Aus DD - Forum Direction and Suggestions 2011

[Jakeperson]

Lets put it this way, I am one of the last few fighting for this because all the others gave up and left.

I don't think thats what we want for BL. Sure new members come but great people that have spent years here have left.
Maybe we need to something to keep members as well as attract new ones, the more the merrier.

 

[footscrazy]

I don't think it's a problem of the mods not caring about this issue, as not knowing exactly how to fix it. It's a difficult problem as you yourself recognise, and I would argue that instead of this;

in the end it's the Mods job to make this forum as enjoyable and informative as possible.

It's actually the combined effort of the people who post here who make (or break) the forum.

I've actually been noticing quite a few new posters which I think is good, and if anything, I've been finding Aus DD a bit more lively recently.

I do think there could be room for a little bit more social banter, as I think it gives the forum a more friendly and welcoming air, rather than just the clinical discussion of drugs. A forum really is made by its members, and it's good to see personalities shine through sometimes.

I think if you want to encourage discussion, you could focus on posting threads on topics that interest you. I've noticed it's often not the specifically drug related threads that get a lot of action, but ones that generate thought and opinion, such as the 'define junkie' thread.

 

[Tripman]

AusDD does seem to be the most strict on it's social banter out of N&SADD and EDD.

 

[lostNfound]

^ NASASADD does not have an equivalent to Aus Social.

Drug Culture is there for off topic drug related banter....

 

[Tripman]

Posting in DC is hardly the solution for AusDD however... And I post all over this site.

 

[belarki]

...
I do think there could be room for a little bit more social banter, as I think it gives the forum a more friendly and welcoming air, rather than just the clinical discussion of drugs. A forum really is made by its members, and it's good to see personalities shine through sometimes...

Okay I'll admit to cracking down on the social side of things perhaps a little too zealously. I'm happy to ease up a little bit so long we we don't have entire pages of threads devoted to people making "pass the pipe" remarks and posting pics of giraffes smoking crakies lol I'm not going to speak for the other mods though and if they deem something inappropriate and remove it they will have my support.

This is a harm reduction sub-forum first and foremost and I think too much social chatter is detrimental and only serves to drive the more serious and respected posters further away.

Edit: I'll add a caveat, I don't see room for any social banter at all in some specific threads, for example those stickied on HR contacts and opiate withdrawal maintenance.

 

[lostNfound]

This is a harm reduction sub-forum first and foremost and I think too much social chatter is detrimental and only serves to drive the more serious and respected posters further away.

As a matter of fact, it is one of the reasons that has pushed some of the more respected and 'serious' members away from the board.

 

[Busty St Clare]

The main problem for me is that the people who agree have already left BL because of these issues, leaving us as a minority.

People do grow out of their drug taking. If people have moved on I'd love to hear where the grass is greener. SWIM knows there aren't too many spaces on the interweb like bluelight. Personally I don't limit myself to AusDD and never have.

Thats the thing, there isn't enough people replacing them. People make a few posts and leave. We need something to attract people and keep them here.

I try my best to be an informer.

Maybe the mods should take into consideration the fact that people are complaining, it obviously means that something isn't working.

There really are only so many drugs to discuss, so many tricks to pass on in harm reduction. After 5 years here you get to the point where every thing has been said before and it's not surprising people move on. Once upon a time raves were awash with quality drugs and PLUR washed through the crowded dance floor. There were only so many sites where you could come together. Now days facebook and other sites allow a greater level of privacy and social sites are limited.

I only see the threads that get closed are the ones that fall outside the Bluelight guidelines. I feel the Aussies moderate better than say the Europeans and North Americans. Their forums deteriorate into shit posting, pricing and "How fucked and I gonna get" posts. If that's your thing I'm sure there are plenty of other sites to hang out but the history of AusDD has always been more professional and informative than that.

 

[drug_mentor]

I wish all the members that left because of this issue were here to back me up. I'm not going to give up.

I have no problem with you Belarki, you do your job well and have never seen you post anything misleading, it just seems you lack a bit of knowledge on RCs (experience wise, I could be wrong) and I feel they are an important part of the drug community these days.



