own. I've had at least one post deleted. It was appropriate.

I think the moderation here is generally outstanding, if imperfect. People get too emotional about about trivial things on the internet. That said...

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.

Not an option. I boycotted Facebook long ago. Then, much later, they banned our President. I will never go back. I cannot tolerate that.

If USMB censored like FB, I would leave immediately.

No Jim, I wanted to know what you want to get out of a private forum.

Read the OP; it is explained clearly. I have nothing further to add.

Regards,
Jim

 

[Jim H - VA USA]

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.

I like suggestions, so thanks.

I don;t particularly like either of these but the first one is worth considering. The reason I don't really care for it, is that I don't want to wort through a whole bunch of polls about things I am not at all interested in to see the ones I like.

Perhaps a subforum would be a better idea. Like this...

• Politics
  • Political Satire
  • Polls

But there aren't really enough polls to justify this.


I don't like the second idea at all unless it is an option for the poll creator. "Sometimes" a poll is not well thought out and/or does not have all of the proper choices, so people need the option to comment.

Even in this poll I created, I tried to think of all the options and included eight, but people named some more in their replies to my thread...

Poll: Will you comply with vaccine mandates required of you by politicians to keep your job?

Poll: Will you comply with vaccine mandates required of you by politicians to keep your job? Please do not answer if you will not be forced to comply by your employer as a result of a politician making a mandate like Biden did today. I am not looking for hypotheticals. I want answers from...

www.usmessageboard.com

Regards,
Jim

 

[candycorn]

I like suggestions, so thanks.

I don;t particularly like either of these but the first one is worth considering. The reason I don't really care for it, is that I don't want to wort through a whole bunch of polls about things I am not at all interested in to see the ones I like.

Perhaps a subforum would be a better idea. Like this...

• Politics
  • Political Satire
  • Polls

But there aren't really enough polls to justify this.


I don't like the second idea at all unless it is an option for the poll creator. "Sometimes" a poll is not well thought out and/or does not have all of the proper choices, so people need the option to comment.

Even in this poll I created, I tried to think of all the options and included eight, but people named some more in their replies to my thread...

Poll: Will you comply with vaccine mandates required of you by politicians to keep your job?

Poll: Will you comply with vaccine mandates required of you by politicians to keep your job? Please do not answer if you will not be forced to comply by your employer as a result of a politician making a mandate like Biden did today. I am not looking for hypotheticals. I want answers from...

www.usmessageboard.com

Regards,
Jim

Ok. That is what makes horse racing....

If the "goal" is to stop the drive-by posting...one way you can do that is prohibit posting unless there is some "buy in" on the part of the posters.

 

[DudleySmith]

Polls here would just be futile exercises in which side of a talking point has the most volunteers who will vote in them. The troll farm hordes will automatically spam them. AS in real life, most people avoid pollsters like the plague, while advocates and shills will vote as many tines as possible, like Democrats do in real elections.

 

[Coyote]

I think there some good ideas here guys!

 

[Bleipriester]

No, I would not notice. I only pay attention to my own. I've had at least one post deleted. It was appropriate.

I think the moderation here is generally outstanding, if imperfect. People get too emotional about about trivial things on the internet. That said...

Not an option. I boycotted Facebook long ago. Then, much later, they banned our President. I will never go back. I cannot tolerate that.

If USMB censored like FB, I would leave immediately.


Read the OP; it is explained clearly. I have nothing further to add.

Regards,
Jim

I understand. But he declared war on them, so I don´t wonder. By the way, he has now the same problem:

"The former president, who started sending press releases via email to get around his social media bans, also claimed his new way of communicating was "better.""

Trump says he does not miss 'very boring' Twitter and claims his press releases are 'more elegant'

Trump has resorted to sending press releases via email after he was banned from most mainstream platforms following the Capitol riot.

www.businessinsider.com

 

[Persuader]

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,
Jim

If the charge for posting on here was a 25 cents a month 90% would go elsewhere.

 

[DudleySmith]

Ok. That is what makes horse racing....

If the "goal" is to stop the drive-by posting...one way you can do that is prohibit posting unless there is some "buy in" on the part of the posters.

Actually if you want more hits to sell to advertisers you pay for better content, and people who would pay to post are likely not going to be those who provide that. The only paid forum worth the money is a well known comedy forum, actually, not a faux 'high brow' political forum. With the latter you will instantly lose at least 90% of your posters, and you will find that those who promoted the idea won't hang around long either, after a couple of weeks of patting each other on the back with no real audience. It's been tried before.

 

[flacaltenn]

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,
Jim

Dont know if the thread is still active Jim, but with that many people in email you're blowing tons of money and time.. There IS free forum software. You could install and host on a temporary or permanent basis. MANY small companies have totally private sites for this purpose. To MAKE it private, it needs to be INSIDE your company network past the firewalls OR needs a simple web design shell with a log-in and some other protection.

MAY BE sites where you can camp and use forum software in private. So you wont need any IT assistance. I just never looked. Maybe as easy as renting a conference room somewhere in town..

 

[flacaltenn]

If your group is semi-permanent and would use this again, this company might be able to get you going fast. No idea of the cost. I saw a couple other products on quick search, but they sounded more elaborate than what you're needing.

The Easiest Platform To Build Your Own Discussion Community - Website Toolbox

Organize Your Public or Private Discussions into Searchable Topics and Categories Under Your Brand with an Independent or Embedded Community. We Make Creating a Community Simple, Easy, and User-Friendly.

www.websitetoolbox.com

 

[flacaltenn]

At the link above -- under pricing -- there's SOMETHING that's a $35/month option.. I ASSUME they do the hosting and toss you the keys. But doing this collaboration over email -- you're wasting more than $35 a day.... LOL...

 

[Dogmaphobe]

If your group is semi-permanent and would use this again, this company might be able to get you going fast. No idea of the cost. I saw a couple other products on quick search, but they sounded more elaborate than what you're needing.

The Easiest Platform To Build Your Own Discussion Community - Website Toolbox

Organize Your Public or Private Discussions into Searchable Topics and Categories Under Your Brand with an Independent or Embedded Community. We Make Creating a Community Simple, Easy, and User-Friendly.

www.websitetoolbox.com

Damn,but where is Pogo when you need him? I'm sure he would have condemned that link in nothing less than strenuous fashion.


That should have read "Engage your audience effortlessly", instead.

 

[Jim H - VA USA]

At the link above -- under pricing -- there's SOMETHING that's a $35/month option.. I ASSUME they do the hosting and toss you the keys. But doing this collaboration over email -- you're wasting more than $35 a day.... LOL...

Thanks very much for your helpful suggestions.

I have no interested in making money with this. I have better ways to make money. LOL, as you said.

I thought it might help USMB make a little money, and give me a way to create a short-lived private forum on a well-functioning website with little effort and cost.

Regards,
Jim

 

[DudleySmith]

Usenet costs about $10 a month, or used to, and IRC is still alive as well for 'real time discussions' if all you need is a mailing list. You will have to make up some group rules, and it used to be easy to block people who wander in. Both may still be free. Haven't used either since the 1990's, though.

The best Usenet providers in 2023

Find the text and binaries you need with the best Usenet providers

www.tomsguide.com

Internet Relay Chat - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It can you get you started until fund raising takes off.

 

[Jim H - VA USA]

Usenet costs about $10 a month, or used to, and IRC is still alive as well for 'real time discussions' if all you need is a mailing list. You will have to make up some group rules, and it used to be easy to block people who wander in. Both may still be free. Haven't used either since the 1990's, though.

The best Usenet providers in 2023

Find the text and binaries you need with the best Usenet providers

www.tomsguide.com

Internet Relay Chat - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It can you get you started until fund raising takes off.

Thanks. I had no idea usenet was still around. I used it from about 1993 for over a decade when I was on dailup. IRC a little bit too.

 

[DudleySmith]

Thanks. I had no idea usenet was still around. I used it from about 1993 for over a decade when I was on dailup. IRC a little bit too.

lol I didn't either til I looked it up, same with IRC. I just remembered it was cheap and IRC was free as was the client software. They have their own server networks, too, which can be a plus in some cases, like nobody knowing you're there except those who already know where to look.