I know that's your main job but forcing members to engage in interesting and worthwhile subjects will bring a lot more people to the forum, maybe a few people back and would increase traffic here.

Other than that I don't have really have many ideas on how to improve it. Maybe, separating it a bit where we can have more in-depth discussions on some threads and other threads to be a little but lighter.

I may apply for the Mod position as I pretty much spend all day every day on BL. (The lack of traffic here has made me resort to reading all the other forums, which has turned out to be great). Unlike every one else I dont really have real life commitments, drugs are my life and BL is a huge part of it.

No offense to D_M and Psilo as I consider them both good friends and I have learnt a lot from them and in my early stages of BL I even idolised him, I think he'd tell me that's stupid but he is a great person. And D_M has been there for me through a lot of times and is very wise. I should probably include Footscrazy in this too, I haven't talked to her as much but from what I know she is a wonderful person. (The big HOWEVER) I have not seen many posts from these three lately, which leaves the place lacking a lot of knowledgeable advice, although this could be due to reduced traffic.

Last but not least, on the subject of missing people, I miss Nanobrain and Hyroller.

I have been pretty busy the last couple weeks or so and have been posting a bit less, I am the first to admit that, I will endeavour to post more and I appreciate the kind words mate.

I would like to say I reckon belarki has as much or more experience than me when it comes to RC's, I don't think its realistic that every mod can know everything about every class of drugs but hopefully between the lot of us there is enough overlap to cover it.

Traffic on bluelight always fluctuates a little and while it may be getting a little quieter lately I hope this isn't a sign of something negative happening. It is unfortunate when we lose quality posters but as life commitments and priorities change it is inevitable that many people will eventually move on from this site.

As for how to improve the forum? Right now I am not sure, but I will have a think on it. I don't neccessarily think AusDD is dying but generating ideas on moving forward can only be a good thing.

 

[Jakeperson]

It's actually the combined effort of the people who post here who make (or break) the forum.

I think if you want to encourage discussion, you could focus on posting threads on topics that interest you. I've noticed it's often not the specifically drug related threads that get a lot of action, but ones that generate thought and opinion, such as the 'define junkie' thread.

I agree on the first part for sure, sorry for just accusing the mods. However I am not a very creative person and really cant think of many interesting ideas to get people thinking but I am good at thinking about ideas other people post.

Drug Culture is there for off topic drug related banter....

Which is great but we are our own community and quite close IMO, places like Aus Social and DC completely remove that aspect.

As a matter of fact, it is one of the reasons that has pushed some of the more respected and 'serious' members away from the board.

Yeah sure some serious members have left but also a lot of posters who are like me that have left because of the lack of social banter even though they did some valuable input.

There really are only so many drugs to discuss, so many tricks to pass on in harm reduction. After 5 years here you get to the point where every thing has been said before and it's not surprising people move on. Once upon a time raves were awash with quality drugs and PLUR washed through the crowded dance floor. There were only so many sites where you could come together. Now days facebook and other sites allow a greater level of privacy and social sites are limited.

I only see the threads that get closed are the ones that fall outside the Bluelight guidelines. I feel the Aussies moderate better than say the Europeans and North Americans. Their forums deteriorate into shit posting, pricing and "How fucked and I gonna get" posts. If that's your thing I'm sure there are plenty of other sites to hang out but the history of AusDD has always been more professional and informative than that.

I don't think that's true, there are always going to be more HR related stuff to discover that we can share with others, it just takes a little bit of experimentation which most are afraid of these days.

I don't want AusDD to deteriate to that point however some social talk should be allowed, we have created a very cold, blunt and unfriendly forum. Once people get the information they want, they leave. A nicer community might lure them into staying longer, we have a lot of wonderful personalities on here but no one gets to see them

 

[drug_FUCKED]

I'm glad you enjoy your Bluelight experience, but you aren't really providing any new ideas with regard to improving the forum.

Members come and go as they always have and will continue to.
In now way is it the mods role to force anyone to discuss particular topics, I'm not sure how this is really possible anyway.
Discussion can be encouraged, which as far I see see is generally the case.

Who said anything about forcing?

Suggestion: how about not banning people for taking too many drugs or living a bit recklessly like old mods did.
I cant help think that if splatt was still a mod he would still be alive. seriously

 

[headdah]

*i vote jake for class president*


oh wait.

wtf we on about here????

cbf reading thru the whole thread

i agree ok? maybe no? ;p

 

[drug_FUCKED]

People do grow out of their drug taking. If people have moved on I'd love to hear where the grass is greener. SWIM knows there aren't too many spaces on the interweb like bluelight. Personally I don't limit myself to AusDD and never have.



There really are only so many drugs to discuss, so many tricks to pass on in harm reduction. After 5 years here you get to the point where every thing has been said before and it's not surprising people move on. Once upon a time raves were awash with quality drugs and PLUR washed through the crowded dance floor. There were only so many sites where you could come together. Now days facebook and other sites allow a greater level of privacy and social sites are limited.

I only see the threads that get closed are the ones that fall outside the Bluelight guidelines. I feel the Aussies moderate better than say the Europeans and North Americans. Their forums deteriorate into shit posting, pricing and "How fucked and I gonna get" posts. If that's your thing I'm sure there are plenty of other sites to hang out but the history of AusDD has always been more professional and informative than that.

You must be on some good drugs if you think facebook is more privacy or safer. This made me lmfao hard the government/police can access everything on there. you think you msgs are safe after you delete them? i dont think so.

 

[drug_FUCKED]

.....

I don't want AusDD to deteriate to that point however some social talk should be allowed, we have created a very cold, blunt and unfriendly forum. Once people get the information they want, they leave. A nicer community might lure them into staying longer, we have a lot of wonderful personalities on here but no one gets to see them

So true

 

[drug_FUCKED]

all i'm seeing is the old "ausdd is getting shit, everyones's leaving" cry that's being regurgitated every couple of months it seems now.

why not pick up the slack and start being the informer instead of just whinging about it?

people go through posting phases, it's only natural. for every person that leaves there's always someone around the corner to replace them.

Glad you made this thread jakeperson because I have been noticing the same thing. I have been around here for nearly a decade first for a lurker then as another member and have seen a down wood slide.

Yeah whats with how AusDD is so strick compared to the rest of BL? thats been a mod issue here for many years. I think the current mods hold a lot of promise, although some dont have too much experience I am sure that wont last too long

 

[drug_FUCKED]

What happened to UTFSE I could use that a lot but frankly we need every post we can get.

eccys used to bring people onto pillreports then they would wander over to
BL but since pills are shit now days this has also effected things

 

[Jakeperson]

Who said anything about forcing?

Suggestion: how about not banning people for taking too many drugs or living a bit recklessly like old mods did.
I cant help think that if splatt was still a mod he would still be alive. seriously

I agree there. Reckless behavior shouldn't be condoned but it's not a big deal if the person doing it promoting HR.
If I didn't have BL I would lose a lot of purpose in my life too.

*i vote jake for class president

Vote me for Mod, so we can help change and make this place better for EVERYONE.

What happened to UTFSE I could use that a lot but frankly we need every post we can get.

Exactly, we should be attracting new members as much as possible at the moment.
Why not the ravesafe crew wear it on their T-shirt? Why isn't there signs at festivals saying "BLUELIGHT.RU Unbiased education on illicit substances"

 

[Divine Moments]

Vote me for Mod, so we can help change and make this place better for EVERYONE.

Since when was this a democracy?

 

[drug_FUCKED]

There is erowid in the US which i have proudly been a member of for years. Erowid partys were cool shame we dont have them here.

 

[Juvenile]

There has been a lack of worthwhile discussion all across the board lately.

Just out of interest, what do you consider worthwhile discussion? Any links to noteworthy old threads?

I miss the days when we had a separate new thread of pill info for each state every couple of months. Not like we can do anything to fix that one though. (unless we want a pile of empty threads!)